This is not a design rejection; it is a consistency rejection. Amazon links your ebook, paperback and hardcover into one product page only when the title and author name are the same across formats, and its reviewers check that the printed cover agrees with the listing a customer will see. The fix is never artistic — it is deciding which version is canonical, then making the other two match it character for character.
The 3 places that must agree
| Place | What must match | Common drift |
|---|---|---|
| KDP metadata (Bookshelf) | Title, subtitle, author / contributor names | Typed from memory weeks after the cover was made |
| Cover file (front + spine) | Complete title and author name, visibly present | Working title left on the art; subtitle dropped for design |
| Interior title page | Same title and author as the other two | Old draft title page surviving a rebrand |
The mismatches that block approval
- The missing subtitle. “A Novel,” “Book One,” or a descriptive subtitle counts as part of the title record. If it is in the metadata, it belongs on the cover or title page too — and if it is only on the cover, add it to the metadata or remove it from the art. Include it everywhere or nowhere.
- The “By” trap. A cover reading “By Jane Smith” does not match an author field of “Jane Smith” unless the metadata itself carries the same form. Keep the author field to the name alone.
- Pen-name and spelling drift. Initials vs full first name, a middle initial that appears in one place only, or the series pen name on the cover and the real name in the metadata.
- Case, punctuation and spacing. Colons, ampersands vs “and,” and a retitled second edition whose cover was updated but whose metadata was not.
- No title on the cover at all. A deliberately blank, notebook-style cover still has to carry the complete title and author somewhere on the front cover or spine — reviewers ask for exactly that, by name.
Check it yourself
- Open the Bookshelf details page and copy — do not retype — the title, subtitle and author fields into a note.
- Read the cover PDF at print size, front and spine, and compare word by word, including the subtitle.
- Open the interior PDF’s title page and repeat the comparison. All 3 places, identical.
- Repeat for every format: ebook, paperback and hardcover are linked only when their title and author details match exactly.
Want both files verified end to end? The free check reads your actual interior and cover PDFs — fonts, sizes, color, margins, geometry, barcode zone — and reports every finding in plain English, free within 48 hours. Get the free check →
How to fix it
Change the metadata when the cover is right
Before publication, editing the Bookshelf title/subtitle/author fields is free and instant — do that when the printed art carries the intended final title. Fix the earliest draft, not the finished cover.
Change the cover when the metadata is right
If the listing is already live or the ISBN record carries the metadata version, the cover file has to move: add the missing subtitle, correct the author form, and re-export the full one-page wrap (see our cover file guide). Check the barcode/ISBN agreement at the same time — our barcode mismatch guide covers that sibling check.
The honest limit
After a book is published, some metadata is locked — a published title’s ISBN record cannot simply be rewritten, and changing a title materially can mean a new edition and a new ISBN. Catch the mismatch in draft, where it costs minutes, not after publication, where it can cost an edition.
Or send us the files — the check is free
Email your interior and cover PDFs and we'll tell you exactly what's wrong — in plain English, free, within 48 hours. If it does need fixing, the by-hand fix is $19 and we redo it free if KDP rejects it for a formatting issue we were hired to fix. We rebuild files to be compliant with KDP's published spec — that's the promise we can keep.
Prefer the whole library in one file? The KDP Rejection Field Guide (free PDF) collects every guide, table, and the 13-point checklist.
More from the Help Library
- The KDP & IngramSpark Help Library — all guides & tools
- Barcode rejected — the ISBN in the bars doesn’t match your metadata
- ISBN & barcode rules — who provides it, where it goes
- Cover file has multiple pages — the one-page wrap rule
- Cover text too small — the 7-point minimum
- “Manuscript has errors” — the generic rejection, decoded
- The free rejection check — all 13 checks at once