How Amazon KDP Print-on-Demand Actually Works
No inventory, no upfront printing. Here is what happens between someone clicking buy and a book arriving.
Print-on-demand in one paragraph
When a reader orders your paperback, Amazon prints a single copy, packs it and ships it. You never buy stock, and you are not left with boxes of unsold books.
Your job is to supply two files — a print-ready interior and a print-ready cover — plus the listing information that helps the right reader find the book.
What you are responsible for
You are the publisher. That means the content, the rights to it, the metadata and the quality of the files are yours to get right.
Amazon handles printing, payment, shipping and returns, and pays you a royalty on each sale.
How royalties are calculated
For paperbacks, Amazon subtracts a printing cost that depends on page count, ink and trim size, then pays a percentage of the remainder.
This is why page count matters: a 120-page book costs more to print than a 40-page book, so it needs a higher list price to earn the same royalty.
