Kindle Direct Publishing files
Two PDFs and a paste card. That is the whole handoff. Below is the sample poetry chapbook, built to KDP paperback specs — open the files, then sit at the desk and make your own.
Interior PDF
No bleed. The sequence as printed: poems one to a page, stories and journals in flowing type, recipes as the dish. Inner margin 0.85″, outer 0.75″, top 0.75″, bottom 0.8″. Type is Libre Baskerville, embedded, so a poetry PDF that substitutes fonts is not a book. KDP wants an even page count of at least 24. Cream paper is the default. The interior is always free to take.
Wrap cover
One PDF: back, spine, and front, with 0.125″ bleed and a barcode well. Spine width uses Amazon’s figures — cream 0.0025″ per page, white 0.002252″ — and your page count. Match that trim in KDP before you upload. A wrap for 5.5 × 8.5 will fail a 6 × 9 title. Cover art is composed on the desk from title and weather, or a photograph you crop. No image model.
Paste card
Title, subtitle, author, description, imprint, ISBN, print options, page count, spine, and cover size — the numbers you retype into KDP. The wrap, the zip, and the paste card are the jacket. The leftover work after the files is matching print options. Autosubmit is not.
Paste card
From the sample poetry desk. Copy these fields into KDP. The real card is built with your title, trim, and page count.
- Title
- Folio
- Subtitle
- Poems
- Author
- Joyce
- Print options
- Paperback · 5.5 × 8.5 in · cream paper · black ink · no bleed
- Interior pages
- 36
- Spine
- 0.090 in
- Cover size
- 11.340 × 8.750 in
- Interior file
- folio-interior.pdf
- Cover file
- folio-cover.pdf
Trim sizes
Default 6 × 9 in, the usual trade paperback. Also 5.5 × 8.5 and 5 × 8. Set the same trim, paper, and ink in KDP. No bleed on the interior. Black ink.
| Trim | Interior | Wrap (36 cream pages) |
|---|---|---|
| 6 × 9 in | No bleed. Gutter 0.85″, outer 0.75″. | 12.340 × 9.250 in |
| 5.5 × 8.5 in | Same margins. Default on the sample desks. | 11.340 × 8.750 in |
| 5 × 8 in | Same margins. Even page count ≥ 24. | 10.340 × 8.250 in |
What it costs
The interior is always yours. The jacket and the Kindle pack wait on a card — or a desk code. Refunds · Terms.
- Interior PDFFree
- Jacket — wrap, zip, paste card$24
- Kindle EPUB and cover JPG$24
- An hour with Orion at KDP$50
You publish on KDP
Folio packages the files. You create the paperback title at kdp.amazon.com and upload them. There is no Publish button here, and no autosubmit. The interior PDF is always free. The wrap, the zip, and the paste card are the jacket ($24). Folio is not affiliated with Amazon or Kindle Direct Publishing.
- Open KDP and start a paperback.
- Paste the title, author, and description from the card.
- Match trim, paper, ink, and no bleed exactly.
- Upload the interior PDF, then the wrap PDF.
- Preview. Price. Publish.
Sample packages
Four finished desks. Interior and wrap, free to open. These are the same files the package builds for your book.
Folio
Poems · 36 pages · 5.5 × 8.5 in
Night Buses
Stories · 24 pages · 5.5 × 8.5 in
The Kitchen Book
Recipes · 24 pages · 5.5 × 8.5 in
The Desk
A journal · 24 pages · 5.5 × 8.5 in
Next step
Open the deskHow to self-publishFAQPoetry chapbookJournal to paperback