What Happens to Your Self-Published Books and KDP Account When You Die?

Your copyright does not disappear when you die, so your books can pass to your heirs. Your KDP account is harder, because KDP’s terms are written between KDP and the person named on the account. This is general information and not legal advice, so ask a lawyer in your country before you rely on any of it.

Who owns your books after you die?

You do own your books, and what you own passes on. The US Copyright Office says copyright protection generally lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years (Copyright Office duration FAQ). Other countries have different terms, and works published under a pen name or made for hire follow different rules.

What happens to that right depends on what you leave behind. Without a will, the law of your country or state decides who inherits. With one, you can name who gets the rights to your books. See are self-published books copyrighted? for the basics on owning the rights.

What happens to your KDP account?

I could not find a KDP help page that says what happens to an account when its owner dies. What KDP’s terms say is:

• The agreement is between Amazon and “the individual or the entity identified in your KDP account.”
• You are “solely responsible for safeguarding and maintaining the confidentiality of your account username and password.”
• “Neither party may assign any of its rights or obligations under this Agreement” without the other’s prior written consent. The exceptions are that Amazon may assign without consent, and that you may assign to a company in connection with the sale of all or substantially all of your assets.

(KDP Terms and Conditions, last updated 21-Oct-26.)

So a family member can’t simply take over the account because they inherit the book. They would have to ask KDP what it requires, and I suggest you ask KDP support that question now, in writing, while you are alive, and keep the answer with your papers.

What should you put in a will or in writing?

These are the things I would want a trusted person to be able to find:

1. Who gets the rights to each book, and to your pen names.
2. A list of every account where your books are sold or paid for, such as KDP, IngramSpark, Draft2Digital and your email tool, without passwords written into the will itself, since a will can become a public document.
3. Where your password manager or login details are kept, and who may open it.
4. Where royalties are paid. The bank account on file is the one that keeps receiving the money.
5. Your source files: the manuscript, the formatted files and the cover files, so someone can republish or update the book.
6. Who should decide whether to keep the books on sale or unpublish them.

Then tell that person where this lives. A plan nobody knows about does not help.

Should you set up a company instead?

Some authors publish through a company so the accounts and rights belong to the company and not to a person. KDP’s assignment clause allows an assignment to a company when you sell all or substantially all of your assets. Whether that helps you depends on your country’s tax and inheritance rules, so it is a question for an accountant and a lawyer, not something I can answer for you.

What should you do this week?

Make the list above, store it somewhere safe, and book a short call with a lawyer who handles wills to ask how to leave the rights and the account instructions. If you have not set up your accounts yet, my free 12-step checklist covers the route from manuscript to published book: get the self-publishing checklist.

I also cover whether you need to register a copyright, which is the other half of owning what you leave behind.

Start with the free checklist

The checklist is the 12 steps I follow for every book I publish, from choosing a profitable niche with keyword research to setting up the marketing machine. It is free, and you get it straight away.

Get the free checklist