Before you publish your first book on KDP there is a small amount of essential account setup to complete. None of it is complicated, but skipping or rushing any of it will cause problems later — including Amazon withholding your royalties. This article walks through every step in the right order. For the complete publishing guide once your account is ready, see our beginner’s guide to self-publishing on Amazon KDP.
Step 1: Creating Your KDP Account
Go to kdp.amazon.com and sign in with your existing Amazon account. If you buy things on Amazon, you already have an account — use that one. If you want to keep your author activity completely separate from your personal shopping account for any reason, you can create a new Amazon account with a different email address and use that for KDP.
Note that KDP and Amazon are the same login system. If you are already logged into Amazon in your browser, you will be automatically signed into KDP with that account.
Once signed in, KDP will prompt you to complete two things before you can receive royalties: your tax interview and your payment method. Both are required. Neither is optional.
Step 2: Completing Your Tax Interview
Amazon is legally required to collect tax information from all authors before making royalty payments. The tax interview takes approximately five minutes and asks a series of questions to determine which form you need to complete.
For US authors: You will complete a W-9, providing your Social Security Number or Employer Identification Number (EIN). If you are publishing under a business name, use your EIN.
For non-US authors: You will complete a W-8BEN (for individuals) or a W-8BEN-E (for companies and businesses). The W-8BEN establishes that you are a foreign national and, if your country has a tax treaty with the US, reduces or eliminates the withholding tax that Amazon would otherwise deduct from your US royalties before payment.
The UK, Australia, Canada, and most European countries have tax treaties with the US that reduce withholding to 0% on royalties. Without a completed W-8BEN, Amazon withholds 30% of your US royalties regardless of your country. Completing the form correctly is genuinely important. For full guidance, see our article on KDP for non-US authors.
Tax information does not expire, but Amazon may prompt you to re-verify it periodically. Reconfirming when prompted ensures uninterrupted royalty payments.
Step 3: Setting Up Your Payment Method
KDP pays royalties by electronic bank transfer or cheque. Electronic transfer is strongly recommended — it has a lower payment threshold ($10 / £10 vs $100 for cheques), arrives faster, and avoids the currency conversion costs that can eat into cheque payments for non-US authors.
To add a bank account, go to your KDP account settings (click your name in the top right corner, then “Account”). Under “Getting Paid,” add your bank account details. You can add separate accounts for different currency royalties — for instance, a UK sterling account for your UK royalties and a USD account for US royalties, to avoid currency conversion fees.
KDP pays in the local currency of the Amazon marketplace where the sale occurred: USD for US sales, GBP for UK sales, EUR for German and French sales, and so on. If you only have one bank account, Amazon will convert to that account’s currency, which typically involves a modest conversion fee.
Pen Names and Publisher Names
Your KDP account is in your legal name (as required for tax purposes), but your published author name can be entirely different. When you enter your book details, the “Author” field accepts any name you choose — your real name, a pen name, or a combined first and last name in a different order. This is the name that appears on your book cover and Amazon product page.
If you want a publisher name other than Amazon’s default (which, when using a KDP-assigned ISBN, lists “Independently published” as the publisher), you can set a custom publisher name in your account settings. This name appears on your book’s product page in the “Publisher” field. It has no functional impact on publishing or royalties — it is purely presentational.
For detailed guidance on all aspects of pen names and anonymous publishing, see our article on KDP pen name and anonymous publishing.
Step 4: Setting Up Author Central
Author Central is a separate system from KDP, accessible at authorcentral.amazon.com. It is your public-facing author page on Amazon — the page readers land on when they click your name on any book listing.
Set it up before your first book goes live. The process takes 20–30 minutes and involves:
- Adding a professional author biography (up to 1,000 characters; this also appears on your book’s product page)
- Uploading an author photo
- Adding your website and social media links if relevant
- Claiming your titles — once your books are live on Amazon, you add them to your Author Central profile so they appear on your author page
Author Central pages have a measurable effect on author brand perception. Readers who look you up before buying expect to see something — a blank or empty author page is a missed opportunity at best and a credibility signal at worst. For full instructions, see our article on how to link your KDP and Author Central accounts.
Pre-Publish Checklist
Before you upload your first book, confirm all of the following are complete:
- KDP account created and linked to your preferred email address
- Tax interview completed (W-9 for US authors; W-8BEN for non-US)
- Bank account added for royalty payments
- Author Central profile created with biography and photo
- Manuscript formatted to KDP’s requirements and proofread
- Cover file at the correct resolution and dimensions
- Keywords, categories, and book description prepared in advance
Preparing your metadata — keywords, categories, and book description — before you sit down to publish saves significant time and produces better results than writing it in the KDP interface under the pressure of clicking through the upload process. KDP Rank Fuel by Vappingo generates all three from a single input, so you can arrive at the upload screen with everything ready.
Your manuscript also needs to be professionally checked before publication. A KDP manuscript proofreading service catches errors before they reach readers — which is infinitely preferable to discovering them in your first reviews.
