What changed on KDP, and what to do in your files

Kindle Unlimited becomes Kindle+, with audiobooks

2026-10-21T00:00:00Z

Kindle Unlimited, Amazon's reading subscription, is now called Kindle+, and on Amazon.com it includes audiobooks. An audiobook made with virtual voice, Amazon's computer-generated narration, joins when its ebook is in KDP Select. That's the program that puts an ebook in the subscription in return for selling it only on Amazon. An audiobook made through ACX, Amazon's service for narrated audiobooks, joins when you enroll it in KDP Select.

Listening is paid by the page from the KDP Select Global Fund, the monthly sum shared among the authors in the subscription, just as reading is. The KENP report, which counts the pages subscribers read, now counts pages read and pages listened in Kindle+ together, with a filter for each. Pages of virtual-voice audiobooks listened to in Audible Plus are no longer in that count, for past months too.

What it means for you: your files stay as they are. To add an audiobook to Kindle+, enroll its ebook, or the ACX audiobook, in KDP Select from your Bookshelf.

KDP: Kindle Unlimited is now Kindle+, KDP audiobooks now included; KDP Reporting Updates FAQ (30 October 2026)

W-8 tax forms signed before 2023 expire at the end of 2026

2026-10-14T00:00:00Z

A W-8 is the US tax form that publishers outside the US fill in through KDP's tax interview. One signed before 1 January 2023 expires on 31 December 2026, and KDP emails the publishers it affects. Without a new tax interview, payments for sales on the US marketplace are subject to 30% US tax withholding. A year earlier, the same notice covered forms signed before 2022.

What it means for you: if KDP emailed you, take the tax interview again in your account before 31 December 2026. Your books aren't affected.

KDP: W-8 Internal Revenue Service Form (IRS) Form; the same notice for 2025 (10 November 2025)

Kindle Previewer 4 replaces Kindle Previewer 3

2026-09-22T00:00:00Z

Kindle Previewer, KDP's free program for checking an ebook before you upload it, is now at version 4. It runs on Windows 10 or later and on macOS 12 or later, now also on Macs with Apple silicon. It opens the same files as before: EPUB, HTML, OPF, KPF and Word.

What it means for you: version 4 installs separately, so install it and check your next ebook in it before you upload. The files themselves don't need to change.

KDP: Kindle Previewer 4 now available for download

At most two new titles per format each week

2026-09-21T00:00:00Z

Since 21 September 2026, an account can create at most two new titles per format each week: ebook, paperback and hardcover. Since 5 October, at most two new titles per format can also be submitted for publication each week. Both limits reset every Sunday at midnight UTC.

What it means for you: if you're releasing more than two books in one format, spread them over several weeks. Only a title's first submission counts, so updating a book you've already submitted doesn't.

KDP: Update on KDP Title Creation Limits – October 2026

Ebook pre-orders up to 18 months ahead

2026-09-02T00:00:00Z

An ebook pre-order set up on or after 2 September 2026 can have a release date up to 18 months away. It can be postponed twice, up to six months past the first date. A second cancellation stops new pre-orders and postponements for six months.

What it means for you: the longer lead time doesn't move the deadline for the file. The final manuscript is still due 72 hours before the release date, and a pre-order without it is cancelled.

KDP: Set up pre-orders up to 18 months in advance; Change your pre-order release

The 70% ebook royalty now reaches $12.99

2026-07-07T00:00:00Z

Since 7 July 2026, an ebook priced from $2.99 to $12.99 on Amazon.com can earn the 70% royalty. The top of the range used to be $9.99, and the other marketplaces changed in step. The delivery cost, a charge per copy based on the file's size, still applies, and the 35% option is unchanged.

What it means for you: nothing is required. If an ebook of yours is on 35% and priced inside the new range, you can move it to 70%.

KDP: The 70% eBook Royalty Option price band has expanded to $2.99–$12.99

No more royalty checks in euros

2026-06-15T00:00:00Z

From August 2026, KDP no longer pays euro royalties by check: Amazon.de, .fr, .es, .it, .nl, .ie and .be. Without a bank account by 13 July 2026, euro royalties are converted at Amazon's rate and paid by US dollar check, once they reach $100.

What it means for you: if KDP offers electronic payment in your country, add a bank account, so your euro royalties arrive without the conversion.

KDP: EUR Check Payments Changing in August 2026

Kindle Translate adds Portuguese (Brazil) and Italian

2026-06-10T00:00:00Z

Kindle Translate now translates between English and Portuguese (Brazil), and between English and Italian. It's still a beta that KDP opens by invitation.

What it means for you: as before, a translation is an ebook only, so its paperback needs an interior of its own; see November 2025.

KDP: Kindle Translate: Portuguese (Brazil) and Italian now available

Payment service providers must be in KDP's program

2026-05-27T00:00:00Z

A payment service provider is a company that receives your royalties for you, for example where KDP can't pay into a local bank account. Since 10 November 2025, a provider added as a bank account had to be one in KDP's program. From 1 August 2026 this applies to every account paid through one, with the provider's identity check completed. Otherwise payments and publishing are put on hold.

What it means for you: if your royalties go to a payment service provider, check that it's on KDP's list and that its identity check is done.

KDP: Payment Service Provider Program Update for KDP; Payment Service Provider Program for KDP (10 November 2025); the list of providers

Printing fees stay the same in 2026

2026-05-21T00:00:00Z

KDP doesn't change its printing fees in 2026. It reviews them every year and says it will give notice before any change.

What it means for you: a paperback's printing cost stays as it was, and so does its royalty. Our royalty calculator uses these fees.

KDP: Printing fees update for 2026

Kindle Translate adds French

2026-05-18T00:00:00Z

Kindle Translate now translates between English and French, both ways.

What it means for you: as with every language, the translation is an ebook only; see November 2025.

KDP: Translation between English and French now available for Kindle Translate

More ebooks can use Kindle Translate

2026-04-29T00:00:00Z

KDP made more ebooks eligible for Kindle Translate.

What it means for you: to see which of your ebooks qualify, start a translation from your Bookshelf.

KDP: More eBooks are now eligible for Kindle Translate

Standard color paperbacks on Amazon.co.jp

2026-04-20T00:00:00Z

Amazon.co.jp now sells paperbacks printed in standard color, which uses the same paper as black ink. Printing there costs 206 yen a copy plus 3.50 yen a page, or 4.50 yen a page at a large trim size.

Standard color paperbacks with Worldwide or Japan rights were listed there without being asked. A right-to-left paperback in standard color is sold only on Amazon.co.jp.

What it means for you: if you have a standard color paperback with Worldwide or Japan rights, it's now on sale in Japan. Check its list price for Amazon.co.jp under Paperback Rights & Pricing.

KDP: Standard color now available on Amazon.co.jp; the notice before the launch (23 March 2026)

Kindle Translate adds English into German

2026-04-16T00:00:00Z

Kindle Translate now translates English into German. Until then it offered English and Spanish both ways, and German into English.

What it means for you: the German edition is an ebook only, like every translation; see November 2025.

KDP: Translation from English to German now available for Kindle Translate

Download the files you uploaded from your Bookshelf

2026-02-26T00:00:00Z

You can download the latest manuscript and cover you uploaded, for ebooks, paperbacks and hardcovers, from the “…” menu on your Bookshelf. It works while a book is live or a draft, but not in review or publishing. A cover made in Cover Creator can't be downloaded.

For a print book, the download is closed in the five days before a scheduled release.

What it means for you: you get back exactly what you uploaded. For a PDF that's the PDF, not the Word file you made it from, so keep your own source files.

KDP: New feature: Download your KDP print book files from Bookshelf; the help page

A cover of its own for a Kindle Translate edition

2026-02-25T00:00:00Z

A translation made with Kindle Translate can now have its own cover, uploaded as JPG or TIFF. Without one, it uses your cover with a white border and the language of the edition at the top.

What it means for you: if you want a cover in the reader's language, make one for each translation.

KDP: Upload your own covers for translations

KDP refuses print files that carry a Lucida font (not announced)

2026-01-27T00:00:00Z

From late January 2026, authors on KDP's forum report that KDP refuses print files carrying Lucida Grande, Lucida Sans Unicode or Lucida Calligraphy. The earliest report we found is dated 27 January 2026.

KDP made no announcement and names no font. Its help page on paperback fonts explains why a font is rejected and where one can hide.

What it means for you: find the Lucida font in your file and replace it, even where it's only in a symbol or a space. Our PDF checker names the font with its pages and characters; see KDP says “Unsupported fonts are used in your file”.

KDP: Paperback Fonts. KDP Community: the earliest report we found (27 January 2026); the longest thread (28 January 2026)

Ebook pre-orders can show a reading sample

2025-12-11T00:00:00Z

From the week of 12 January 2026, Amazon shows a Read Sample on some ebook pre-orders: up to 10% of the manuscript uploaded to KDP. A pre-order with no manuscript shows no sample, and you can ask KDP to remove one.

What it means for you: readers may see the manuscript you upload for a pre-order. Upload the final text or a placeholder page, not a rough draft.

KDP: eBook pre-orders will soon show a reading sample on Amazon - Update

Buyers can download an ebook without DRM as EPUB or PDF

2025-12-09T00:00:00Z

DRM (digital rights management) is the copy protection that ties a bought ebook to Kindle devices and apps. Since 20 January 2026, buyers of a new ebook published without DRM can download it as an EPUB or a PDF. A book already published without DRM gets the download only if you choose “no DRM” again on its Kindle eBook Content page and publish it.

What it means for you: choose DRM knowingly. Without it, everyone who has bought the book, or will, can keep it as an EPUB or PDF file.

KDP: New eBook Download Options for Readers Coming in 2026; the help page

Ebooks in Persian, Hebrew and Latin

2025-12-03T00:00:00Z

KDP now publishes ebooks in Persian, Hebrew and Latin, uploaded as a Word file (.doc or .docx) or an EPUB.

What it means for you: follow KDP's formatting page for these languages. Persian and Hebrew read right to left.

KDP: Publish eBooks in Persian, Hebrew & Latin; the formatting page

Kindle Translate opens as a beta

2025-11-06T00:00:00Z

KDP opened Kindle Translate, Amazon's AI translation service for ebooks, as a beta for invited authors. It began with English and Spanish both ways, and German into English. A translation is free and needs no formatting, and it can be published only once it passes Amazon's quality checks.

What it means for you: a translation is an ebook only, because KDP's help page says Kindle Translate can't make print books. The paperback of a translation needs its own interior; see The paperback of a translated book.

KDP: Introducing Kindle Translate in Beta; Beta: Kindle Translate

The print royalty falls to 50% below $9.99

2025-06-10T00:00:00Z

Since 10 June 2025, a paperback or hardcover priced below $9.99 earns a 50% royalty instead of 60%. The other thresholds are €9.99, £7.99, 13.99 CAD, 13.99 AUD, 99 SEK, 40 PLN and 1,000 yen.

The same day, standard color printing became cheaper on Amazon.com, and premium color on Amazon.co.uk, .de, .fr, .es, .it and .nl.

What it means for you: a book you update after that date needs a list price at or above the new minimum. Our royalty calculator applies both rates.

KDP: Update - Changes to KDP royalty rates for print books priced below certain list prices; the first notice (13 May 2025)

Publishing an ebook asks about its accessibility

2025-05-27T00:00:00Z

Since 28 May 2025, publishing a new ebook, or a new manuscript or cover for one, asks which accessibility features it has. The answers appear on the book's detail page, and KDP ties them to Europe's accessibility rules.

What it means for you: answer from what your EPUB really has, not what you'd like it to have; see What the EU now asks your ebook to say about itself.

KDP: Introducing accessibility feature question for eBooks

Amazon Endure, KDP's free font

2025-04-22T00:00:00Z

KDP released a free font for print books, Amazon Endure, and said it reduces a paperback's page count by roughly 20%.

What it means for you: in our measurement, Endure made more pages at the same size, not fewer. Set 1.5 points smaller, it made 9% to 14% fewer pages than Times New Roman; see Does Amazon Endure cut your page count by 20%?

KDP: KDP Print on Demand launches Endure font that saves paper