How to publish a Sudoku book on KDP

A Sudoku book is one of the friendliest first books on Amazon KDP. There's no story to write and no artwork to commission. There are still a few places it can go wrong, so here's the whole route, start to finish.

1. Decide who it's for

Your reader shapes everything else. Large print books for older solvers usually use 8.5 x 11 pages with one big puzzle per page. Travel-size books for commuters suit 6 x 9 or smaller. Kids want easier grids and fewer of them.

2. Choose the puzzles

Decide how many puzzles and how hard. A common shape is a book that starts gentle and finishes with a few tough ones, so the reader feels themselves improving.

Two things matter more than anything else:

• Every puzzle must have exactly one answer. A grid with two answers can't be solved by logic, and readers notice. This is the most common complaint in Sudoku book reviews.
• The difficulty labels should be honest. "Hard" should mean it needs harder solving techniques, not just fewer numbers.

3. Lay out the interior

Each puzzle needs a number and a difficulty label, and the answers go at the back with matching numbers. Then the KDP rules:

• Margins that suit your final page count (see KDP margins for puzzle books).
• An even page count. If you end on an odd page, add a blank.
• Fonts embedded in the PDF.

4. Make the cover

The cover is one file: back, spine and front together. The spine width depends on your page count and paper, so finish the interior first. The spine width calculator gives you the exact size. Leave the bottom right of the back cover clear, because KDP prints the barcode there.

5. Fill in the KDP setup pages

You'll need a title, an optional subtitle, your author name, a description, up to seven keywords and up to three categories. Keywords work best as the phrases a buyer would type, like "large print sudoku for adults".

KDP also asks whether your book contains AI-generated content. Read their current wording and answer honestly for your own book.

6. Upload and preview

Upload the interior PDF and the cover PDF, then open the previewer and page through everything. Check the first puzzle, a few pages in the middle, the answer key and the spine. It takes a couple of minutes and catches nearly every problem before review does.

7. Price and publish

KDP shows you the minimum price for your page count and the royalty at each price. Pick a price, publish, and review usually finishes within 72 hours.

Puzzlil does steps 2 to 6 for you: puzzles checked for one answer, KDP's layout rules, a cover sized to your spine, and a checklist for the setup pages.