How to Create a Kindle Book from a PDF or Word Document
You have a manuscript in Word or a PDF, and you want it on the Kindle Store. The process is straightforward once you understand what Amazon expects, but there are formatting pitfalls that trip up first-time publishers. This guide walks you through the entire process — from preparing your source document to seeing your book live on Amazon.
What Amazon KDP Accepts
Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) accepts several file formats for ebook uploads: EPUB (recommended — gives you the most formatting control), DOCX (Word format — convenient if your manuscript is already in Word), DOC (older Word format — works but DOCX is better), and KPF (Kindle Package Format — created by Kindle Create, Amazon's formatting tool). Amazon previously accepted MOBI but stopped in 2023.
Notably, PDF is not directly accepted for reflowable Kindle ebooks. You can upload PDF for KDP Print (paperback), but for the Kindle ebook, you need to convert your PDF to DOCX or EPUB first. This conversion step is where most formatting issues arise.
Starting from a Word Document
If your manuscript is in Word, you are in the best starting position. KDP handles DOCX well, but your document needs to follow specific formatting rules. Use Word's built-in styles: Heading 1 for chapter titles, Heading 2 for sections, Normal for body text. KDP uses these styles to generate the table of contents. If you manually formatted headings (large bold text without using the Heading style), KDP will not recognise them as chapters.
Remove manual page breaks between chapters and use Word's "Page Break Before" paragraph setting instead (found in Format > Paragraph > Line and Page Breaks). Set paragraph spacing consistently — 0pt before, 6-12pt after works well. Use first-line indent (0.3-0.5 inches) for fiction, or no indent with space between paragraphs for non-fiction. Avoid tabs for indentation.
Starting from a PDF
Converting PDF to a Kindle-ready format is harder because PDF preserves exact visual layout rather than document structure. A PDF does not know what is a heading, what is a paragraph, or where chapters start — it only knows where each character sits on the page. The conversion process has to infer structure from visual cues, and it often gets things wrong.
The best approach: convert PDF to DOCX using a tool like iFormat's converter or Google Docs (upload the PDF, then File > Download as DOCX). After conversion, review every page. Fix formatting issues: reunite split paragraphs, reapply heading styles, remove stray line breaks, and fix tables. Then follow the DOCX preparation steps above. For text-heavy books (novels, non-fiction), this works well. For image-heavy or highly formatted books, consider recreating the layout in Word or InDesign.
The EPUB Route — Best Quality
For the highest-quality Kindle ebook, convert your manuscript to EPUB first, then upload that EPUB to KDP. EPUB gives you precise control over formatting because it is essentially HTML and CSS. Tools like Calibre (free, open-source) or Vellum (Mac, paid, excellent for professional-looking books) can create polished EPUB files from DOCX sources.
If you already have an EPUB from publishing on other platforms (Kobo, Apple Books), you can upload it directly to KDP. Amazon's conversion handles most EPUB features correctly. Preview thoroughly using the Kindle Previewer application (free download from Amazon) before publishing.
Common Formatting Mistakes
Headers and footers: Remove them. Kindle does not display page numbers or running headers — the device handles navigation its own way. Page numbers: Remove all page numbers. Kindle pages are dynamic (the reader controls font size), so fixed page numbers are meaningless. Fonts: Use standard fonts (Times New Roman, Georgia, Arial). Custom fonts may not embed correctly. Images: Keep images under 5 MB each, use JPG format, and ensure they are at least 300 DPI for adequate quality on high-resolution Kindle screens.
Preview and Publish
Before publishing, download Amazon's free Kindle Previewer and check your book on every simulated device (Kindle, tablet, phone). Pay attention to: chapter transitions, image placement, table of contents navigation, and how the book looks at different font sizes. Fix issues in your source document and re-upload — never try to fix problems in the preview.
Once you are satisfied, the KDP publishing process takes about 24-72 hours for the book to go live on Amazon. Set your pricing (KDP offers 35% or 70% royalty options depending on price and territory), add your book description and categories, and publish. You can update the manuscript after publishing — changes take effect within 24-48 hours.
Convert Your Manuscript
Convert between EPUB, MOBI, DOCX, PDF, and more — free, in your browser.