Publish your book on Amazon KDP

You have two PDFs. This tutorial takes them live on Amazon KDP — account setup, upload, pricing, and the checks that stop most first-time rejections. Budget about 45 minutes, plus up to 72 hours for Amazon's review.

1. Set up your KDP account

Sign up at kdp.amazon.com with your Amazon account, then complete two things people often postpone and regret: the tax interview and your bank details. Without them Amazon will not pay royalties, and the interview takes ten minutes. Our beginner's guide to Amazon KDP walks through the whole account flow in detail.

2. Create a new paperback

Choose “Create paperback”. On the first screen you'll enter the listing details you generated in the Metadata step: title, subtitle, author, description, keywords and categories. Paste them in — that's what the step was for.

3. Set the trim size to match your book

On the Content screen, pick the exact trim you selected in the app — 8.5 × 11 in, 8.5 × 8.5 in, 8 × 10 in or 6 × 9 in. A mismatch here is the single most common cause of rejected files. Choose “Black & white interior” on white or cream paper, and no bleed for a standard coloring book interior.

4. Upload your two files

• Manuscript: the interior PDF from the Export step;
• Cover: choose “Upload a cover you already have” and select the wraparound cover PDF — not a separate front image.

If KDP complains about the cover size, your page count changed after generating it: re-export from the app (free) and upload the new spread — the spine recalculates automatically.

5. Run the Print Previewer — properly

Open KDP's Print Previewer and page through the entire book, not just the first spread. You're checking that nothing important sits near the trim line, that blank backs landed where you expect, and that the cover's front/spine/back split falls in the right places. Our export checklist covers the same ground before you ever get here.

6. Price it

KDP shows your printing cost once the page count is known; your royalty is 60% of list price minus printing. Coloring books commonly land between $6.99 and $9.99 depending on page count. Run the numbers rather than guessing — our royalties and pricing article has the math with real examples.

7. Publish and wait

Hit publish. Review usually takes 24–72 hours, and your listing goes live shortly after approval. Order a proof copy before promoting it — seeing the physical book catches things no previewer does, like how thick the paper feels or whether your cover colors print darker than they look on screen.

Then what?

Publishing one book teaches you more than reading about ten. When it's live, build the next one for a neighbouring audience — that's how a catalogue starts. The blog covers niche research and keywords for the books after this one.