How to publish a chapbook on Amazon

Use Kindle Direct Publishing. Upload a print-ready interior and cover as PDFs, choose the smallest trade size that fits, set it as print-on-demand, and it will list and print to order. Expect a book that looks more like a small paperback than a hand-sewn chapbook.

Three ways to hold a chapbook together. Saddle stitch is the default for short runs; perfect binding starts to make sense past about sixty pages.

What Amazon can and cannot do

KDP will list your chapbook, print it on demand and handle fulfilment. What it cannot give you is the folded, saddle-stitched object: print-on-demand books are perfect bound with a square spine, so a very short chapbook can look thin and odd. Many writers use Amazon for reach and a hand-made run for readings.

Steps

Lay out the interior as a single-page PDF at the trade size, not imposed for folding.
Make a wraparound cover PDF to KDP’s template for your page count.
Set print-on-demand, choose paper and price, and order a proof before publishing.
An ISBN is provided free by KDP if you want one; see costs.

A caution on the object

Below about sixty pages a perfect-bound spine has little to grip and the book can feel flimsy. If the handmade chapbook object matters to you, see self-publishing by hand.