How to Reach International Readers When Amazon Isn’t Available in Their Country

When you publish a book, it is easy to assume that digital distribution will make it available to readers everywhere. After all, an e-book does not have to cross a border, pass through customs, or travel through a physical distribution network. A reader simply purchases the book and downloads it.

In practice, international e-book distribution can be much more complicated.

I recently ran into this issue during a book launch for an author with a significant audience in Malaysia. We had followed Amazon KDP's instructions for making the Kindle edition available internationally, yet readers in Malaysia were receiving an error telling them that the book was unavailable in their country. What made the situation especially confusing was that Malaysian readers could access other Kindle books through Amazon, including books that were already available in the Kindle Store.

After escalating the issue through several levels of Amazon support, I finally learned something that I had never seen disclosed in Amazon's documentation: Kindle books distributed through KDP were not available to readers in Malaysia, despite Malaysia having access to the Kindle Store.

That experience changed the way I think about international publishing, and it is something I want every author with an international audience to understand before planning a book launch.

International Print Distribution and E-Book Distribution Work Differently

When authors ask me how readers in another country can purchase their books, the answer depends heavily on whether we are talking about a print book or an e-book.

Print distribution tends to offer more flexibility. A reader in a country without its own Amazon marketplace may still be able to purchase a print book through Amazon.com. Depending on the country, authors can also work with local print-on-demand providers or specialty distributors. Mail-forwarding services can provide another option for readers who purchase through a marketplace outside their home country.

E-books introduce a different set of considerations because digital availability is controlled by territory and platform policies. It is easy to assume that a Kindle book available through the US Kindle Store will automatically be available to anyone who can access that storefront. That assumption can create serious problems when an author is preparing for a launch involving readers in countries without a dedicated Amazon marketplace.

If you have a substantial international audience, I recommend testing e-book availability in those markets before your launch rather than discovering a distribution limitation after your release date.

Your Audience May Have Access to Kindle While Your Book Does Not

This was the most surprising part of the situation I encountered.

Malaysia has access to the Kindle Store. We confirmed that readers in Malaysia could purchase other Kindle books. That suggested that our book should have been accessible as well.

It wasn't.

The issue turned out to be connected specifically to KDP distribution. Amazon's general documentation indicated that readers in countries without their own marketplace could access Kindle books through Amazon.com, but the technical team ultimately explained that KDP-distributed Kindle books were not available in Malaysia. There was no clear public list that allowed us to identify this limitation before the launch.

This distinction is incredibly important for authors.

When you are preparing a book for an international audience, you cannot rely solely on whether a country has access to the Kindle Store. You need to know whether readers in that country can actually purchase a book distributed through KDP.

That information may require testing.

Test Your Book Before You Promise It to Your Audience

One of the biggest lessons I took away from this experience was the importance of testing.

We had a large Malaysian audience for this particular author, so providing access to the e-book was part of the promise we had made to those readers. When they began reporting that the book was unavailable, we had to investigate the problem after the launch was already underway.

Fortunately, we had a successful launch in the United States and Australia, and the author achieved multiple number-one category placements. That gave us room to focus on solving the Malaysian distribution issue without compromising the overall launch.

Even so, I would much rather identify an issue like this before launch day.

If you have readers in another country, ask someone who actually lives there to test the purchase process using an account associated with that country. This gives you a much more reliable picture of what your audience will experience.

A distribution page that says your book is available internationally does not necessarily tell you what an individual reader will encounter when they try to purchase it.

Kobo Can Provide an Alternative for International E-Book Distribution

Once we confirmed the limitation with KDP, I started looking for another solution that would allow Malaysian readers to access the book without requiring complicated workarounds.

That search led me to Kobo.

Kobo is an international e-book platform with a broader territorial reach, including a Malaysia-specific storefront. For this particular launch, it gave us a practical way to fulfill the promise we had made to the author's Malaysian audience.

The setup process was straightforward. After submitting the necessary publishing information, the book became available in approximately two to two and a half days. We were able to obtain the Malaysian-specific sales link and have readers test the purchasing process. Everything worked as intended.

That experience reinforced something I want authors to keep in mind: your publishing strategy does not have to depend entirely on one distribution platform.

If your audience is spread across multiple countries, having an additional e-book distribution option can give you much greater flexibility.

Check Your KDP Select Settings

There is an important consideration if you want to distribute your e-book through platforms beyond Amazon.

Your book cannot be enrolled in KDP Select if you want to make that same e-book available through another publishing channel such as Kobo. KDP Select operates on an exclusivity basis, so authors need to understand that commitment before choosing it.

For international authors, this becomes especially important.

If you know that you have readers in countries where Amazon's Kindle distribution may create limitations, maintaining the flexibility to use another e-book platform can be valuable.

I generally avoid selecting KDP Select for our authors because I want to preserve the ability to distribute their books through other channels when an opportunity or a territorial requirement arises. That flexibility can become especially important when an author has a significant audience outside the United States.

Kobo Offers Features That Authors May Find Useful

The international reach was the reason I initially explored Kobo, but I found several other features that made the platform appealing.

Kobo allows authors to make their e-books available to libraries and establish specific pricing for those library purchases. This can create another avenue for readers to discover a book through their local library's digital catalog.

There is an important distinction here: putting your book on Kobo does not mean libraries will automatically discover and purchase it. If getting your book into libraries is part of your strategy, you still need to reach out to the library systems you want to work with.

Local authors may find this particularly worthwhile because libraries often have an interest in supporting authors from their communities.

Kobo also provides scheduled pricing changes. For example, if I want to run a one-day discounted promotion for a particular audience, I can schedule the price change in advance. Kobo automatically applies the promotional price and then returns the book to its regular price after the scheduled period ends.

That can be extremely useful during a coordinated international promotion because it removes the need to manually change the price at the beginning and end of the sale.

Think About International Distribution Before Your Launch

International publishing requires more planning than simply checking a box that says your book is available worldwide.

If you have a meaningful audience in another country, I recommend identifying those readers before your launch and understanding exactly how they will purchase your book. This becomes especially important when the country does not have a dedicated Amazon marketplace.

Start by determining whether your audience can purchase the Kindle edition through Amazon. Test the process with an actual reader in that territory. If you discover a restriction, investigate alternative distribution platforms before your launch date.

For authors with international audiences, Kobo can be a valuable option because of its territorial reach and the additional distribution features it provides. The platform also gives you another way to make your book accessible without forcing readers to use complicated workarounds.

Build Flexibility Into Your Publishing Strategy

One of the things I have learned from working on book launches is that publishing rarely follows a perfectly predictable path.

Every time we release a book into a new market, there is an opportunity to learn something we did not know before. The Malaysia situation was a perfect example. We had followed the available documentation, tested what we could, and still uncovered a distribution limitation that was not clearly documented.

That experience changed our process.

Going forward, when an author has a significant audience in a country without a dedicated Amazon marketplace, I want an alternative e-book solution prepared in advance. For us, Kobo is now part of that conversation because it gives us another way to serve readers when Amazon's distribution does not meet the needs of a particular territory.

As an author, your responsibility extends beyond producing a great manuscript. You also need to think about how readers will actually access that manuscript once it is published.

Your international audience has already invested in you by following your work. If you know those readers are waiting for your book, take the time to make sure they have a practical way to get it.

Final Thoughts

International readers can become an important part of an author's platform, but reaching them requires more than assuming digital distribution automatically means worldwide access.

Before your next launch, take the time to identify where your audience lives and test how readers in those countries will purchase your book. If Amazon's distribution creates a limitation, having another e-book platform available can prevent a frustrating situation from becoming a major launch problem.

My experience with the Malaysian release was a good reminder that publishing requires constant learning. The systems change, individual markets have their own limitations, and sometimes the answer only becomes clear after asking several more questions than you expected to ask.

That is part of the work of being an author.

The goal is to make sure that when your readers are ready for your book, you have already done the work to make the book accessible to them.

Until next time—
Keep writing your story, because the world needs your voice.
—Renée