Kindle Rejecting EPUB Files

Send to Kindle takes EPUB files by email, in the Kindle app and on the web, up to 200 MB. When a book doesn't arrive, or Amazon emails you that it couldn't be delivered, check these in order:

1. The book is protected. EPUBs bought from other stores usually carry DRM and can't be sent to a Kindle. The tool tells you when a book is protected.
2. The EPUB is broken. Drop it into the tool above, download the fixed copy and send that instead.
3. You sent it by email from an address Amazon doesn't know. Only addresses on your approved list in your Amazon account can send to your Kindle address. Menu names on Amazon's site change from time to time.
4. The file is too large. Books with many large images can pass 200 MB. Compress the images in your writing app and export again.

If it doesn't work

• The fixed copy still fails: the problem may be one the tool doesn't check, such as CSS or a fixed-layout book. Run the book through EPUBCheck to see the remaining errors.
• Nothing arrives and no email comes back: check the Kindle address you sent to and your spam folder for Amazon's reply.

Kindle Direct Publishing accepts EPUB 2 and EPUB 3 manuscripts. KDP's help pages recommend checking the book in Kindle Previewer before you upload: errors and warnings it reports can keep the book from becoming available.

1. Drop the EPUB into the tool above and download the fixed copy.
2. Open the fixed copy in Kindle Previewer and look through the errors it still reports.
3. Upload the fixed copy as your book's manuscript on KDP.

KDP also sets limits of its own: each HTML file inside the book must be smaller than 30 MB, and the book must contain fewer than 300 HTML files. Very long books exported as one chapter per file can pass that count.

If it doesn't work

• KDP says the book's language doesn't match: change the language in the book's details on KDP, or the dc:language in the EPUB, so the two agree.
• The upload converts but the book looks wrong: that's a formatting problem, not a broken file. Fix it in your writing app and export again.

The same handful of problems causes most rejections. Each one is checked and fixed by the tool:

• The mimetype file is missing, compressed or not first in the archive. Zipping a book folder by hand almost always gets this wrong.
• Metadata is missing: no title, language or identifier.
• The manifest is out of step with the files: a chapter, image or font listed but missing, or present but not listed.
• A chapter isn't valid XHTML: a tag left open, a stray &,   copied from a web page.
• A chapter points to an image or stylesheet that isn't in the book.
• The table of contents is missing from an EPUB 3 book.

Books exported straight from Word, Google Docs or a converter often carry one or two of these. See the epub validator for the full list of checks.