How to Start Publishing on KDP: A Beginner's First-Book Guide

If you're wondering how to start publishing on KDP, the honest answer is that the mechanics are simple — the setup takes maybe twenty minutes. What actually trips up beginners is everything around the button-clicking: picking a format you can execute well, formatting a manuscript that meets Amazon's print specs, and writing a listing that gets found. This guide walks through both the account setup and the decisions that determine whether your first book is worth publishing at all.

Step 1: Set Up Your KDP Account

Go to the Amazon KDP Help Center or kdp.amazon.com directly and sign in with an existing Amazon account or create a new one dedicated to publishing. You'll need to fill out tax information and choose how you get paid — this is required before any royalties can be released, so do it before you publish rather than scrambling later. You'll also set up your publisher name (this can be your own name or a brand), which appears on every book you release.

If you plan to publish more than one or two titles, think about this step as brand setup, not just paperwork. A consistent publisher name across books helps readers recognize your catalog later — something covered in more depth in our piece on building a recognizable KDP publisher brand.

Step 2: Pick a Format You Can Actually Finish

Low-content books — journals, planners, notebooks, log books, coloring books — are the standard entry point for new KDP publishers because the interior pages are simple and repeatable. But