How to Format a Book for KDP

One Manuscript, Two Opposite Files

A print interior is frozen: every line sits on a numbered page of a known size. An ebook has no pages at all. KDP’s guide puts it plainly: ebooks reflow at different font sizes, so page numbers and page count don’t apply, and they don’t have headers or footers. So you’re making two exports from one text, and KDP warns that a file already formatted as a paperback has to be reformatted for the ebook.

Print is the fussier of the two, so that comes first.

Choose the Trim Size Before Anything Else

Trim size is the book’s finished width and height, and KDP tells you to set it first, because it decides the page count and the page count decides the margins. KDP calls 6 x 9 inches the most common size in the US and makes it the default. A book wider than 6.12 inches or taller than 9 inches counts as large trim, which prints at a different cost. There’s a full guide to trim sizes if you haven’t decided.

For a book without bleed, the page size in your file is the trim size.

Margins, by Page Count

These are KDP’s minimums for paperback and hardcover.

Pages	Inside margin (gutter)	Top, bottom, outside, no bleed	Top, bottom, outside, with bleed
24 to 150	0.375 in (9.6 mm)	0.25 in (6.4 mm)	0.375 in (9.6 mm)
151 to 300	0.5 in (12.7 mm)	0.25 in (6.4 mm)	0.375 in (9.6 mm)
301 to 500	0.625 in (15.9 mm)	0.25 in (6.4 mm)	0.375 in (9.6 mm)
501 to 700	0.75 in (19.1 mm)	0.25 in (6.4 mm)	0.375 in (9.6 mm)
701 to 828	0.875 in (22.3 mm)	0.25 in (6.4 mm)	0.375 in (9.6 mm)

The inside margin grows because a thick book curves into its spine and swallows the text near it. The rule also sets a small trap: changing the font can move you from 298 pages to 304, and now your gutter is wrong. KDP’s tip is to go back and check the inside margin whenever the count changes. Do that last, once the text has stopped moving.

These figures are floors. KDP’s own Word walkthrough uses 0.375 inch on the outside “for a professional look”, and a novel set at the bare minimum looks like what it is, a book trying to save paper.

The gutter field. KDP’s help pages don’t quite agree with each other here. The general margins page says that where software has separate inside and gutter fields, you should enter the same value in both. The step-by-step guide for Word says, “Do not enter any value into the Gutter field,” and to use mirror margins with the inside value set. If you’re in Word, follow the Word guide. Anywhere else, set it and let KDP’s Print Previewer tell you whether the text landed inside the lines.

KDP also rounds up to an even number of pages. The limits on a paperback run from 24 pages to 828 on white paper, 776 on cream and 812 on groundwood, somewhat fewer at the largest sizes. Hardcover runs from 75 to 550.

Bleed, Which Your Novel Probably Doesn’t Need

Bleed is for anything printed right to the paper’s edge: a full-page map, a coloured background. Pages are trimmed after printing, so that artwork has to extend 0.125 inch (3.2 mm) past the trim line at the top, bottom and outside edge.

That makes the file bigger than the book: 0.125 inch wider and 0.25 inch taller. A 6 x 9 book with bleed is a 6.125 x 9.25 inch PDF. KDP only supports bleed in fixed-format files such as print-ready PDFs, and if one page bleeds, the whole interior has to be set up that way. Text isn’t allowed to bleed at all. If your only illustration is a map you’re willing to shrink, you’ve just saved yourself the trouble.

Fonts: Embed Them All, and Check You May

The minimum size is 7 points. KDP suggests Centaur, Garamond, Hightower Text and Palatino Linotype as body fonts, and offers its own Amazon Endure, designed to reduce page count. They’re suggestions: you’re responsible for licensing whatever you use.

Every font must be fully embedded. KDP recommends full embedding rather than subsets, so in Word, tick Embed fonts in the file and leave both boxes beneath it unticked. Free fonts from download sites are a known source of grief, since some won’t embed for technical or legal reasons, and KDP’s advice is to make a test PDF before you commit. Previewer can also reject “faux” fonts, where your software fakes a bold or italic that the font doesn’t really contain. Find this before upload by checking that each style you use exists as an installed font.

Front Matter, in KDP’s Order

KDP notes that many of these are optional, and suggests looking at similar books to see what readers expect. The usual order is:

1. Half title (right-facing page)
2. Title (right-facing page, usually title, subtitle and author, without “by”)
3. Copyright (the first left-facing page after the title page)
4. Reviews and praise
5. Dedication (right-facing, usually after the copyright page)
6. Table of contents (right-facing)
7. Preface
8. Acknowledgments
9. Prologue
10. Introduction

None of the half title, title, copyright or contents pages carries a page number or header. Chapter one starts on a right-facing page, later chapters on the next available one. Even numbers go on left pages, odd on right. KDP’s review also looks for more than 4 blank pages in a row at the start or middle of a book, or more than 10 at the end, and checks that the title, author, edition and ISBN in your file match what you typed into the book details. Leftover template text fails too, so “Your Name Here” on page iii is more than embarrassing.

The Print File Itself

You can upload PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, HTML or TXT if there’s no bleed, though KDP recommends PDF. With bleed, PDF is the only choice. KDP asks for:

• single pages, never spreads
• PDF/X, with PDF/X-1a preferred
• image downsampling turned off, and images at 300 DPI or better
• transparent objects and layers flattened
• no crop marks, trim marks, bookmarks, comments, annotations or metadata
• no locks or encryption, no emoji in the file name, 650 MB at most

Bookmarks catch people out, since some programs add them when exporting a PDF. The cover is a separate file, with 0.125 inch of bleed on all sides. Its width includes the spine, which KDP works out from page count: 0.002252 inch per page on white paper, 0.0025 on cream. KDP prints spine text only on books of more than 79 pages.

The Ebook File

KDP’s recommended formats are Word (DOC or DOCX), EPUB and KPF, the format Kindle Create produces. It no longer accepts MOBI for fixed-layout ebooks, since March 2025. An EPUB must meet the Kindle Publishing Guidelines, and KDP recommends validating it with Kindle Previewer before you upload.

What those guidelines and the formatting guide ask for, in practice:

• A contents list that works. Use real links, without page numbers, and place it near the start of the book. A logical table of contents, made with a toc nav element or an NCX file, feeds the Kindle’s own menu. Word’s Heading styles and Table of Contents feature produce this for you.
• Plain body text. On upload, KDP normalises the main font size to 1em, moves the main font to the body level and removes forced font colours. Embedded fonts are allowed, but Amazon recommends the Kindle’s defaults unless a font is needed to convey intent.
• Paragraphs set with indents or space. Tabs don’t convert. The Word guide uses a first-line indent of 0.2 inch; the guidelines say no more than 4 ems.
• A title page, with the book title and author name. Leave the cover image out of a Word manuscript, since KDP adds the cover you upload.
• Footnotes with working links. KDP converts Word footnotes to endnotes.

The ebook cover is its own upload: JPEG or TIFF, ideally 2,560 pixels high by 1,600 wide, at least 1,000 by 625, under 50 MB.

Before You Press Publish

Open the ebook in Kindle Previewer and the interior in KDP’s Print Previewer, which flags margins, cover size and fonts. Then order a proof, as KDP recommends. A screen will not show you that your gutter feels tight, or that your chapter titles are slightly too large. A book in your hands will, usually on the first page you open it to.

If you write in Shiro, its Publish lens has Kindle presets for ebook, paperback and hardcover, and runs a 16-point check before upload. You supply the cover image and Shiro checks its size. Whatever made your file, the previewers above have the final word. This page will age, too: KDP changes its rules, so check its help pages before relying on any figure here.

Sources

All read in November 2026:

• Set trim size, bleed and margins
• Paperback submission guidelines
• Print options
• Save your manuscript file
• Paperback fonts
• Format front, body and back matter
• Format a paperback manuscript in Word
• Ebook manuscript formatting guide
• Supported ebook formats
• Navigation guidelines
• Text guidelines for reflowable ebooks
• Ebook cover image

The Questions People Ask

What margins does KDP require?

The inside margin depends on page count: 0.375 inch for 24 to 150 pages, 0.5 for 151 to 300, 0.625 for 301 to 500, 0.75 for 501 to 700, and 0.875 for 701 to 828. The top, bottom and outside margins must be at least 0.25 inch without bleed and 0.375 inch with bleed.

Does a novel need bleed?

Only if something has to print right to the edge of the page, which plain text never does. KDP doesn’t let text bleed anyway. A novel with no full-page images is set up without bleed.

Can I upload a Word file for a paperback?

Yes, if the book has no bleed. KDP accepts PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, HTML or TXT for a paperback without bleed and converts it to PDF itself. A book with bleed must be a PDF, and KDP recommends PDF for the best results either way.

Can I use the same file for the ebook and the paperback?

KDP says no: a manuscript formatted as a paperback has to be reformatted for an ebook to avoid errors. An ebook reflows to fit the reader’s screen, so it has no fixed pages, headers or page numbers.

What is the smallest font size KDP allows?

Seven points, for a print interior. That’s a floor to keep text legible, not a suggestion for a novel.

Last revised November 2026.