Preparing Your Manuscript for Publishing: Amazon KDP & Distribution Platforms
Technical formatting guidelines: front matter, copyright pages, table of contents, margin bleed for print-on-demand, and clean EPUB validation.
Writing the last sentence is only the halfway mark. Formatting errors, broken chapter breaks, or missing front matter can cause negative reader reviews or distributor rejections.
Essential Front and Back Matter
- Title Page & Copyright Notice: Rights reservation, edition year, and ISBN details.
- Table of Contents: Active hyperlinks for digital e-readers, page numbers for print.
- Back Matter: Author newsletter sign-up callout, link to next book in series, and acknowledgments.
EPUB Validation and Print Bleed
Digital readers require clean reflowable EPUB files without hard line breaks or fixed font sizes. Print-on-demand requires exact trim size margins (typically 0.125-inch bleed and 0.5-inch inner gutter).