Free Book Template for Word: Print-Ready Layout for Amazon KDP

Last reviewed by Robert Prime, 9 November 2026. Amazon’s rules were read on its own help pages that day, and each file was tested in Word.

Quick Answer: Download a template below, open it in Microsoft Word, and replace the sample words with your book. Margins, chapters, a contents page, running heads and page numbers are already set. It’s free, with no sign-up, and suits novels and plain non-fiction up to 700 pages.

Would you rather someone else did it? Our book formatting services UK start at £69, VAT included, with files back in 24 hours.

Download the free Word book template

Choose the size of your printed book. Each file is a standard Word document.

All three sizes are on KDP’s list of trim sizes. Amazon notes that 6 x 9 is the most common paperback size in the US. For a side-by-side look at UK sizes, see our standard book sizes guide.

What’s in the template

• A title page, copyright page, dedication and contents page, with no page numbers on them
• Three sample chapters, each starting on a right-hand page
• Your title on right-hand pages and your name on left-hand pages, and you only type each one once
• Page numbers at the foot of each page, with odd numbers on the right
• An About the Author page
• Styles for opening paragraphs, body text and scene breaks
• UK English set as the language

The settings we used

KDP’s minimum inside margin rises with page count: 0.75 in for 501 to 700 pages and 0.875 in for 701 to 828. Our inside margin clears the 501 to 700 rule with room to spare, so use the template for books up to 700 pages. Above that it would sit exactly on Amazon’s minimum, and we don’t set margins there because books at the limit can still be rejected. Our KDP margin calculator shows the minimum for your page count.

How to use it

1. Save a copy under your book’s name, and keep the original.
2. Overtype the title, subtitle and your name on the first page, then fill in the copyright page. Our copyright page guide explains the wording. Delete the ISBN line if KDP is assigning you one.
3. Change the running heads. Double-click the words at the top of a page after the first page of Chapter One and overtype them. You only need to do this once on a right-hand page and once on a left-hand page.
4. Paste your text into a chapter using Paste Special or Keep Text Only, so it picks up the template’s styles.
5. Apply the styles. Use Heading 1 for chapter titles, Book First Paragraph for the first paragraph of a chapter or scene, Book Body for everything else and Book Scene Break for breaks.
6. Add chapters by copying the whole of the last chapter, including the section break at its end, and pasting it straight after itself.
7. Update the contents page. Right-click it and choose Update Field, then Update entire table.
8. Delete all sample text. Amazon warns: “If there is remaining template text in your manuscript, you may receive an error on upload, or your manuscript may be rejected on review.”
9. Save as PDF and check every page. KDP says that “For paperbacks, PDFs is preferable to Microsoft Word documents”. Our Word to KDP guide walks through this and the problems you might meet.

Word can leave an empty left-hand page when a chapter ends on a right-hand page. That’s deliberate, because it keeps the next chapter on the right.

How we tested it

On 9 November 2026 we opened each downloadable file in Microsoft Word for Windows, filled it with 445 to 661 pages of text, added chapters as described above and exported a PDF. Each PDF then went through the margin check we run on customers’ books, which measures the printed ink on every page against Amazon’s limits and adds a safety buffer. All three passed. We also confirmed that every chapter opened on a right-hand page and that the page numbers and contents page matched. To prove the check works, we ran a copy with a 0.3 in inside margin through it, and it failed.

That test can’t stand in for Amazon’s own review, so check KDP’s Print Previewer and order a proof copy. We didn’t test Word for Mac or Google Docs.

When a template isn’t enough

This template doesn’t cover images that run to the page edge, because those need a larger page size for bleed. It also won’t help much with heavy use of tables, footnotes or poetry. A picture book needs a different layout altogether.

Amazon also offers its own Word templates, blank or with sample content, if you’d like to compare.

If you’d rather not do this in Word, you can turn a Word file into paperback and Kindle files yourself in Book Studio, and we can format the book for you. To learn what’s going on behind these settings, read what typesetting is.

Sources, read 9 November 2026: KDP trim, bleed and margins, KDP manuscript templates and KDP on converting Word to PDF.