Publishing guide
Why Apple Books rejected your EPUB (including the words you can’t use)
Your EPUB sailed through Amazon KDP, then Apple Books bounced it with a vague notice. The usual culprit isn’t your formatting — it’s a single line in your back matter that mentions a competing store. Here’s what gets flagged, what else Apple checks that KDP doesn’t, and how to build one file that passes everywhere.
The competitor-reference problem
Apple’s published guidance for book content prohibits links and references to external stores inside the book itself. What that means in practice is something authors mostly discover the hard way: in r/selfpublish threads, authors report rejections triggered by phrases like “available on Amazon”, “Kindle edition”, and “buy on Google Play”— plain mentions of retailer names, not just live store links. One author reported debugging a repeated rejection by removing company names one at a time until the file finally passed review. That’s author-reported experience, not an official Apple checklist, but the pattern shows up again and again.
Where it hides:the copyright page (“Kindle edition, first published…”), “also by this author” pages with Amazon links, and back-matter calls to action (“leave a review on Amazon”, “get the next book on Google Play”). The story text is rarely the problem — the front and back matter almost always are.
The fix:strip retailer names and store links from the EPUB entirely, or genericize them — “available at your favorite bookstore” works everywhere and offends no one. If you genuinely want store-specific back matter (a “review on Amazon” link converts well on Amazon), keep it out of your universal EPUB and build a separate per-store edition for that retailer. Never upload the Amazon-flavored file to Apple.
The rest of the Apple Books rejection checklist
Competitor references are the surprise; these are the routine causes. Work down the list before you resubmit.
Invalid EPUB structure
Apple validates far more strictly than KDP, which quietly tolerates or repairs broken files. Malformed XHTML, missing manifest entries, or broken internal links that KDP shrugged off will fail here.
Fix: Run epubcheck before every upload and fix every error — our guide to decoding epubcheck errors walks through the common ones.
Embedded fonts without a license declaration
If your EPUB embeds fonts, Apple expects you to have the right to distribute them, declared and/or obfuscated per the EPUB spec. Fonts copied out of your word processor usually don't come with redistribution rights.
Fix: Either remove embedded fonts (readers substitute their own anyway), use openly licensed fonts and declare them, or apply the EPUB font-obfuscation mechanism your packaging tool provides.
Cover art too small
Apple wants high-resolution covers — at least 1400 pixels on the shorter side. A cover exported for a KDP thumbnail can fall short.
Fix: Export a 2560×1600-class cover once and reuse it everywhere; it clears Apple, Amazon, and Kobo requirements in one go.
Metadata or ISBN mismatch
The title, author, and ISBN in your store listing must match what's inside the EPUB's OPF file. A listing that says one ISBN while the OPF says another (or a leftover ISBN from a print edition) gets flagged.
Fix: Open the OPF metadata (or check your export tool’s metadata panel) and make it byte-for-byte consistent with the store listing — or leave the ISBN out of the EPUB if the store assigns its own identifier.
Placeholder text left in
Lorem ipsum, editorial "TK" markers, [INSERT DEDICATION], and empty chapter stubs read as an unfinished book to a reviewer.
Fix: Search the manuscript for “lorem”, “TK”, and bracketed notes before you package it.
Links to competitor stores inside the book
Worth repeating as its own line item, because it's the one that survives copy-edits: any hyperlink pointing at amazon.com, play.google.com, or another retailer violates Apple's external-store guidance even if the surrounding text looks innocent.
Fix: Search the EPUB’s HTML for href= and audit every external URL, not just the visible text.
Interactive or scripted content
JavaScript, embedded audio/video, or interactive widgets in a standard EPUB can trip review, since scripted content faces extra scrutiny and inconsistent support.
Fix: Keep a trade book’s EPUB to text, images, and CSS. If you need interactivity, that’s a deliberate enhanced-edition project, not something to leave in by accident.
Make one clean universal edition
The most reliable strategy is to maintain a single store-neutral EPUB: no retailer names, no store links, a generic “available at your favorite bookstore” where a CTA is needed, validated with epubcheck, with a 2560×1600-class cover and metadata that matches your listing. That one file uploads cleanly to Apple Books, Amazon KDP, Kobo, and the aggregators — no per-store surgery, no forgetting which edition has which link, no resubmission loop when Apple’s reviewer finds the word “Kindle” on your copyright page.
If a store-specific edition is ever worth it (usually only for an Amazon review link), treat it as a derivative you regenerate from the universal master — never the other way around.
Or skip the rejection loop entirely.
publish.ai EPUBs are epubcheck-validated and ship with a store-neutral interior — no retailer names, no stray store links — so the same file uploads cleanly to KDP, Apple Books, and Kobo. One manuscript upload, a complete launch package in minutes, from $29.99.
Common questions
Why did Apple Books reject my EPUB for mentioning Amazon or Kindle?＋
Apple's published content guidelines prohibit links and references to external stores inside book content. In practice, authors report rejections triggered by phrases like 'available on Amazon', 'Kindle edition', or 'buy on Google Play' in the copyright page, 'also by' pages, or back-matter calls to action. Remove retailer names and store links, or replace them with a neutral phrase like 'available at your favorite bookstore'.
How do I find which word or link is causing the rejection?＋
Apple's rejection notices are often vague, so authors report debugging by elimination: search the EPUB for retailer names (Amazon, Kindle, Kobo, Google Play, Barnes & Noble, Nook) and store URLs, remove them, and resubmit. One author reported isolating the trigger by removing company names one at a time until the book passed. Check the copyright page, 'also by the author' pages, and any back-matter CTA first — that is where these references usually live.
Does my EPUB need to pass epubcheck for Apple Books?＋
Effectively yes. Apple validates uploads more strictly than Amazon KDP, which silently tolerates (or auto-repairs) many structural problems. An EPUB that uploads fine to KDP can still fail Apple's validation. Run epubcheck yourself before uploading and fix every error it reports.
What cover size does Apple Books require?＋
Apple asks for high-resolution cover art — at least 1400 pixels on the shorter side. A 2560×1600-class cover comfortably clears the bar for Apple, Amazon, and Kobo alike, so exporting one cover at that size covers every store.
Should I make a separate EPUB for each store?＋
You need at most two: one store-neutral 'universal' edition with no retailer names or links anywhere, and — only if you really want store-specific back matter like a 'review this book on Amazon' link — a per-store edition for that retailer. Most authors are better served by one clean universal file that uploads everywhere without edits.