How to Use Kindle Create — Step-by-Step Guide
Kindle Create is Amazon's free desktop app for formatting books before publishing on KDP. It takes your manuscript (Word .docx or PDF) and converts it into a formatted, device-ready file. This guide walks you through every step from download to export.
What Kindle Create does
Kindle Create handles the interior of your book — the text, chapters, headings, page breaks, and formatting. It does not create your book cover. For cover design, you need a separate tool (like CoverLab Pro) that handles KDP's specific cover dimensions, spine width, and bleed requirements.
Kindle Create outputs a .kpf file (Kindle Package Format) that you upload directly to KDP when publishing. It supports reflowable eBooks, print-ready PDFs for paperback, and fixed-layout formats for comic books and children's books.
Step 1: Download and install
Download Kindle Create from kdp.amazon.com/kindle-create. It's available for Windows and Mac. The download is about 300MB. Install it like any desktop application — no account needed to install, though you'll eventually upload the output to your KDP account.
Step 2: Start a new project
Open Kindle Create and click "Create New". You'll choose your book type:
Print Replica — for textbooks, cookbooks, and heavily formatted books. Preserves exact page layout.
Comic — for comics, manga, and graphic novels. Panel-by-panel view on Kindle devices.
For most authors, choose Reflowable. Then select your language and click "Choose File" to import your manuscript.
Step 3: Import your manuscript
Kindle Create accepts .docx (Word) files for reflowable books and .pdf files for print replicas. Your Word document should already have:
Headings styled with Word's built-in Heading styles (Heading 1 for chapter titles, Heading 2 for sections). Page breaks between chapters. Front matter (title page, copyright page) and back matter (about the author, also by) as separate sections.
Kindle Create will automatically detect chapter breaks based on your heading styles. If your document doesn't use Word's heading styles, Kindle Create can still import it but you'll need to manually mark chapter starts.
Step 4: Review chapter detection
After importing, Kindle Create shows you a list of detected chapters in the left sidebar. Review each one to make sure it found the right chapter breaks. If it missed a chapter, right-click at the chapter start and select "Insert Chapter Title".
If chapters are wrong, click the chapter heading and select "Unmark as Chapter Title" to remove it.
Step 5: Choose a theme
Kindle Create offers several pre-built themes that control how chapter title pages look — font, spacing, decorative elements. Click "Theme" in the toolbar to browse options. You can switch themes at any time without losing content.
The theme only affects chapter opening pages. Body text formatting comes from your original manuscript.
Step 6: Format your content
Use the toolbar to adjust formatting:
Text styles: Apply Body, Block Quote, Separator, or custom styles. Keep it simple — over-formatting looks amateurish on Kindle devices.
Images: Insert → Image to add images. For reflowable books, images should be at least 300 DPI and will resize to fit the reader's screen. Place images at the start or end of paragraphs, not mid-sentence.
Page breaks: Insert → Page Break to force a new page. Use these before chapters, between front matter sections, and before back matter.
Table of contents: Kindle Create generates an interactive table of contents automatically from your chapter headings. You don't need to create one manually.
Step 7: Preview on devices
Click "Preview" to see how your book looks on different Kindle devices — Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Fire tablet, iPhone, and Android. Check for formatting issues: broken images, weird spacing, orphaned lines, and chapters that don't start on new pages.
Pay special attention to the first page — this is what readers see in Amazon's "Look Inside" preview. If it looks bad, people won't buy.
Step 8: Export your KPF file
When you're satisfied, click File → Export. Kindle Create saves a .kpf file. This is what you upload to KDP when publishing your eBook.
For paperback, Kindle Create can also export a print-ready PDF. Go to File → Export for Print. Choose your trim size, margins, and bleed settings. This PDF goes into KDP's paperback manuscript upload.
Common Kindle Create mistakes
Not using Word heading styles
If your manuscript uses manually formatted text instead of Word's built-in Heading 1/2/3 styles, Kindle Create can't detect chapters automatically. Fix this in Word before importing — it takes 5 minutes and saves hours of manual work in Kindle Create.
Images too small
Low-resolution images look fine on your computer but appear blurry on high-DPI Kindle screens. Use images at least 1000 pixels wide for full-width images, 500 pixels for inline images.
Confusing interior and cover
Kindle Create handles the inside of your book. Your cover is a completely separate file with its own dimension requirements. A common mistake is designing a cover without accounting for spine width and bleed — which is why tools like CoverLab Pro exist.
After Kindle Create: what's next
Once your interior is formatted and exported, you need two more things to publish on KDP: your book cover and your book metadata (title, description, keywords, categories).
For your cover, use the spine calculator to get your exact dimensions based on your page count, then design your cover in CoverLab Pro. For keywords, use the keyword research tool to find what readers search for on Amazon.
Related articles
Ready to design your cover?
CoverLab Pro calculates spine width, bleed, and trim dimensions automatically. Create a print-ready cover in minutes.
🚀 Create Your Cover Free