Amazon changes how copyright protection is applied to Kindle Direct’s self-published ebooks
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Amazon says it will allow authors to offer their DRM-free ebooks in the EPUB and PDF formats through its self-publishing platform, Kindle Direct Publishing. Starting on January 20, 2026, authors who set their titles as DRM-free will see their books made available in these more open formats. The decision to use Digital Rights Management (DRM), a copyright protection mechanism, is set by the authors when they publish their ebooks on Amazon’s platform. The company notes these changes won’t impact previously published titles. If authors want to change the status of older titles, they’ll have to log into the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) author portal and change an option in the settings. (Instructions on how to make that change are on Amazon’s KDP support site here.) This move may actually incentivize authors to apply DRM to their ebooks. As one author on the KDP Community forums, Leslie Anne Perry, noted, “Previously, I have not enabled DRM on my e-books. My thinking was that I wanted folks to be able to download them to other devices within their own household. However, I think I will enable it on any future e-books. I’m not sure I want people to be able to download them as a PDFs [sic].” Another member pushed back at the complaints, arguing that it doesn’t really increase privacy, as those who had wanted to could always dump the existing DRM-free Kindle file into software to convert it into an EPUB or PDF. Amazon is positioning the new feature as making it “easier” for readers to enjoy the content they’ve already purchased, but the reality is that authors would have to opt in if they want to open up access to their older works. To remove the DRM, authors will have to click a box that says, “I understand that by not applying DRM, customers who buy and have already bought this book will be able to download it as a PDF or EPUB file.” Elsewhere, Amazon has been making it more difficult for Kindle owners to share or back up their ebooks through heavier use of DRM in recent months. With an update to Kindle’s software for 11th and 12th-generation devices, the retailer introduced a new DRM system that made it impossible for Kindle users to back up their ebooks without jailbreaking their device. This had followed an earlier change to remove the download and transfer options via USB, which angered many Kindle owners. After the author updates their ebook’s DRM status, Amazon says the changes will take up to 72 hours before those changes are live on Amazon.com. Topics Amazon, Apps, Commerce, DRM, ebooks, Kindle, TC Sarah Perez Consumer News Editor Sarah has worked as a reporter for TechCrunch since August 2011. She joined the company after having previously spent over three years at ReadWriteWeb. Prior to her work as a reporter, Sarah worked in I.T. across a number of industries, including banking, retail and software. You can contact or verify outreach from Sarah by emailing sarahp@techcrunch.com or via encrypted message at sarahperez.01 on Signal.
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