Amazon changes how copyright protection is applied to Kindle Direct’s self-published ebooks

Amazon says it volition allow authors to connection their DRM-free ebooks successful the EPUB and PDF formats done its self-publishing platform, Kindle Direct Publishing. Starting connected January 20, 2026, authors who acceptable their titles arsenic DRM-free volition spot their books made disposable successful these much unfastened formats.

The determination to usage Digital Rights Management (DRM), a copyright extortion mechanism, is acceptable by the authors erstwhile they people their ebooks connected Amazon’s platform.

The institution notes these changes won’t interaction antecedently published titles. If authors privation to alteration the presumption of older titles, they’ll person to log into the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) writer portal and alteration an enactment successful the settings. (Instructions connected however to marque that alteration are connected Amazon’s KDP enactment tract here.)

This determination whitethorn really incentivize authors to use DRM to their ebooks.

As one writer connected the KDP Community forums, Leslie Anne Perry, noted, “Previously, I person not enabled DRM connected my e-books. My reasoning was that I wanted folks to beryllium capable to download them to different devices wrong their ain household. However, I deliberation I volition alteration it connected immoderate aboriginal e-books. I’m not definite I privation radical to beryllium capable to download them arsenic a PDFs [sic].”

Another subordinate pushed backmost astatine the complaints, arguing that it doesn’t truly summation privacy, arsenic those who had wanted to could ever dump the existing DRM-free Kindle record into bundle to person it into an EPUB oregon PDF.

Amazon is positioning the caller diagnostic arsenic making it “easier” for readers to bask the contented they’ve already purchased, but the world is that authors would person to opt successful if they privation to unfastened up entree to their older works. To region the DRM, authors volition person to click a container that says, “I recognize that by not applying DRM, customers who bargain and person already bought this publication volition beryllium capable to download it arsenic a PDF oregon EPUB file.”

Elsewhere, Amazon has been making it much hard for Kindle owners to stock oregon backmost up their ebooks done heavier usage of DRM successful caller months.

With an update to Kindle’s bundle for 11th and 12th-generation devices, the retailer introduced a caller DRM system that made it intolerable for Kindle users to backmost up their ebooks without jailbreaking their device. This had followed an earlier change to region the download and transportation options via USB, which angered galore Kindle owners.

After the writer updates their ebook’s DRM status, Amazon says the changes volition instrumentality up to 72 hours earlier those changes are unrecorded connected Amazon.com.