KDP Warned Me About My Title or Metadata: What Do I Change?

Book a free 25-minute call. Tell me where your book is now.

The warning names a field and a rule. Open the email, find which field it points to (title, subtitle, author name, cover, keywords or description), and change that field on that book to follow KDP’s metadata guidelines. Then reply to the email so KDP knows it is fixed.

Here is the part most authors skip. My advice, not KDP’s: after any warning, check every other book in your account for the same pattern before KDP does. A title style you reused on ten books is a problem on ten books.

What can the title field hold?

KDP says the title field should hold only the actual title as it appears on your cover. The guidelines rule out these things in a title:

• repeated generic keywords such as “notebook,” “journal,” “gifts” or “books”
• an unauthorized reference to other titles or authors
• an unauthorized reference to a trademarked term
• a reference suggesting that someone contributed to the book when they did not
• a reference to sales rank, such as “bestselling”
• advertisements or promotions, such as “free”
• only punctuation, or HTML tags

The subtitle follows the same rules, and title and subtitle together must stay under 200 characters. The series title follows them too. For print books, the title must be on the spine or front cover.

If your keywords were what got you the warning, they belong in the keyword boxes, not in the title.

What if my title looks like a famous book?

KDP’s rule is about an “unauthorized reference to other titles or authors”. The guidelines don’t say how close is too close, and I won’t invent a line. If the warning names your title, change the title. A title that stands on its own is also easier for readers to find.

What about brand names in a title or pen name?

The title rule covers “an unauthorized reference to a trademarked term”. KDP’s IP FAQ defines a trademark as a word, symbol or design, such as a stylized brand name or logo, that a company uses to identify its goods. Trademark laws exist to prevent customer confusion about the source of goods.

For the author field, the guidelines say you are free to use a pen name “as long as it does not impair customers’ ability to make good buying decisions”. They also say that if your name is similar to a popular author’s, consider a pen name, middle name or initial. The page does not list brand names as banned or allowed in a pen name, so I’m not going to say it does.

Brand names inside the book are a different question. I cover that in worried companies will sue you for your book.

What about my cover?

The guidelines say the title, subtitle, author name and series on the cover should match the metadata fields. They also say: “Covers that may be misleading because they closely resemble another book’s layout, color scheme, fonts and/or images aren’t allowed.” If your cover was built from a popular book’s look, change it.

Can I put “X meets Y”, “for fans of” or “inspired by” on my cover?

By the matching rule in the section above, a comparison line on your cover can’t go into the title or subtitle field to match it, and the title field list earlier on this page already rules out unauthorized references to other titles or authors. KDP’s Metadata Guidelines add that keywords may not refer to other authors or their books. The guidelines name no rule for a tagline elsewhere on the front or back cover, so I won’t invent one. This isn’t legal advice on trademarks or copyright.

My advice, not KDP’s: keep any comparison out of the title and subtitle. If you use one at all, put it in a short tagline or on the back cover. Name the feeling of the genre rather than another author where you can, and never suggest the other author endorsed your book.

What is a branding strike?

I can’t tell you. KDP’s help pages don’t say what a “branding strike” is, and the metadata guidelines don’t use the term. If your email uses those words, answer the specific field and rule it names.

What if KDP closed my account for misleading metadata?

KDP says that if it removes a title, it lets the author know, and they can appeal. Use the appeal route in the email. I walk through it in why did my KDP account close without any notification, and a single blocked book is covered in KDP blocked my book.

What I do about it

If you have a warning and aren’t sure which of your books has the same problem, book a free 25-minute discovery session. Bring the email to the call and we can look at your titles and covers together.

Free 25-minute self-publishing call with Chris Baird

Tell me where your book is now. You leave the call with a clear next step for publishing it.

Book your free call

Free, 25 minutes on Zoom, no card needed.