KDP Description Checker
KDP's 4,000-character limit counts your HTML tags, and Amazon only supports a small set of them. Paste your description to count it the way KDP does, catch unsupported tags, and clean it up with one click. Runs entirely in your browser — your description never leaves this page.
Preview
Roughly what shows before "Read more"
Rendered with KDP's allowed tags
What KDP actually accepts in a description
Two rules trip authors up. First, the 4,000-character limit counts the raw
string — every <p> and </p> included — so a
description that "fits" in a word processor can be rejected once formatting is added.
Second, Amazon supports only a small HTML subset: bold, italic, underline, line and
horizontal breaks, paragraphs, headings h4–h6, and lists.
Anything else — <div>s, <span style>s pasted
from Word, font tags — gets stripped or, worse, shows up as literal code on your
product page.
The clean-up button rewrites your description using only the allowed tags: supported formatting is kept, unsupported wrappers are unwrapped (their text survives), and attributes are dropped. The result is exactly what a shopper will see. The first ~150 visible characters matter most — that's roughly what shows before the "Read more" fold on a phone, so put the hook there, not "From the author of…".
Description questions, answered.
How long can an Amazon KDP book description be?
Up to 4,000 characters — and KDP counts the raw string including HTML tags, so <p> and </p> cost 7 characters even though shoppers never see them. This checker counts exactly the way KDP does.
What HTML tags does KDP allow in a book description?
Bold (b, strong), italic (i, em), underline (u), line breaks (br), horizontal rules (hr), paragraphs (p), the smaller headings h4, h5, and h6, and ordered or unordered lists (ol, ul, li). Everything else is unsupported and may be stripped or displayed as literal code.
Why does my Amazon description show raw HTML code?
It contains tags Amazon does not support — usually styling pasted from Word or Google Docs. Clean the description down to KDP's allowed tags (the clean-up button here does it in one click) and resubmit it.
How much of my description shows before "Read more"?
Roughly the first 150 visible characters on mobile — about two short sentences. Lead with the hook of your story there; credentials and review quotes can live below the fold.
Is my description uploaded when I use this checker?
No. This tool runs entirely in your browser — nothing you type or paste is sent to our server, logged, or stored anywhere.
In Pendrilo, your description lives with the book — same counter, same rules, plus verdicts and reminders across your whole KDP listing. The free tier includes a full book, no credit card needed.
Start writing free