Top 10 Most Frequently Asked Questions

Why Did KDP Reject My Book?

This can happen when things are not to KDP guidelines or possibly you did not select the same settings in KDP that you did in Book Bolt.
For KDP rejection emails, with explanations on what needs to be done, please read this article from the troubleshooting section.
If you have Cover or Interior Issues, please see these articles as well from the troubleshooting section.
If you go to the FAQ and scroll down to the KDP Rejection section, you will see a few articles there as well.

No you can't. In time and the sooner you learn this the better off you will be, but when doing your research on what book to make, you should try to lay it out on paper or in a word document and by the time you are done, you know the size of paper to use, number of pages, bleed or no bleed (bleed is really best), paper type etc.
To read more about this, see this FAQ.

One reason can be a slow internet connection. It will just time out due to taking so long because of the slow speed and or gives an error message. You can type into google "speed test" and run it to see how your speed is, and the upload speed is key. If you are under 5 MPS and especially under 3, and your PDF is a fair size, this will cause it to fail. Also keep in mind, you can have a fast upload speed, but there could be internet issues between you and the Amazon servers.
Another reason you can get errors, is when you download a project, you can not upload that file. You need to extract the files from the zip file. 2 files will be zipped up inside it. One is the cover PDF and the other is the interior PDF. If you are unsure how to unzip, please watch this video.

You need to make sure you have the rights to use commercially, as well as if you must alter the image or not.
There are 100+ free image sites, one photographer or artist will post their image not just on one of those sites, but all 100+. Keep in mind when google searches your images, if they see 100 images, they make think (not saying it is right), that you just took the image and they email you (or worse) and want to see you have permission to use. Then you will be doing some back and forth with them. Sometimes you may see an image on 100+ free sites, but someone just took it from somewhere, and post it on those free sites.
Do not use trademarks or copyrights. A lot of common sense has to come into your decision. Don't use Disney, Marvel, Nike, etc logo's or images.
In the end it is best to find an image you can use commercially, and have permission to modify it. Then making the image your own by adding to the image you got, by adding little details, elements, or whatever. Before you add words to it, do a google image search, click here and upload your photo and make sure there is nothing like yours you created.

Can I ask people to give me reviews even if they have not purchased my book? Do not do that! Do not pay a service to give you reviews, trade for reviews, beg for reviews, ask friends for reviews. KDP will consider that a manipulation of their services and usually ban you right away and odds of winning any appeal are low to nil.
Create quality books and the reviews will come. It can be frustrating to sell 100 books and only have 3, 4, 5 or 7 reviews, but that is about the average reviews a book will get. 5ish percent.
You can add a QR code on your first or last page if you wish. See this article on how to do this. The link provided in the article, just sends people to their most recent purchases.

For spelling mistakes or Typo's on your title, sub-title or author name you can log in to your KDP account, click contact us at the bottom of the page and ask them to correct it for you. They generally will do this for you.
You can update your cover or interior if you need to with minor changes at anytime. Just find your book in the bookshelf and click "Edit Print Book Contents" and upload your pdf, then click save, and save and publish.
If you need to update your description, categories or keywords you can do this anytime by going to your bookshelf, find your book and click "Edit Print Book Details", once done, click save, save and then save and publish.
Once your book is published and besides for spelling mistakes or typos's you can not edit the Title, Sub-Title, Author Name, Trim Size, Bleed or No Bleed, Glossy or Matte.

Yes it can be, in the end you just need to be patient and go back to creating more books.
For more information, please read this FAQ.

It can happen, and it is not that many really, it is such a low percentage, very very low. When you see a post once a week in a group, or on YouTube or articles online, that may seem a lot, but there is a million people making books. But, the amount is really no different than 3 months ago, 6 months ago, a year ago, 3 years, 5 years etc. You can search google about bans, and you will see articles back to 2014 that Amazon or KDP is on a ban kick.
Amazon does not want to make less money. I am not saying their vague emails are correct, or that they never make mistakes. Of course they do, we all do.
What we have learned over time, the people who do get banned, a high percentage of them are new to KDP, like within a month of signing up, or it is their 1st, 2nd or 3rd book. The issue is in a lot of cases, people did not take the time to learn about KDP rules and regulations. We at Book Bolt offer over 400 Articles, Blogs, FAQ's and Video's. Please take the time to learn. We know how tempting it is to play in the studio, create something and just want to get going (I did it, and also, guess what, none of those 20 first books I did are even online anymore for various reasons). But everything in life, you need to learn, and we highly suggest you take the time to learn before something like this happens to you!
Please read this article about bans.

How can I move around the studio work area without zooming in and out? Hold spacebar and left click with the mouse and hold, then move the mouse around.
Can I do spiral bound books on KDP? No.
Will Amazon email me when I sell a book? No.
Someone bought my book and it does not show up on KDP reports, why not? See this article.
How do I get the Look Inside (or Read Sample) feature on my low content book? You can't, they stopped it early 2022.

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Keywords Gives the run down on keywords