Proofs, review and the 72 hours before live

You have uploaded the interior and the cover. Two checks stand between you and a live listing, and they catch completely different classes of mistake.

The online previewer catches geometry

KDP renders your files and overlays the real trim line. It will flag pages outside margins, images below 300 DPI, and a cover that does not match its calculated size.

Do not click through it. Go page by page and look specifically at:

• The first and last few pages. Front matter is where stray blank pages and broken headers hide.
• Every full-page image. This is where bleed problems appear.
• The gutter on a spread near the middle, where the book opens widest.
• The spine. Is the title actually centred, or centred on the wrong measurement?

The proof copy catches everything else

Order one. It costs printing cost plus shipping and takes several days, and it is the only way to find:

• Paper colour. Cream reads warm and bookish; white reads clinical. On screen they look nearly identical.
• Cover finish. Matte hides fingerprints and feels expensive. Gloss makes colour pop and shows every smudge.
• Actual text size. 11 pt looks generous on a monitor and small in the hand.
• Whether the ink shows through. Common on thin paper with heavy black backgrounds.

Nobody regrets the week a proof costs. Plenty of people regret the fifty copies printed before they saw one.

Review takes up to 72 hours

Once you submit, Amazon reviews the files. Most books clear in under a day; up to 72 hours is normal, and longer around the holidays.

The usual rejections are dull and fixable: the cover title does not match the title field, an image is below the DPI floor, or the manuscript contains a link to a competing retailer.

Do not schedule anything — a launch email, an ad, a promotion — until the listing is actually live. Review times are not promises.

Before the next lesson

Order the proof, and while it is in the post, write the launch plan from the next lesson. The waiting time is free.