Kindle Translate: what authors need to know

What Kindle Translate is

According to KDP's help pages (read on October 15, 2026), Kindle Translate is an invite-only beta for eligible KDP ebooks, and a free service while it is in beta. After your ebook is live, KDP runs an eligibility check; if the book passes, a "Translate your eBook" option appears on your Bookshelf.

The service supports ebooks only. KDP states that audiobooks and print books are not supported. Previewing a translation before it is published is optional, and the translated text cannot be edited directly. Translations can be unpublished at any time.

Because this is a beta, details move. Treat what follows as a snapshot dated October 15, 2026, and confirm on the official pages linked at the end.

Languages: English plus five

The source ebook's primary language must be English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese or Spanish; Japanese books are not eligible for now. Amazon's announcement describes translation between English and Spanish, German, French, Italian and Portuguese, with French, Italian and Portuguese added on June 30, 2026.

In practice that means six languages, with English at the center. A book in Spanish can be translated into English, but KDP's pages describe the pairs as English with each of the other five. If you need Spanish to German, or any language outside the six, Kindle Translate is not the tool.

Who is eligible, and who is not

KDP's eligibility page lists the conditions for an ebook:

• It must be live. Books in "Publishing" status and pre-orders are not eligible.
• It must be reflowable, not fixed-format, and it must have a cover and a primary author or contributor.
• It must not already be a translation, including a Kindle Translate edition.
• Books that primarily consist of public domain material are not eligible, even if translated, annotated or illustrated. Original adaptations or retellings are.

The last point rules out a whole category of self-published books: classics and public domain editions. If that is your catalog, Kindle Translate was not designed for you.

KDP also warns that books with many images, several languages, tables, graphs or code may not suit the service, with cookbooks and comic books as examples. Text embedded in images, charts or graphics and book subtitles cannot be translated. Highly technical content, complex wordplay, poetry and heavy cultural references may translate poorly. Amazon may decline or remove a translation at any time.

Pricing, royalties and KDP Select

Translating costs the author nothing, and you set the selling price. KDP says you get the same royalty options for translations as for the source ebook: the 35 percent and 70 percent plans. You may reuse the source ebook's royalty plan and list price or choose new ones. Sales to customers outside the 70 percent eligible territories earn 35 percent of the list price.

Translations are eligible for KDP Select and Kindle Unlimited. Enrollment is managed separately from the source book: if the source is enrolled when you submit translations, they are enrolled for 90 days, and enrollment renews automatically in 90-day periods unless you opt out. Orders, royalties and payments appear in KDP Reports like any other ebook. The beta has its own terms and conditions; read them for what they say about the translated files and distribution rights before you opt in.

What readers see

Readers see language labels on Kindle Translate titles, along with samples to preview the translation. In other words, the translated edition is identified as such. That is neither good nor bad in itself, but plan for it: some readers will buy a labeled machine translation, others will not.

If you translate your book outside Kindle Translate, KDP has its own rules on declaring AI-made translations when you publish; see our guide on KDP AI disclosure.

What Kindle Translate leaves out

Putting the official rules next to what an author may need gives a short list of gaps.

• Paperbacks. The service covers ebooks only, so there is no translated interior PDF for print, and no cover recalculated for a new page count.
• Other languages and other pairs. Six languages, all paired with English.
• Control. KDP's pages we read describe a preview, but no glossary, register or regional-variant settings, and the translated text cannot be edited inside the service.
• Public domain material. Excluded outright.
• Invitation. It is an invite-only beta, and access is not guaranteed.

Kindle Translate or Librolingua?

These are different tools for overlapping needs. Here is an honest side-by-side.

Neither of them equals a great literary translator. Both produce a draft that is worth having a native speaker read before you rely on it.

How to decide

If your book is an original ebook in English or one of the five other languages, is already live on KDP, and the pair you want is covered, try Kindle Translate first: it is free, and you lose nothing by previewing the result.

Look elsewhere if you want a paperback, if your pair or language is outside the six, if your book is made mostly of public domain text, or if you need to fix names, tone and spelling variant before translation rather than after. Our guides on the cost of translation and on publishing a translated book on KDP cover the next steps. Librolingua is not affiliated with Amazon.

Official pages used for this guide: KDP help, "Beta: Kindle Translate"; "Kindle Translate Eligibility and Troubleshooting"; "Pricing, royalties, and reports for translations"; and Amazon's announcement on aboutamazon.com.

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