KDP Book Generator

A powerful tool to generate KDP-compliant PDFs from Markdown files for Amazon book publishing.

Features

• ✅ KDP Compliance: Automatic margin calculation, font embedding, and format validation
• 📐 Multiple Formats: Support for all standard KDP book sizes (6"x9", 5.5"x8.5", etc.)
• 🎨 Precise Typography: Full control over fonts, spacing, and layout
• 📄 Professional Layout: Page numbers, table of contents, chapter breaks
• 🖨️ Print Ready: 300 DPI support with optional bleed
• ⚡ Fast Generation: Playwright-based PDF generation for consistent results
• 📱 EPUB/Kindle Support: Generate e-books for Kindle Direct Publishing
• 📚 Multi-file Assembly: Combine multiple Markdown files into complete books

Installation

npm install -g kdp-book-generator

Or use directly with npx:

npx kdp-book-generator generate my-book.md

Quick Start

1. Create a markdown file with your book content:

---
title: "My Amazing Book"
author: "Your Name"
---

# Chapter 1: Introduction

Welcome to my book! This is the first chapter...

---

# Chapter 2: Getting Started

Here's how to get started...

2. Generate your PDF:

kdp-generator generate my-book.md --output my-book.pdf --format 6x9

CLI Usage

Generate PDF

kdp-generator generate <input.md> [options]

Generate EPUB (for Kindle)

kdp-generator generate <input.md> --output book.epub --format kindle

Options:

• -o, --output <output> - Output PDF file (default: book.pdf)
• -f, --format <format> - Book format: 6x9, 5.5x8.5, 5x8, 8.5x11, 7x10, 7.5x9.25 (default: 6x9)
• -c, --config <config> - Configuration file (JSON)
• -t, --title <title> - Book title
• -a, --author <author> - Book author
• --no-toc - Disable table of contents
• --bleed - Enable bleed (0.125" on all sides)
• --pages <pages> - Estimated page count for margin calculation (default: 200)
• --debug - Enable debug output

List Available Formats

kdp-generator formats

Generate Configuration File

kdp-generator config --output book-config.json

Validate Configuration

kdp-generator validate book-config.json

Assemble Multiple Files

kdp-generator assemble assembly-config.yaml --output complete-book.pdf

# For EPUB/Kindle
kdp-generator assemble assembly-config.yaml --output book.epub --format kindle

Configuration

Create a book-config.json file to customize your book:

{
  "title": "My Book",
  "author": "Author Name",
  "format": {
    "name": "6\" x 9\"",
    "width": 6,
    "height": 9,
    "unit": "in"
  },
  "margins": {
    "top": 0.25,
    "bottom": 0.25,
    "inside": 0.5,
    "outside": 0.25,
    "unit": "in"
  },
  "typography": {
    "body": {
      "family": "Times New Roman",
      "size": 11,
      "lineHeight": 1.4,
      "weight": "normal",
      "style": "normal",
      "color": "#000000",
      "marginTop": 0,
      "marginBottom": 12
    },
    "heading1": {
      "family": "Times New Roman",
      "size": 18,
      "lineHeight": 1.4,
      "weight": "bold",
      "style": "normal",
      "color": "#000000",
      "marginTop": 24,
      "marginBottom": 18
    }
  },
  "pageNumbers": {
    "enabled": true,
    "startPage": 1,
    "format": "decimal",
    "position": "footer",
    "alignment": "center"
  },
  "tableOfContents": true,
  "bleed": false
}

Markdown Features

Front Matter

Use YAML front matter to specify book metadata:

---
title: "Book Title"
author: "Author Name"
description: "Book description"
keywords: ["keyword1", "keyword2"]
language: "en"
---

Page Breaks

Use horizontal rules to force page breaks:

# Chapter 1

Content here...

---

# Chapter 2

New chapter on new page...

Table of Contents

Automatically generated from headings. Use --no-toc to disable.

Supported Elements

• Headings: H1-H6 with automatic styling
• Paragraphs: Justified text with proper spacing
• Lists: Ordered and unordered lists
• Blockquotes: Styled quote blocks
• Code: Inline code and code blocks
• Tables: Formatted tables with borders
• Images: Embedded images (300 DPI recommended)
• Links: Clickable links in PDF

Amazon KDP Compliance

Automatic Margin Calculation

Margins are automatically calculated based on your page count:

• 24 pages or less: 0.375" inside, 0.25" outside
• 25-150 pages: 0.5" inside, 0.25" outside
• 151-300 pages: 0.625" inside, 0.25" outside
• 301-500 pages: 0.75" inside, 0.25" outside
• 501+ pages: 0.875" inside, 0.25" outside

Font Embedding

All fonts are automatically embedded in the PDF to ensure compatibility.

Quality Requirements

• Resolution: 300 DPI for all images
• File size: Optimized to stay under 650MB limit
• Color mode: Proper color handling for print
• Format compliance: Meets all KDP technical requirements

Programmatic Usage

import { generatePDF } from 'kdp-book-generator';

await generatePDF({
  input: 'my-book.md',
  output: 'my-book.pdf',
  config: {
    title: 'My Book',
    author: 'Author Name',
    format: { name: '6" x 9"', width: 6, height: 9, unit: 'in' },
    // ... other config options
  },
  debug: true
});

Examples

See the examples/ directory for:

• sample-book.md - Complete book example
• assembly-config.yaml - Multi-file book assembly
• simple-config.json - Basic configuration

See the templates/ directory for:

• book-assembly-template.yaml - Comprehensive assembly template
• simple-book-assembly.yaml - Minimal assembly example
• textbook-assembly.yaml - Academic book structure
• novel-assembly.yaml - Fiction book structure

Documentation

• Multi-File Assembly Guide - Combine multiple files into books
• EPUB/Kindle Guide - Generate e-books for Amazon KDP

Requirements

• Node.js 18 or higher
• Chromium (automatically installed with Playwright)

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build the project
npm run build

# Run in development mode
npm run dev

# Run tests
npm test

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Support

For issues and questions:

• Create an issue on GitHub
• Check the documentation
• Review the examples

Changelog

1.0.0

• Initial release
• KDP compliance features
• Multiple format support
• CLI interface
• Configuration system