Amazon KDP Publishing Checklist: Manuscript to Live Book

1. Editorial and rights approval

• The reader, promise, scope, and title accurately match the manuscript.
• Structural, substantive, copyediting, and proofreading passes are complete.
• Facts, calculations, sources, quotations, and citations have been checked.
• Permissions, licenses, trademarks, privacy, and contributor agreements are resolved.
• AI-generated content is classified for KDP's current disclosure question.
• Sensitive or high-stakes subject matter received appropriate qualified review.

2. Publishing files

• The print interior uses the final trim size, margins, bleed, fonts, and image settings.
• The eBook has functional navigation, a logical reading order, and responsive formatting.
• The cover uses the exact dimensions for format, trim size, paper, and final page count.
• Front matter, page numbers, running headers, references, and back matter are correct.
• Comments, tracked changes, placeholders, test text, and hidden artifacts are removed.
• File names and version numbers identify the final approved export.

For the broader publishing workflow, continue with How to Format a Paperback for Amazon KDP.

3. Book details and discoverability

• Title, subtitle, author, contributors, edition, and series details match the book and cover.
• The description states the audience, problem, contents, and realistic benefit.
• Keywords accurately reflect shopper language without prohibited or misleading terms.
• Categories fit the book's actual subject and audience.
• Reading age, adult-content choices, and accessibility information are answered accurately.
• ISBN and publishing-rights selections match your publishing plan.

4. Rights, distribution, and pricing

Confirm the territories where you hold publishing rights. Decide whether the eBook will enroll in KDP Select and understand its current exclusivity requirements before committing.

Calculate royalties for every format and important marketplace. Check printing cost, page count, delivery cost, and price thresholds. The hardcover, paperback, and eBook do not need identical economics.

For the closely related decision, read How to Write an Amazon Book Description That Converts.

5. Preview and proof

1. Review automated warnings

   Investigate each warning in the KDP preview tools instead of dismissing the group.

2. Inspect all pages

   Check opening and closing pages, chapter starts, tables, lists, images, links, blank pages, and navigation.

3. Review at realistic size

   A zoomed desktop preview can hide type that is too small or writing space that is unusable.

4. Order a print proof

   For print books, inspect the physical cover, binding, paper, contrast, alignment, and interior usability.

5. Re-upload corrected finals

   Record the approved file version so an earlier export cannot accidentally replace it.

Before moving to the next stage, use How to Start Amazon KDP: A Realistic Beginner Workflow as a practical follow-through.

6. Post-publication verification

• The product page displays the correct title, cover, author, formats, description, and price.
• Format editions are linked appropriately where expected.
• The downloadable sample or Look Inside content starts well and contains no obvious defect.
• Author and publisher links work.
• You have saved the publication date, identifiers, metadata, prices, and file versions as a baseline.