KDP Manuscript Formatting Requirements: Current eBook and Print Checklist
Prepare a KDP-ready manuscript with current rules for reflowable eBooks, print trim and bleed, images, fonts, navigation, and final pre-upload checks.
Formatting rules are easiest to satisfy when they shape the source file from the beginning, not when they are bolted onto a finished manuscript at upload.
Formatting errors are the most common reason first-time KDP authors experience file rejection, poor previewer output, or reader complaints about layout. Most of these errors are avoidable with the right preparation. This article covers every formatting requirement for both eBook and print manuscripts, and ends with a checklist you can work through before every upload. For the full publishing guide, see our complete beginner’s guide to self-publishing on Amazon KDP.
eBook Formatting Requirements
Most Kindle novels and nonfiction books should be built as reflowable eBooks. The reader controls font size and other display settings, so the source file should use semantic structure rather than print-style positioning. Apply paragraph and heading styles consistently, create real chapter breaks, avoid tabs and strings of spaces for layout, and use navigation that survives conversion.
DOC/DOCX, KPF, and EPUB are the most common KDP inputs. MOBI is no longer accepted. Validate the exported file in Kindle Previewer and test the Online Previewer before publication, because the correct question is how the delivered Kindle book behaves, not how the Word page looked before conversion.
Print Formatting Requirements
Print is a fixed-page product. The interior must match the trim and bleed settings selected in KDP, with adequate inside and outside margins for the final page count. If any element bleeds to the edge, KDP requires the interior as a PDF. Bleed extends 0.125 inch beyond the top, bottom, and outside trim edges; it does not extend into the binding edge in the same way.
A print PDF should not contain crop or trim marks, comments, annotations, placeholder text, or unsupported hidden objects. Embed fonts and flatten transparency where required. For the current margin tiers and exact file-size formulas, use the detailed KDP paperback-formatting guide rather than hard-coding one gutter value for every book.
Image Requirements
For print, KDP requires images at a minimum of 300 DPI at the size they are used. Treat 300 DPI as the production floor, not an invitation to enlarge a small web image until its effective resolution collapses. Check photographs, diagrams, line art, and screenshots at final placed size in the PDF.
For eBooks, optimize images for screen readability and file size while preserving enough detail for the devices on which the book will be read. The 70% eBook royalty option still applies delivery costs, so unnecessarily heavy images can reduce margin, but aggressive compression can damage the reader experience. Preview the actual export rather than chasing one universal DPI number for digital display.
Font Requirements
Print PDFs need properly embedded fonts. Verify embedding in the final exported PDF rather than assuming the design application handled it correctly. Use fonts that are licensed for the intended use and test any unusual typeface for missing glyphs or substitution.
In a reflowable Kindle eBook, readers can choose display fonts, so typography depends more on clean semantic structure than on forcing a particular body face. If you embed special fonts for a design reason, test how they behave across devices and accessibility settings. Decorative choices should never make ordinary reading harder.
Table of Contents
eBooks need reliable navigation. Kindle Create can build a Kindle Interactive TOC from recognized chapter structure, and EPUB/KPF workflows can provide equivalent navigation. If you include a visible contents page, every link should land on the correct section and the navigation should remain usable after the reader changes font size.
Print TOCs use real page numbers from the final paginated interior. Do not finalize them before the layout is stable. For both formats, see the current KDP table-of-contents guide for the difference between visible contents and Kindle navigation.
Complete Pre-Upload Formatting Checklist
- eBook structure uses consistent paragraph and heading styles.
- eBook navigation works in Kindle Previewer and Online Previewer.
- MOBI has not been used as the current upload format.
- Print trim, margins and bleed match the KDP title setup.
- Any print interior with bleed is exported as PDF.
- Print images are at least 300 DPI at final size.
- Fonts are embedded in the final print PDF.
- Print PDF contains no crop marks, comments, annotations or placeholder objects.
- Page numbers, headers, footers and blank pages have been checked manually.
- Cover dimensions are based on the final page count and current KDP template.
- Every file has been previewed after the final export, not only in the source application.
Before upload, compare the manuscript with {link(‘kdp-manuscript-preparation’,’the manuscript-preparation checklist’)} so editorial cleanup and technical formatting are not confused with each other.
Formatting is not proofreading
A file can meet every trim, margin, image and navigation rule while still containing editorial errors. KDP’s automated and manual checks are designed around publishing quality and technical requirements, not around preserving your argument, catching every typo, checking character continuity, or confirming that a reference is accurate.
Run the editorial pass before the final formatting lock, then perform a shorter proof after layout because formatting itself can introduce duplicated lines, bad breaks, missing italics, or navigation mistakes. Technical compliance and editorial quality are separate gates, and readers experience both at the same time.
Common formatting traps by book type
Different books fail in different ways. A novel often looks simple but can contain inconsistent scene breaks, fake paragraph indents made with tabs, manually typed running heads, or chapter starts that do not survive eBook conversion. A nonfiction book adds heading hierarchy, lists, tables, footnotes, references and links. Workbooks and journals depend more heavily on fixed page geometry, writable space and print margins. Illustrated books add image resolution, color and bleed to the risk list.
Build the source around the hardest requirement of the intended format. If a print workbook needs full-bleed graphics, establish trim and bleed before laying out hundreds of pages. If a text-led book needs both Kindle and paperback, keep the editorial source structurally clean so separate eBook and print outputs can be generated without forcing one format’s layout logic onto the other. Reusing the words is efficient; blindly reusing the layout is not.
After export, inspect the publication artifact itself. In print, zoom into images, verify font embedding, scan gutters and outside margins, and look for blank-page or pagination surprises. In Kindle, change font size and device view, test navigation, and check places where styling is most complex. A formatting workflow is complete only when the delivered-format behavior has been tested.
A final practical check
Before you act on this guidance, check the current KDP screen for the title and marketplace you are working in. Amazon changes labels, eligibility and timing details over time, while the underlying decision remains the same: keep the account accurate, keep the book compliant, and make one deliberate change at a time so you can tell what actually improved the result.
Keep a dated note of the file, metadata and settings used for the live edition. That simple record makes later troubleshooting much faster because you can separate a platform delay from a change you made yourself, and it gives you a clean baseline for the next revision.
