KDP Content Freely Available on the Web: Causes and Fixes

KDP flags a book as "freely available on the web" when its review finds some or all of your text published elsewhere online, or when the book is a public domain work. To fix it, you either show that you hold the rights to that text or remove the matching content. If the content is public domain, you change the book so it offers something the free versions do not.

The message feels like an accusation, but it is usually a request for proof. Many authors who get it wrote every word themselves. They simply posted it somewhere first.

What does the KDP "freely available" message mean?

Amazon reviews new and updated titles against content it can find online. When a match turns up, KDP may email you, put the title on hold, or block publication until you respond. The exact wording changes, so read the email in full and check the status of the title in your Bookshelf.

The underlying rule comes from KDP's content guidelines. Amazon does not want to sell copies of text that readers can already get for free, unless the person publishing it owns the rights or adds real value. Your job is to show which of those applies to you.

The message does not by itself mean your account is in trouble. How you respond does matter. A clear, complete reply with documents is the fastest route. Ignoring it, or deleting and re-uploading the same file, tends to make things worse.

Why does KDP think my book is freely available online?

There are a handful of common causes. Most authors fall into the first one.

1. You published the text yourself first. Blog posts, Medium or Substack articles, Wattpad or Royal Road chapters, fan fiction archives, newsletters, and free PDF downloads on your website all count. KDP sees the same words online and cannot tell, without proof, that the person uploading them is the person who wrote them.

2. The book was published before. If a traditional or small publisher released the book and the rights have since come back to you, older editions or previews may still be online. So may listings on other retail sites.

3. The work is in the public domain. Classic novels, old poetry, historical documents and many government texts are free to read online. KDP treats these differently from original work. See the public domain glossary entry for what that status means.

4. You bought PLR or licensed content. Private label rights packs are sold to many buyers, so the same text often appears in dozens of places. A licence to use the text does not always mean KDP will accept it.

5. Someone else wrote part of it. A ghostwriter, co-author or contractor may have copied text from websites. You can be the one held responsible even if you did not know.

6. Quotations, lyrics, recipes or long excerpts. Large blocks of other people's work can trigger a match even if the rest of the book is original.

7. Your book was copied by someone else. Pirate sites, scraper sites and unauthorised uploads can put your own text online without your permission. KDP then finds the copy and asks you about it.

8. Generated text that echoes published material. If you drafted with an AI tool, check the output. Most of it will be new phrasing, but you are still responsible for what you upload. KDP has separate rules on AI content, covered in our guide to KDP AI content disclosure.

How do I fix it? (cause by cause)

Start by finding the match yourself. Paste a few distinctive sentences from different chapters into a search engine, in quotation marks. Search your book title and your author name. This usually shows within minutes where the overlap is.

Then pick the fix that fits.

Cause	Evidence KDP may accept	Fix
Your own blog, website or newsletter	Proof you control the site: a page or post naming you as the author of the book, admin access, domain registration in your name	Add a note on the site that the text is now a published book by you, or take the posts down; reply with the URLs
Wattpad, Royal Road, Medium, Substack or similar	Screenshots of your logged-in author dashboard showing the same work, profile linked to your author or pen name	Unpublish or reduce to a sample; add a note on your profile; reply with links
Previously published by a publisher	Rights reversion letter or email from the publisher, original contract	Ask retailers to remove old editions if they are still for sale; send the reversion document
Public domain work	Not a rights question; KDP wants differentiation	Add original annotations, a translation, or other substantial new material and say so in the title or subtitle
PLR or licensed text	Licence agreement	Often not enough. Rewrite heavily or remove the content
Ghostwriter or co-author	Signed contract assigning rights to you	Run their chapters through a plagiarism checker; rewrite any copied passages
Long quotes, lyrics, excerpts	Written permission from the rights holder	Cut to short quotes with attribution, or get permission
Pirated or scraped copy of your book	Your original files with dates, earlier publication records	Explain the copy is unauthorised; send the infringing URLs; file takedowns with those sites

If the text is on your own site

You do not always have to delete your work. What KDP needs is confidence that you are the rights holder. Linking the online version to your book helps. A line such as "This story is now published as [Book Title] by [Author Name]" on the original page creates a public connection between the two.

If the book is enrolled in, or you plan to enroll it in, KDP Select, the rules are stricter. Select requires the ebook to be exclusive to Amazon. That generally means the full text cannot stay free on your website or on other platforms. A short sample is usually fine, but check the current Select terms in your KDP account before leaving anything up.

If the book is public domain

KDP's published terms set out extra conditions for public domain titles. In general:

• You need to add something meaningful, such as a new translation, substantial annotations or commentary, or original illustrations. Simply reformatting the text or adding a new cover is not enough.
• You should describe that difference in the title or subtitle, for example "Annotated Edition" or "Translated by [Your Name]".
• Public domain titles have historically been restricted in royalty options and excluded from KDP Select. Confirm the current rules in your KDP dashboard before pricing.

Public domain status also varies by country. A work can be free to use in one territory and still under copyright in another. If you are unsure, the copyright glossary entry is a good starting point, and for anything high-stakes, talk to a lawyer.

If you cannot prove your rights

Some authors find the honest answer is that they cannot prove it. Examples include a PLR pack with a vague licence, a ghostwriter who will not sign an assignment, or long excerpts with no permission.

In that case, remove or rewrite the affected content and resubmit the revised book. Do not argue for text you do not control. A rejected appeal is a worse record than a corrected manuscript.

How do I prove I own the rights?

When you reply to KDP, make it easy for the reviewer. A short, organised message beats a long story.

Include:

1. The book title and the email reference, so they can match your reply.
2. Every URL where the matching text appears, and your relationship to each one.
3. Proof of control for each URL. This can be a screenshot of your logged-in dashboard, an author bio on the site that names the book, or a domain registration in your name.
4. Contracts or letters for anything involving another party: ghostwriter assignments, co-author agreements, publisher reversion letters, permissions for quoted material.
5. Original working files, if useful. Dated drafts, manuscript exports or emails sending chapters to an editor can show you wrote the text before it appeared elsewhere.
6. What you have changed, if anything. For example: "I have added a note to each post stating the work is now published," or "I have removed chapters 3 to 5 from Wattpad."

Formal copyright registration is not required to own your work, but it can help as supporting evidence. In the United States it is a public record with a date. Our guide on how to copyright a book explains how registration works and when it is worth doing.

Use the same name everywhere you can. If your blog is under your legal name and your book is under a pen name, say so plainly in your reply. Your bio on the site should also mention both names.

How do I stop it happening again?

Prevention is mostly about what you put online before publishing and what records you keep.

Decide where the book will live before you post anything. If you plan to publish on KDP, especially in Select, treat free serial posting as a sample, not a full release. Post the first few chapters, not the whole book.

Tie your online writing to your author identity. Use one author name or clearly linked names. Put a short bio on every platform that names your books.

Keep a rights folder for every book. Store contracts, licences, permission emails, reversion letters, and dated drafts. If KDP ever asks, you can reply the same day.

Check outsourced work. Run anything written by a ghostwriter, contractor or co-author through a plagiarism checker before upload. Get a signed assignment of rights before you pay the final invoice.

Avoid PLR for KDP books unless you plan to rewrite it until it is your own text.

Keep quotations short. Attribute them, and get written permission for anything long, including song lyrics and poetry, which are often tightly controlled.

Add a proper copyright page. It will not stop a review, but it states your claim clearly. See how to write a copyright page.

Write original drafts from your own brief. If you draft with Inkora, the book is written chapter by chapter from a brief and a "book bible" you edit, and you own what it produces. Inkora does not fact-check or run plagiarism checks, so still review the text, verify facts, and search any passage that reads suspiciously familiar.

Use a checklist for each upload. The Amazon KDP publishing guide walks through the steps. Inkora's Publishing Hub has a KDP checklist you can follow while you upload in your own account.

Common problems and fixes

KDP rejected my proof even though the site is mine. The reviewer may not have been able to connect you to the site. Add a visible note on the page naming the book and your author name, then reply again with a screenshot of your admin dashboard. Explain it in two or three sentences.

I deleted the posts but still got the message. Search engines and archive sites can keep cached copies for a while. Mention in your reply that you have removed the originals and list the URLs. Include proof that you were the author, such as old dashboard screenshots or your original files.

A pirate site is hosting my book. Tell KDP the copy is unauthorised, list the URLs, and send your original files with dates. Separately, send takedown notices to the hosting site or its host. Many sites have a copyright complaint form.

My public domain edition keeps getting blocked. The added material is probably too thin, or it is not described in the title. Expand your annotations, introduction or translation so the difference is obvious. Label it clearly in the title or subtitle, then resubmit.

The title was blocked and I re-uploaded it as a new book. Do not do this. Duplicate submissions of a flagged book can look like an attempt to get around review. Reply to the original message and resolve that title first.

I never got a reply after sending documents. Check your spam folder and the title status in your Bookshelf. If nothing has changed after a reasonable wait, contact KDP support through your account and reference the original message.

The book was rejected for other reasons too. A freely-available flag sometimes arrives alongside other problems, such as metadata or quality issues. Our guide on what to do if KDP rejects your book covers the other common causes.

Most "freely available on the web" flags come down to text you posted yourself, an earlier edition, or public domain material. Find the match, send clear proof or change the content, and keep a rights folder for each book. Your next upload should then go through without the same question.