You already know the email. Something is wrong with your file. It does not say which thing, it does not say on which page, and it does not say what to change. So you guess, you resubmit, and you wait again.
I did that twenty-one times trying to publish my father’s books. Not because the writing was bad — the writing was finished. Because of margins, and a trim size, and fonts I had not embedded, and a bleed setting I did not know existed.
Here is the part that still bothers me on other people’s behalf. The requirements are published. Anybody can read them. The rejection simply does not tell you which one you missed — so the information is public and the diagnosis is private, and that gap is where authors give up.
What the rejection actually means, in plain language
The five problems that catch almost everybody — margins, trim size, unembedded fonts, bleed, image resolution
How to check each one yourself before you upload
What order to fix them in, so you are not chasing your own changes
Written from twenty-one attempts, not from a manual.
Read it with your last rejection email open next to you. Most people find their answer in the first two pages, and quite a few of them do not need anything else from me after that — which is fine. The guide is the guide.
Sign up below and it is yours. This creates a free MarketHive account with me as your sponsor — that is how this platform delivers it, and it is how anything else I send reaches you. No card, no cost.
The decoder is free and it teaches you to do this yourself. If you would rather have the file checked properly than checked by hand, that is what I built the tool for.
Upload the PDF, and in seconds you get a full compliance report, an annotated copy with every issue flagged by page, and plain-English fix instructions. One free recheck is included. No subscription; credits never expire.
Said honestly: Manu2Print checks your PDF against KDP’s published formatting requirements before you upload. Amazon still runs their own review and makes their own decision — this tool helps you pass it on the first try by catching the issues that cause most rejections.
Caro Viljoen — self-publishing and manuscript formatting
manu2print.com · u2caro@gmail.com
Manu2Print checks your PDF against Amazon KDP’s published formatting requirements. Amazon runs its own review and makes its own decision. This tool is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by Amazon.
