Kindle Translate is Amazon's AI translation service for KDP ebooks. It can turn an English book into Spanish, German, French, Italian or Portuguese. The choice that matters most is whether you look at the translation before it goes live.
The lesson this week: always choose to preview, and use the checklist below while you do.
What Amazon says
Amazon's Kindle Translate page (updated 30 June 2026, checked 27 October 2026) says the service is a free beta for KDP authors, translating between English and those five languages. Translations are "automatically evaluated for accuracy and quality before publication", and authors "can choose whether to preview or automatically publish once complete." Translated titles are labelled in the Amazon Store.
KDP's Getting Started with Kindle Translate page (checked 27 October 2026) adds that it is an invite-only beta on kdp.amazon.com.
Before you start
- Rights. The beta terms (last updated 6 November 2025) say you must hold the translation rights. They also say Amazon owns the translated files and you cannot sell them anywhere else. Our 20 October post on translation checks covers how to confirm your rights. This is not legal advice.
- Eligibility. KDP's eligibility page (checked 27 October 2026) says the ebook must be Live, reflowable, not a pre-order, and have a cover and a primary author. It also cannot be mostly public domain material, or a book that is already a translation.
Do not skip the preview
KDP lets you choose "Submit for publishing" while the translation is still being made. If you do, the book goes live without you seeing it, within up to 72 hours, and your original ebook is locked for editing until then. To look first, start the translation, wait (KDP says up to 24 hours), then return to the setup page and open the preview.
The setting "Automatically translate and publish in new languages" publishes each new language as Amazon adds it. Leave it off to see each one first.
Your preview checklist
Amazon runs its own quality check, which looks at things like names, idioms, formal and informal address, and consistent genders for characters (KDP's Kindle Translate Quality page, checked 27 October 2026). Check the same things yourself, ideally with a native reader:
- Names. Characters, places and your own pen name should look right throughout.
- How people speak to each other. A grandmother and a child may need different forms of "you".
- Jokes, sayings and wordplay. KDP says these may not translate well.
- Pictures with words in them. Text inside images, charts and graphics cannot be translated, and neither can your subtitle.
- Front and back matter. KDP says the copyright page is translated. Read your author note and "also by" list too.
- The cover. The default cover is your existing cover with a white border and the language at the top. You can upload your own instead.
After it is live
Book details such as the title come from your original ebook and cannot be changed on the translation alone. If you edit your manuscript later, KDP asks you to re-translate, and the new version can come back as "Cannot be published". You can unpublish a translation at any time. KDP also asks beta participants not to share specifics or take screenshots of the beta, so keep your notes private, in your rights folder.
If you ever translate a book with another AI tool and upload it yourself, KDP's Content Guidelines count that as AI-generated content to disclose. See our 30 September post on AI disclosure, and our 22 October post on keeping an AI log.
A small example
This one is made up. Carmen is invited to the beta and translates her first cozy mystery into Spanish. She does not press Submit for publishing. The next day she opens the preview with her sister, who lives in Seville. A pun in chapter three makes no sense in Spanish, and her village map still has English labels. Carmen waits and replaces the map first.
A translation is a new edition with your name on it. Read it before readers do.