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Create Winning Journals & Notebooks

Notebook and journal interiors ready for KDP — ruled, dotted, squared or blank, plus a gratitude journal and a reading log. Free PDFs, margins already set.

Made by BookBird · Free to use in your own books · Margins set to Amazon KDP’s rules

Graph paper notebook: a two-page spread of the interior

Notebooks

Graph paper notebook

Quad ruled, four squares to the inch, edge to edge inside the margins.

Download free PDF

KDP setup
Trim
6" × 9", 8.5" × 11"
Pages
120
Interior
Black ink, white paper
Bleed
No bleed — page size equals trim size
Margins
Inside 0.5", outside 0.375", top 0.5", bottom 0.5"
Low-content
Yes — tick the Low-content box
Sketchbook: a two-page spread of the interior

Notebooks

Sketchbook

A framed drawing area on every page, with a title and date line under it.

Download free PDF

KDP setup
Trim
6" × 9", 8.5" × 11"
Pages
120
Interior
Black ink, white paper
Bleed
No bleed — page size equals trim size
Margins
Inside 0.5", outside 0.375", top 0.5", bottom 0.5"
Low-content
Yes — tick the Low-content box

Which ruling for which book

Wide ruled (11/32", 8.7 mm) is the easier line for children and large handwriting, and for journals people fill slowly. College ruled (9/32", 7.1 mm) gets more lines on a page and is a common choice for adult notebooks. Dot grid (5 mm) is a favourite for bullet journals, because it works for text, lists and drawing. Graph paper (four squares to the inch) suits maths, knitting and quilting charts, and floor plans. The sketchbook gives a framed blank area with room for a title.

Which trim

6" × 9" is KDP’s default trim and, by KDP’s account, the most common book size in the US; 5" × 8" is a pocket or bag notebook; 8.5" × 11" is letter size, for notes and study. Each template’s card lists the sizes it comes in.

Publishing it as a low-content book

KDP counts notebooks, diaries, journals, prompt journals and log books as low-content. Tick the Low-content box under Categories, and choose between publishing without an ISBN and using your own — low-content books cannot use the free KDP ISBN. Without an ISBN, KDP places a barcode in a 2" × 1.2" white box at the lower right of the back cover, so keep that area of your cover empty.

How to publish a template on KDP, in 5 steps

  1. Download the PDF in your trim size

    Each file is a complete interior: the right page size, 120 pages (42 for the coloring book), margins already set. Nothing needs to be resized.

  2. Create a paperback on your KDP Bookshelf

    For a notebook, planner, journal or log, tick Low-content under Categories on the details page — KDP rejects a low-content book without it. Coloring books are not low-content in KDP’s own list, so leave the box unticked for those.

  3. Set the print options

    Black & white interior on white paper, the trim size of the file you downloaded, and No bleed. A low-content book can be published without an ISBN or with your own; it is not eligible for a free KDP ISBN.

  4. Upload the interior and a cover

    Upload the PDF as the manuscript. The cover is yours to make: the cover calculator gives the full cover size and spine width for your trim and page count. KDP prints spine text only on books with more than 79 pages, so a 120-page book can carry it.

  5. Preview, order a proof, publish

    Open Launch Previewer in the Book Preview section and fix anything it flags, order a printed proof if you want to hold it first, then set your price — the royalty calculator shows the printing cost and what you earn per copy.

More free templates

A problem with a file, or a question? Get in touch, or request a template we have not made yet.