KDP publishing, and the parts that actually get books rejected

Uploading to KDP is easy and getting the upload accepted is easy. What is hard is that a book with wrong trim, missing bleed, weak categories or thin keywords will publish successfully and then sell nothing, which looks identical to a marketing problem and is not one.

1. Fix trim and bleed before you touch the manuscript

   Print rejections are almost always geometry. Choose the trim size first and lay out to it, rather than reflowing a finished manuscript later.

2. Categories and keywords are the listing, not decoration

   Ten keyword slots and two categories decide who ever sees the book. This is the highest-leverage twenty minutes in the whole process.

3. Front and back matter carry the next sale

   The back of book one is where book two sells. An empty back matter is a discarded reader.

4. Proof the physical copy before announcing anything

   Screen proofs hide margin and gutter problems that are obvious the moment a printed copy is in your hand.

Written from the books actually published through KDP under Kevin Gabeci, including a print run, rather than from KDP's documentation.