Launch
KDP self-publishing checklist for first-time authors
Everything you need to format, upload, and launch a book on Amazon KDP, including the mistakes most first-time authors make.
What KDP actually requires
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing has specific technical requirements that catch a surprising number of first-time authors off guard. Your manuscript must be formatted correctly — KDP accepts Word DOCX and EPUB files, and both have margin, font, and heading hierarchy standards that affect how the book renders on Kindle devices and in print-on-demand paperback editions. Submitting a poorly formatted file does not automatically fail the upload, but it produces a reading experience that generates one-star reviews for reasons that have nothing to do with your content.
Cover specifications are equally exacting. KDP requires a minimum of 300 DPI resolution, a specific pixel dimension based on your trim size, and a cover file that meets their color profile requirements for print. Metadata — your title, subtitle, book description, keywords, and BISAC categories — is what Amazon uses to decide when and where to surface your book in search results. A compelling manuscript with weak metadata can sit invisible for months while a comparable book with optimized metadata earns consistent sales from organic discovery.
Common first-time author mistakes
Formatting errors are the most frequent stumbling block. Authors who write in Google Docs and export to Word often carry invisible formatting artifacts — inconsistent heading styles, non-standard line spacing, and embedded fonts — that break the KDP previewer. The fix is to always use KDP's own preview tool before confirming your manuscript, and to review both the Kindle e-reader and the paperback layouts as separate checks.
Pricing missteps cost authors money in two directions: setting the price too low signals low quality and earns a smaller royalty per sale, while setting it too high for an unknown author reduces conversion. Category mistakes are equally costly — choosing a broad category for visibility while ignoring a tightly-matched subcategory means competing against thousands of titles instead of ranking near the top of a smaller, relevant list. First-time authors who launch without a category strategy often spend months wondering why their book is not selling, when the answer is buried in a category choice made in under a minute.
How Bookloom prepares your KDP package
Bookloom's export workflow is designed to eliminate the most common KDP launch errors before they reach the upload stage. As you move through the final stages of your project, Bookloom runs a KDP readiness check that reviews your manuscript formatting, metadata completeness, category selection, keyword strategy, and pricing position relative to comparable titles in your category.
The package you export includes your formatted manuscript file, a finalized book description written for Amazon's product page, a keyword and category recommendation set, a cover direction brief you can hand to a designer, and your launch asset collection — including an ARC invitation email, a review request template, and a product launch announcement. Everything you need to go from finished manuscript to live Amazon listing is in one structured export, so you are not scrambling across tabs and folders on launch day.