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Set Up Your KDP Account Before Uploading Your Book

By the create-ebook team · Updated 2026-09-26

1. Create the account you will keep for your publishing business

Open KDP with an Amazon login you control for the long term. Use an email address with reliable access, enable two-step verification on the Amazon account, and store recovery codes away from your inbox.

Decide whose account will receive the publishing payments. A sole author generally uses their own account. A company-owned account should use the company’s legal records and an authorized representative who can complete the tax interview.

• Check the account country before proceeding.
• Set a display name that you can recognize in Amazon security emails.
• Keep the sign-in email separate from any public author contact address.

Do not share the primary login with a formatter, cover designer, or virtual assistant. Add help through controlled access only where Amazon makes that option available, and remove access when a contract ends.

2. Match your legal identity before starting the tax interview

Go to Account in the KDP dashboard and complete the author or publisher identity fields using the same spelling found on your tax and bank records. The public author name on a book can be a pen name; the payee information needs to identify the person or entity receiving income.

The tax interview asks questions based on your country, entity type, and tax residence. Have your tax identification number ready, along with an address that matches your official records. Answer based on your own situation, and use a qualified tax adviser for questions involving treaty claims, company structures, or US tax status.

Save the confirmation shown at the end of the interview. Revisit it after a move, a legal-name change, or a change from individual publishing to a registered business.

3. Add payment details for every marketplace you can serve

In Account, open payment details and add a bank account in the currency and country format KDP accepts for your location. Payment methods vary by marketplace and country, so check the current options shown in your own dashboard before choosing a bank or currency route.

Enter the account holder name exactly as your bank records show it. A single transposed digit in an account number can hold up payments, while a mismatch between payee and bank names can trigger additional checks.

• Confirm the bank account type, such as personal or business.
• Review routing, sort code, IBAN, or BIC fields against a bank statement.
• Record which marketplaces use each payment method.

Set a calendar reminder to review these details annually. This catches closed accounts and expired contact information before royalties are due.

4. Decide the publishing details that affect every first listing

Write down the book’s public author name, publisher or imprint name, primary language, and publication rights before entering metadata. These choices should match the title page, copyright page, cover, and product listing.

For publication rights, select the option that reflects your actual control of the work. Choose worldwide rights only when you hold the rights to distribute the book in every territory. If rights are limited by a contract, translation agreement, public-domain edition, or licensed material, use the available territorial controls carefully.

Kindle ebooks do not require an ISBN. For a paperback, decide whether to use a free KDP ISBN where available or buy and manage your own ISBN through the relevant national agency. Your choice affects the publisher name associated with that edition.

Also settle content declarations early. KDP’s questions about adult content, reading age, and AI-generated or AI-assisted content can change over time, so read the wording in the live publishing form and answer for the finished manuscript.

5. Prepare files and metadata before you enter the book creator

Create a final metadata sheet containing the exact title, subtitle, contributor names, description, keywords, and categories. Copy from that sheet into KDP so the punctuation on the cover and the product page stays consistent.

Choose the ebook format while you are still editing. A reflowable EPUB suits most text-led books, while fixed-layout files suit pages whose visual arrangement is essential. Use this guide on which ebook format to write before commissioning conversion work.

Run an EPUB through Kindle Previewer and inspect the navigation, chapter breaks, linked table of contents, scene breaks, and image placement. For print files, check bleed, trim size, page count, and spine width after the interior PDF is final.

If you are beginning with only a premise, create-ebook can turn a one-sentence idea into a drafted book and provide an EPUB to review before you build the listing. You still need to verify every claim, quotation, permission, and contributor credit in the final manuscript.

6. Set price and royalty options with the finished file in hand

Price after you know the final file size, especially for image-heavy ebooks, because delivery costs can affect the royalty option available in some stores. Set the list price in your primary marketplace first, then review the converted prices and local price limits shown by KDP.

Use the Kindle royalty calculator to compare likely royalty outcomes before choosing a list price. Treat its result as a planning figure, then confirm the current rate, delivery-cost details, and allowed price range on KDP’s pricing screen.

Leave enrollment choices until you understand their distribution terms. A rushed selection can limit where you distribute the digital edition during the enrollment period.

Before you press Create

Review Account, tax, and payment pages one more time, then keep screenshots or PDFs of your confirmations. When you are ready to build the listing, understand what KDP Select and Kindle Unlimited mean before accepting enrollment terms. With these decisions made, the upload itself becomes a focused production task rather than an account-setup scramble.