1. Decide what the book is for
Plain lined notebooks are the most crowded corner of KDP. Books aimed at a specific person or use do better: a gardening log, a reading journal, a fishing diary, a planner for teachers. The more specific the use, the easier it is to describe, find keywords for and design a cover for.
2. Choose a trim size and page count
6 × 9 in and 8.5 × 11 in are common for notebooks and planners, 5 × 8 in for pocket journals. Black-and-white books on white paper can have 24 to 828 pages at most trim sizes. Decide your page count now: it sets the inside margin and the spine width.
KDP needs page counts to be even, because each sheet has two sides. It rounds up if you upload an odd number.
3. Make the interior
The interior is a PDF at your exact trim size. With our interior generator you can make lined, dot grid, graph, journal or daily planner pages in one go, or download a single page to customise in Canva or Affinity and then assemble your design into a full interior.
Whichever way you make it, the inside margin has to grow with the page count:
| Pages | Inside margin (minimum) |
|---|---|
| 24 to 150 | 0.375 in |
| 151 to 300 | 0.5 in |
| 301 to 500 | 0.625 in |
| 501 to 700 | 0.75 in |
| 701 to 828 | 0.875 in |
Outside margins need to be at least 0.25 in without bleed. If you're designing your own pages, the wide margin goes on the left of right-hand pages and on the right of left-hand pages.
4. Make the cover
The cover is one image with back, spine and front, plus 0.125 in of bleed around the outside. Use the cover template with the same trim size, paper and page count as your interior, so the spine is exactly right. Books under 80 pages can't have text on the spine.
If you publish without your own ISBN, KDP prints a barcode in a 2 × 1.2 in white box at the bottom right of the back cover, so keep that area clear.
5. Set it up as low-content in KDP
- Under Categories, tick the Low-content box. KDP says books that should have it ticked and don't may be rejected.
- Choose whether to use your own ISBN. Low-content books don't need one, and can't use KDP's free ISBN. Without an ISBN, Look Inside and the back cover thumbnail aren't available; you can show interior images with A+ Content instead.
- You can't change the ISBN choice after publishing without unpublishing and republishing.
- Low-content books can't use Expanded Distribution or be added to a series.
- Upload the interior with No bleed selected, unless your pages print to the edge.
6. Write the listing
Your title and subtitle should say exactly what the book is and who it's for. Then:
- Fill the seven keyword boxes with phrases buyers search, such as the occasion, the hobby or the person it's for. The keyword helper shows what each box adds.
- Write a short description covering the page layout, size and page count, and who it's for. The description formatter shows what appears before "Read more".
- Make a few mockup images for A+ Content and social posts.
7. Price it
A black-ink paperback of up to 110 pages costs a flat $2.30 to print on Amazon.com (£1.93 on Amazon.co.uk). At a 50% royalty, the lowest price KDP allows is $4.60. Some examples for a 100-page notebook on Amazon.com:
- At $6.99: 50% × $6.99 − $2.30 = $1.20 per sale
- At $9.99: 60% × $9.99 − $2.30 = $3.69 per sale
Use the royalty calculator to try your own numbers in each marketplace.
8. Order a proof
Before you publish, order a printed proof copy to check the margins, the spine and how the lines print. It's the only way to see the real book.
KDP rules from KDP's help pages on low-content books, margins and printing costs, checked 28 October 2026.