KDP description HTML: the tags Amazon allows, and a template you can paste

Short answer. KDP description HTML is limited to a short list: line breaks, paragraphs, bold, italic, underline, headings h4 to h6, and numbered or bulleted lists. Every tag counts toward the 4,000 character limit. Type the tags in the Description field's Source view, and avoid pasting straight from Word or Google Docs, because hidden markup can come with it.

Key points

• KDP supports <br>, <p>, <b>, <i>, <em>, <u>, <h4> to <h6>, <ol>, <ul> and <li>.
• <h1>, <h2> and <h3> are not supported.
• Tags count toward the 4,000 character limit. Bold costs 7 characters, a blank line costs 8.
• For an empty line between paragraphs you need two line breaks, <br><br>.
• Pasting from a document is the usual cause of the "invisible characters" error.
• Our Amazon book listing optimization writes the description with its HTML, ready to paste.

Which HTML tags does KDP allow in a book description?

Twelve, if you count h4, h5 and h6 separately. This is the full list on KDP's Write a Book Description help page:

Anything else is unsupported. That includes <h1> to <h3>, <span>, <div>, font colors and links.

How many characters does each tag cost?

KDP counts tags as characters, whether you type in the text view or the Source view. Its own example: "test" is 4 characters, and the same word in bold is 11.

Here is what the common ones cost, counted with Python on 13 October 2026:

A five-item bulleted list costs 54 characters in tags alone. That matters only if you are close to 4,000. KDP suggests about 150 words, and a 157-word description we wrote came to 891 characters with its tags, as our post on Amazon book description length shows.

What does finished KDP description HTML look like?

Here is one we wrote on 13 October 2026 for our own Pride and Prejudice sample edition. It is short on purpose:

<b>Five sisters, one modest fortune, and a mother set on marrying them all.</b><br><br>When wealthy Mr. Bingley rents Netherfield Park, Mrs. Bennet sees a husband for her eldest daughter. His friend Mr. Darcy sees a room full of people beneath him. Elizabeth Bennet sees exactly what Darcy thinks of her, and she is in no hurry to forgive it.<br><br><i>Pride and Prejudice</i> is Jane Austen's comedy of first impressions, and of the second looks that change them.

We counted it. The text is 434 characters and the tags add 30: one bold pair (7), two blank lines (16) and one italic pair (7). The total is 464, under 12% of the limit. The bold hook line is 72 characters, so it reads in one glance.

Is there a template I can copy?

Yes. Replace the words in capitals and delete any line you do not need.

Fiction

<b>ONE-LINE HOOK: WHO WANTS WHAT, AND WHAT STANDS IN THE WAY.</b><br><br>SETUP IN TWO OR THREE SENTENCES. NAME THE MAIN CHARACTER AND THE PROBLEM.<br><br>WHAT IS AT STAKE IF THEY FAIL, IN ONE SENTENCE.<br><br><i>GENRE LINE: FOR READERS WHO LIKE THIS KIND OF BOOK.</i>

Nonfiction

<b>ONE-LINE PROMISE: WHAT THE READER CAN DO AFTER THIS BOOK.</b><br><br>WHO THE BOOK IS FOR AND THE PROBLEM IT SOLVES, IN TWO SENTENCES.<br><br><h4>Inside the book</h4><ul><li>FIRST THING THEY LEARN</li><li>SECOND THING</li><li>THIRD THING</li></ul>ONE SENTENCE ON WHY YOU WROTE IT.

The nonfiction version uses a list, because readers of how-to books scan for what they will learn. Keep it to three to five items.

Two things to leave out, even if they fit. KDP does not accept reviews or quotes in the description. Its restrictions list also includes "keywords or book tags phrases", so the search terms belong in the 7 keyword boxes, not here.

The fix we do for this: Amazon book listing optimization. We write your description with the hook in the lines that show first, coded in KDP's own tags, plus the subtitle, 7 keywords, 3 categories and author bio. It costs $149 and takes 5 business days, and you paste it in yourself. Send us your book.

Where do I put the HTML in KDP?

In the Description field, in the Source view. Go to your Bookshelf, click the three dots next to the book, choose Edit details, scroll to Description and click Source. Paste the HTML there, then Save and Continue, and Publish on the Pricing page.

You can also format with the editor's own buttons for bold, italic and lists. They write the same tags for you. Click Source afterward to check what they wrote.

Why does KDP say my description has invisible characters?

Because something unsupported is in the source. KDP's help page says the errors "Description may not contain invisible characters" and "Please fix the highlighted issue" mean hidden or unsupported characters, often from copying straight out of a document.

We saw what a document adds in a quick test on 13 October 2026. We saved a two-line paragraph with one bold phrase and one italic title as a Word file on a Mac, then converted it back to HTML with the Mac's own textutil tool. Every paragraph came back as <p class="p1"><span class="s1">. Neither the class nor the span is on KDP's list. That is the hidden markup KDP is warning about.

KDP's fixes:

• Type the description in by hand.
• Click Source and remove any tag that is not on the supported list.
• Remove empty brackets, <> or <><>.

If you would rather paste, paste it as plain text first. That step is our own habit, not KDP's advice.

Why is my whole description bold, or all one block?

Usually a missing closing tag or a missing break. Three of KDP's troubleshooting checks cover it:

• Every opening tag has its closing tag, so <b> needs </b>.
• A blank line needs two breaks, <br><br>. One break only starts a new line.
• A list needs <li> inside the <ul> or <ol>.

A stray heading tag can also bold everything after it. KDP's help page names header tags as the first thing to look for.

What else does KDP do to the text?

It ignores extra spaces. Double or multiple spaces between words do not show on the detail page, so do not use spaces to lay anything out.

Angle brackets also have rules. A bracket used with text, like <text>, is allowed. A lone < text, a double << or >>, or empty <> is not.

What else do authors ask about KDP description HTML?

What should you do next?

Copy the template, fill it in, and paste it into the Source view of your Description field. Before you publish, check the length and the opening lines against our post on what shows before Read more. If you would rather have the description and the rest of the listing written for you, start on our Amazon book listing optimization page.