TPT Exclusive Seller Changes: How Teacher-Authors Can Sell Their Resources on Amazon KDP AND TPT

If you're a teacher-author or Teachers Pay Teachers seller, you've probably already heard about the changes TPT just announced on October 1st, 2026 to its seller membership structure.

I may have a solution for you—or, at the very least, another path worth exploring.

First: What Is Changing on Teachers Pay Teachers as of October 1st, 2026?

TPT recently announced its new Exclusive Seller membership.

Under the new structure, sellers who choose the Exclusive Seller option receive a higher payout rate, but eligible digital educational resources they list on TPT must be exclusive to TPT.

That distinction is important.

It does not mean that teacher-authors are prohibited from publishing books or creating other types of products elsewhere.

In fact, TPT's own FAQ specifically explains that Exclusive Sellers may still sell certain products outside TPT, including physical products and educational workbooks on Amazon.

And that's the part of this conversation that immediately caught my attention.

Because there is an entirely different market available to teacher-creators that many overlook or just don't know about: Amazon KDP.

Teachers can publish and sell their own educational books and workbooks on Amazon through Amazon KDP. I've been doing it for years.

I make more each month from THREE educational resources on Amazon KDP than I do from 30 resources on TPT all year.  

I’ve created an e-course to teach other teachers and homeschooling parents how to turn their own original resources into published books through Amazon KDP. If you’d like to explore the course and see if it’s a good fit for you, click here to learn more.
https://publishwithcat.thinkific.com/ 

Again, TPT's new rule does not mean that teacher-authors are prohibited from publishing books or creating other types of products elsewhere.

In fact, TPT's own FAQ specifically explains that Exclusive Sellers may still sell certain products outside TPT, including physical products and educational workbooks on Amazon.

What Is Amazon KDP?

KDP stands for Kindle Direct Publishing, but don't let the word Kindle fool you.

KDP isn't just for ebooks.

Teachers can use Amazon KDP to publish physical paperback and hardcover books that are sold directly on Amazon.

That means a resource you've already created could potentially become a professionally published:

• student workbook

• daily practice book

• test-prep book

• journal

• writing workbook

• reading resource

• homeschool resource

• teacher guide

• intervention workbook

• or other educational book.

You upload the interior of the book and its cover to KDP.

When someone orders your book on Amazon, Amazon prints it.

Amazon ships it.

Amazon handles the payment.

You don't have boxes of books sitting in your garage, and you don't have to package and mail individual orders.

Amazon uses a print-on-demand model, and you receive royalties from eligible sales.

How I Discovered KDP as a Teacher

I'm a teacher and curriculum creator, and like many teacher-authors, I started creating resources because I needed them for my own students.

Over the years, I've created a LOT of curriculum.

I've also sold teacher resources online through different platforms.

Eventually, though, I began taking some of the materials I had already created and turning them into actual books and workbooks through Amazon KDP.

That changed the way I thought about my teaching resources.

Instead of thinking only:

"How can I sell this as a downloadable resource?"

I started asking:

"Could this become a book?"

That one question opened an entirely different income stream for me.

Today, I have more than 150 titles published through Amazon KDP, and the income from a relatively small number of those books has become more significant for me than the income I earn from the much larger collection of resources I've listed on Teachers Pay Teachers.

That's why I think this is such an important moment for teacher-authors.

Is Amazon KDP an Alternative to TPT?

Yes — but I wouldn't necessarily think of it as replacing TPT.

They're different business models.

TPT is primarily a marketplace where educators purchase digital teaching resources.

Amazon KDP allows you to become the publisher of your own books and workbooks and sell them through Amazon's marketplace.

And you don't necessarily have to choose one or the other.

Depending on the products you create and the TPT seller membership you choose, there may be ways to build multiple income streams from the intellectual property you've already created.

That's the bigger lesson I've learned from my own teacher-author business:

Don't think only about where you can sell a resource. Think about how many different forms that resource can take.

A digital classroom resource might inspire a physical student workbook.

A collection of writing activities might become a writing book.

A year's worth of daily language exercises might become a daily practice workbook.

A unit you've taught successfully for years might contain the beginnings of something much larger.

Teachers create an extraordinary amount of intellectual property.

Most of us just don't think of it that way.

Can TPT Exclusive Sellers Publish Books on Amazon?

According to TPT's current Exclusive Seller FAQ, physical products — including educational workbooks sold through Amazon — are among the products Exclusive Sellers may sell outside TPT.

That's an important distinction from selling the same eligible digital educational resource on another marketplace.

Of course, policies can change, so I always recommend reading TPT's current terms yourself before deciding how to structure your business.

But if today's announcement has you wondering whether it's time to diversify your teacher-author income, I think that's a very worthwhile question to ask.

What If I Already Have Teacher Resources?

Then you may be much closer to becoming a published author than you think.

You don't necessarily have to start by writing an entirely new book.

Start by looking at what you've already created.

Ask yourself:

Could this resource become a physical book or workbook?

That is exactly how I began.

And once I understood the process, I realized that years of creating curriculum hadn't just given me teaching materials.

They had given me a library of potential publishing ideas.

Want to Learn How to Publish Your Teacher Resources on Amazon?

I've spent years learning how to turn teacher-created materials into books and publish them through Amazon KDP.

I've now published more than 150 titles, and I've taken everything I've learned through that process and created a step-by-step course specifically to help other teachers do the same thing.

If you're looking at the changes happening on TPT and thinking,

"Maybe it's time I stop depending on one marketplace..."

this might be the perfect time to explore another possibility.

You already did the hard part.

You created the content. Don't let TPT or anyone else control your finances or limit your potential.

Have a peek at my online e-course and email me if you have questions. 
https://anamcaracat.com/collections/cats-teacher-resources/products/sell-your-original-teaching-resources-on-amazon-and-make-a-full-or-part-time-income