KDP Select vs going wide · The Publishing Map

What does KDP Select require?

KDP Select is for the Kindle ebook, including a pre-order. You must have exclusive rights to the primary content, and public-domain content is not eligible. For each 90-day term the ebook may be distributed only through KDP and public libraries. The Select page says that limit includes your website and blogs. You also cannot give anyone else the right to sell the digital book, or a substantially similar one, where you hold rights. Enrollment costs nothing, and the term renews unless you opt out on the KDP site before it ends.[24][77][78][79]

You can cancel within three days of the start. After that, the enrollment page says to contact KDP. If you unpublish during the term, the period pauses until you republish, and the ebook must stay exclusive for the rest of the current 90 days.
In each term you can run either a free book promotion of up to 5 days or one Kindle Countdown Deal, not both. Unused days do not carry into the next term.

What do you gain from Select and Kindle Unlimited?

Enrollment puts the ebook in Kindle Unlimited and leaves it for sale in the Kindle Store. Purchases still pay the 35 percent royalty, or the 70 percent royalty when the buyer and the price qualify. Borrows pay from that month's KDP Select Global Fund, for pages a customer reads the first time. On 6 October 2026 the KDP help pages displayed a banner, Total KDP Select Author Earnings, August 2026, $69.4 million. That banner is not a per-page rate. KDP says it announces the fund in the community forum, and the royalties estimator says a month's fund is announced near the 15th of the next month. The KENP rate for a marketplace is that marketplace's fund divided by pages read there, and it changes every month. A customer can generate at most 3,000 Kindle Edition Normalized Pages per title.[22][79][218][219]

KDP's own illustration uses a $10 million fund and 100 million pages. The page says actual payouts vary and tells you to read the royalty report.
Repeat reads of pages already paid are not paid again, even after the enrollment period ends.

What does going wide mean?

Going wide means the digital book is available outside the Kindle Store: other ebook retailers, library ebook services, or your own site. KDP Select forbids that distribution during the term. Wide is not one company. You can open a separate account at a store, or send the file through an aggregator. Draft2Digital lists retail and library partners, including Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and OverDrive, and says it does not require exclusivity. You tick the stores. It will not add a new store unless you opt in.[26][60][79]

Draft2Digital says it does not recommend listing the same book twice, so do not also send the ebook to Amazon through the aggregator if you upload it to KDP yourself.
Print is a separate decision. The paperback can use KDP, IngramSpark, or both while you make this ebook choice.

How does genre affect the choice?

None of the KDP Select, Kindle Unlimited, Draft2Digital, or IngramSpark pages checked on 6 October 2026 names a genre that must enroll or must stay wide. Kindle Unlimited pays for pages read, so a finished borrow can earn when a sale does not. A sale on another store can earn only if the ebook is not in Select. Which of those happens more often for a particular book is not stated. Do not treat a forum average, a conversion rate, or a return on spending as a figure these companies publish.[26][218][219]

If the book is already selling, compare two lines in KDP reports: Kindle Store royalties, and KENP royalties. Monthly page counts can change until they are finalized near the 15th of the next month.
If you have no reports yet, neither program publishes a substitute rate you can use instead.

Can you switch later?

Yes, at the end of a term. To stop the next term, open Manage KDP Select and uncheck automatic renewal. Canceling renewal does not end the current 90 days. After the term, you can distribute the ebook elsewhere. To enroll a book that is already wide, remove the digital edition from other stores first. A listing that is still for sale is distribution. Draft2Digital says a delist request is expected to clear store and subscription partners within 3 business days, and that delisting can be delayed. KDP does not publish a number of days to wait after another retailer accepts a removal.[77][78][87][88]

You can cancel enrollment within three days of the start. After three days, the help page says to contact KDP.
Enrolling again later starts another 90 days of digital exclusivity.

How do you compare earnings fairly?

A Kindle Store sale and a Kindle Unlimited borrow are different payments. A sale pays 35 percent of the list price without VAT, or 70 percent minus delivery costs when the buyer is in a 70 percent territory and the book qualifies. The royalty page says average delivery costs are $0.06 per unit and vary by file size. A borrow pays that month's KENP rate times pages read the first time, capped at 3,000 pages for that customer. The rate is not the list price and is not a permanent figure. The estimator says you may use the previous month's rate as an estimate, and that the actual royalty will differ when the fund is announced. Page count for this payment is Kindle Edition Normalized Page Count, which can differ from the page count on the Amazon detail page.[22][218][219]

Do not convert a borrow into a lost sale with a percentage the reports do not show.
The publishing cost calculator prices production. It does not estimate Select or wide earnings.

What about print while the ebook is in Select?

Print, video, and audio can stay on sale elsewhere while the ebook is enrolled. Select does not remove a paperback or hardcover from Amazon, and it does not stop IngramSpark print distribution. The limit is the digital ebook. A full ebook file on your site, in a newsletter, or on another store is what the term restricts. Up to 10 percent may be posted elsewhere as a sample, which the enrollment page says is roughly the length of the Kindle reading sample.[23][78][79][220]

KDP Expanded Distribution is a print channel. It pays 40 percent of list price minus printing cost. It is not a way to sell the ebook in other stores during Select.
If the same print book is also on IngramSpark, IngramSpark says to leave KDP Expanded Distribution off.

When does exclusivity pay?

Exclusivity pays when Kindle Unlimited page reads, at that month's rate, come to more than the same ebook would earn on other stores during the 90 days. Amazon does not publish that second number, and it does not publish a genre that must enroll. A Kindle Unlimited royalty is pages a customer reads the first time, paid from that month's KDP Select Global Fund, capped at 3,000 Kindle Edition Normalized Pages per customer. The per-page rate is that marketplace's fund divided by pages read there, and it changes every month. A sale on another store can pay only if the ebook is not in Select. The table compares those payments. It is not a forecast. If a company is making this choice for you, or charging you to enroll, check the offer before you pay.[22][78][218][219]

KDP Select compared with going wide
What you compare	KDP Select	Going wide
What is enrolled	The Kindle ebook, including a pre-order. The term is 90 days, it is free, and it renews unless you turn renewal off.	The ebook can stay on sale outside the Kindle Store. Select forbids that during the term.
What you are paid	A Kindle Store royalty on sales, plus Kindle Unlimited page reads from that month's fund. The rate changes every month.	A Kindle Store royalty on sales, plus whatever the other stores pay. There is no Kindle Unlimited payment for that ebook.
What must stay exclusive	The digital book, through KDP and public libraries. Up to 10 percent may sit elsewhere as a sample.	No Select exclusivity. The ebook can be sold on other stores, on your site, and through an aggregator.
When page reads can pay more	A finished borrow can pay when a sale does not. The cap is 3,000 Kindle Edition Normalized Pages per customer, the first time those pages are read.	A sale on another store can pay only if the ebook is not in Select. Amazon does not publish the rate that decides which line is larger.
What you can still sell	Print, video, and audio may stay on sale. The paperback can use KDP, IngramSpark, or both.	The same print choice. Going wide is about the ebook, not a ban on print.

If the book is already selling, compare Kindle Store royalties with KENP royalties in your KDP reports. Monthly page counts can change until they are finalized near the 15th of the next month.
If you have no reports yet, neither program publishes a substitute rate.
Print, audio, and video can stay on sale either way. The limit is the digital ebook.

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