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Series reading order builder

List your series once. Get a reading order graphic and a list ready for your website or back matter.

Books

Number each book in reading order. Use 0.5 for a prequel or 2.5 for a novella between books 2 and 3.

Graphic
1200 px wide PNG. Made in your browser; nothing is uploaded.

Reading order as a list

  1. The Keeper of Small Lights Book 1
  2. A Harbor in Winter Book 2
  3. The Night Ferry Novella 2.5
  4. Salt and Signal Book 3

Rather have a pro handle this? Our studio can: author website.

Short answer

List your series books with a number for each: 1, 2, 3, and 0.5 or 2.5 for a prequel or novella. The builder sorts them into reading order and gives you a PNG graphic, plus the list as text for back matter or HTML for your website. Novellas can be shown or left out.

How to use it

  1. Type the series name and, if you like, your author name.
  2. Add each book with its number in reading order. Tick Novella for shorter stories.
  3. Use the arrows to move a book. The numbers update to match: main books 1, 2, 3, and a novella half a step after the book before it.
  4. Choose whether to show novellas, and a paper or ink graphic.
  5. Download the PNG, or copy the list as text or HTML.

How it works

Books sort by the number you give them, lowest first. Books with the same number keep the order you typed them in, and a book with no number goes last. The graphic numbers each book by its place in the reading order and labels it with your own number, so a novella numbered 2.5 appears as step 3 with the label Novella 2.5.

Worked example: The Lantern Coast series has 3 books and 1 novella. The list comes out as:

The Lantern Coast series in reading order, by Your Name

1. The Keeper of Small Lights (Book 1)
2. A Harbor in Winter (Book 2)
3. The Night Ferry (Novella 2.5)
4. Salt and Signal (Book 3)

On KDP

KDP help says a series can be ordered, for stories read in sequence, or unordered. Main content follows the numbers you set on the series page, and related content, such as a boxset, shows in the order it was added. Match the numbers you use here to the ones you set in KDP so readers see the same order everywhere.

Questions authors ask

How do I number a novella or prequel?

Give it a number between the books it sits between. A novella set after book 2 is 2.5, and a prequel is 0.5. In the example, The Night Ferry is novella 2.5 and lands between books 2 and 3.

Should novellas be in the reading order?

That is your call. Readers of a long series often want them, while new readers may only want the main books. Untick Show novellas and the example's 4 books become 3.

How does Amazon order books on a KDP series page?

KDP help says a series can be ordered or unordered. You set the order of main content by editing each book's number, and related content shows in the order it was added. Kindle boxsets can be added as related content.

Can any book go in a KDP series?

No. KDP help says public domain books and low-content books, such as notebooks and journals, are not eligible for a series.

Where should I put the reading order?

In the back matter of every book in the series, on a Books or Series page on your author website, and in your newsletter. Copy the HTML for your site and the text for your manuscript.

Are my titles saved or sent anywhere?

No. The list and graphic are made in your browser. The share link keeps only the look (paper or ink, and whether novellas show), never your titles or name. You can list up to 30 books.

Before and after this step

Related tools

Sources

Last verified against KDP's help pages on series. KDP changes its series tools from time to time, so check the help page before you set up a series.

KDP series pages