Interactive release checklist
Interactive KDP formatting guide
How to format a book for KDP without losing the final version.
Work through the release in dependency order. Clean the source first, format the interior second, and calculate the cover only after pagination is final.
✓Dependency-ordered workflow✓Print and EPUB checks✓Progress stays in this tab
Interactive KDP formatting checklist
Mark only what you have verified in the final files—not what you plan to fix later.
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1. Freeze a clean source manuscript
Accept or reject tracked changes, remove comments, replace placeholders, and apply a real Heading 1 style to every chapter. Confirm title page, copyright, contents, acknowledgments, references, and author material before styling. A formatter cannot protect a release built from the wrong source.
- Keep one approved DOCX
- Use styles instead of manual visual formatting
- Make chapter names match the table of contents
- Record the language and exact author name
2. Build the print interior before the cover
Choose trim based on genre, reading experience, and page count. Set mirrored inside and outside margins, check widows and orphans, inspect every image, and export a non-encrypted PDF with embedded fonts. Run the PDF checker and visually proof the entire file at 100 percent.
- No crop marks in a normal KDP interior
- Use bleed only when content reaches the edge
- Confirm blank pages are intentional
- Use the exported PDF page count for the spine
3. Treat EPUB as a different reading system
A reflowable EPUB should use semantic headings, a working navigation document, ordered content, responsive images, and relative text sizes. It should not imitate fixed print pages. Run EPUBCheck for full standards validation and test the file in more than one reading app.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Can I use the same file for print and Kindle?
Use the same approved source, but create separate outputs. Print depends on fixed pages and margins; a reflowable ebook depends on semantic structure and reader-controlled text.
Should I create the cover before formatting?
You can design a concept, but the final full-wrap dimensions must wait for the final interior page count.
Run the guide against your actual manuscript.
The browser preflight finds comments, tracked changes, headings, images, and a three-page reading proof.