All retail distributors manage their own retail sites and requirements. Lulu’s distribution requirements reflect the minimums and standards we’ve received from these retailers. This article will walk you through some of the common distribution rejection reasons and how to fix them.


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Please revise your project and update your metadata and/or files. To avoid delays, we recommend reviewing your files to ensure all requirements are met. Our Knowledge Base is filled with articles and resources to get you right back on track to publishing and sharing your work.


Mandatory Print Book Distribution Requirements

Mandatory Ebook Distribution Requirements 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover File Rejections

Author Name Missing on Cover

The author's name is not listed on the cover or spine. Enter the contributors listed in the Copyright step. Please be sure that they match.


Cover Bleed

Amazon and other partners require a cover file with all cover text and graphics at least 0.375 in (9.53 mm) from the outside edges. Please extend the background of the cover file to the edge of the file. Improper bleed may result in a white strip or important content cut off at the edge of the page.


Ebook - Back Cover

The cover image of ebooks should not include a back cover. Remove the back image and ensure only the front cover is uploaded.


Ebook - The Cover Image is Not 2D

The art cannot be a setup shot, a three-quarter image, or a 2D representation of the book. It also cannot be a photograph of the book's physical cover. The art should be original and creative, and it should reflect the tone and theme of the book. Update your cover image to include only one cover.


Generic Internal Cover Image Displaying Instead of Actual Cover

The first page of the ebook should not be an image. Please remove the cover image or include the image from the project.


Incorrectly Formatted Barcode

Barcodes should be in vector format or be a minimum of 300 DPI for rasterized images on the back cover. The barcode must be 2 x 1.2 in (50.8 x 30.5 mm) and at least 0.25 in (6.35 mm) from the cover’s edge. The barcode must be pure black on a white background with enough white space around it to allow for successful scans. Update your barcode and upload a new cover file.


Low-Resolution Cover Image

The cover image is pixelated and/or blurry. Please update your cover and remove any blurry images.


Price Mismatch

The price listed on the cover does not match what's listed on the Pricing & Payees step. Update the cover file to reflect the correct price or remove the pricing from the cover.


Spine Text

Amazon and other partners require 0.0625 in (0.159 cm) of space between the spine text and the edge of the spine on either side. Do not include spine text on your cover if the book has fewer than 100 pages. Update your cover and remove the spine text.


Missing ISBN in Interior and/or Cover File

To ensure your book successfully passes distribution review, your ISBN must be identical in the following three places:

  • Project Metadata: The ISBN entered during the Copyright step of the creation process.
  • Book Cover: Printed clearly as a barcode on your back cover.
  • Interior File: Written out completely as text on your copyright page (please use text format only; do not use a barcode image inside the interior file).


If any of these ISBN locations don't match or are missing, your project will be rejected by retail distribution channels. Please review and update your interior and cover file to ensure the correct ISBN is present on both.

Interior File Rejections

Consecutive Blank Pages

No more than three consecutive blank pages in the body of the interior file or nine consecutive blank pages at the end of the file. Remove any blank pages from your interior file.


To publish on our platform, you must own the content or have explicit permission from the copyright holder. Lulu does not allow users to create, print, or publish unauthorized material, including fanfiction. Violating these terms will result in the removal of your titles and the permanent suspension of your Lulu account.


Ebook - Contains Interactive Content

Coloring books, journals, planners, puzzle books, etc., are not accepted because ebooks are not interactive in this manner. Ebooks should not include areas for writing; for example, fill-in-the-blanks, workbooks, or areas for notes. You may choose to sell your interactive ebook on Lulu.com.


Ebook - English Only 

Only English-language ebooks are currently eligible for retail distribution. Bilingual ebooks are also not eligible at the moment. You may choose to sell your non-English ebook on Lulu.com.


Ebook - Line Breaks

Your ebook should not have incorrect line breaks throughout the book. Readers may think content is missing. Please update your EPUB and remove incorrect spacing.


Ebook - NCX

All EPUB ebooks use navigation built into the EPUB file to allow readers to move around in your book. This navigation is specified in the Navigation Control file for XML (NCX).


Even if your book does not have chapters and therefore would not normally require a table of contents, it still must have an NCX. For example, a poetry book may not have “chapters,” but the individual poem titles could be added to the table of contents. See, How is the Table of Contents Created?


Things to look out for:

  • The title should be the document's first line, with no blank lines or images above it
  • The title should be styled as Heading 1 in one section so that it links to the title page
  • NCX cannot have a missing, incomplete, unreadable, duplicative, or inaccurate Table of Contents
  • Your NCX should contain links to your content, not the entire text or large passages of text


Update your EPUB to ensure the NCX is present and correct.


Ebook - Page References 

Fonts and pages resize on e-readers, so page numbers are variable, and EPUB files create a table of contents automatically. Please remove any page numbers from your EPUB.


Ebook - PDF

PDF-style ebooks are not eligible for retail distribution. You may choose to sell your PDF ebook on Lulu.com.


Explicit Content

Explicit or overly suggestive content within the metadata (title, author, description) or cover image of publications is not accepted by our retailers. You may choose to sell your explicit ebook on Lulu.com.


Depictions of extreme sexual acts, including forced sexual acts, sexual violence, incest, and bestiality, are not accepted, nor do we accept explicit images with no educational or artistic value, nor explicit content involving children or participants below the age of consent---nor do we permit pseudo depictions of these acts, or content linking to websites with explicit content. Publication of this content will cause the removal of your titles and suspension of your Lulu account.


Improper Capitalization

The first letter of all words in the title, subtitle, and author name should be capitalized, except for the following words: a, an, and, for, from, of, or, the, and to. The first and last words of the title and subtitle should always be capitalized on the cover PDF, within the interior PDF, and in its metadata. You will need to create a new project with the proper capitalization entered in the Copyright step.


Interior Formatting Issue

Please review your interior file to ensure all pages are formatted correctly and are in the correct order.


Interior Pagination

Submit an interior file that begins with page 1. If this book is part of a series, provide the series or volume number in the metadata and resubmit.


ISBN Mismatch

To ensure your book successfully passes distribution review, your ISBN must be identical in the following three places:

  • Project Metadata: The ISBN entered during the Copyright step of the creation process.
  • Book Cover: Printed clearly as a barcode on your back cover.
  • Interior File: Written out completely as text on your copyright page (please use text format only; do not use a barcode image inside the interior file).


If any of these ISBN locations don't match or are missing, your project will be rejected by retail distribution channels. Please review and update your interior and cover file to ensure the correct ISBN is present on both.


Language Mismatch

The interior file, cover file, and description language must match the language selected in the metadata. You will need to create a new project with the proper language selected on the Start step.


Missing Copyright Page in Interior File

Your interior content must include a title page and a copyright page. See, Copyright page example. Please add a copyright page to your interior file.


Overlapping or Cutoff Text in Interior and/or Cover File

It is important to check for these common errors to ensure that your text is readable and legible. Here are some things to look for:

  • Text is in at least 7-point font
  • Text color does not blend into the background
  • Text is not blurry, pixelated, jagged, or faded


Check that other elements do not cut off or overlap text. This can be a problem with images, graphics, and other design elements. Update your interior and/or cover file and remove any unreadable text.


Publishing Content That is Freely Available (Wikipedia, etc.) & Public Domain

Our retail partners do not allow content that is freely available elsewhere, including but not limited to public domain material, content aggregated from online sources, and content that is identical to existing publications by other authors or publishers. You may choose to sell your public domain title on lulu.com.


Scanned Text

Scanned images or screenshots of texts are illegible. Update your interior and/or cover file and remove any unreadable text.


Summary Books

A book that is a summary, study guide, workbook, or analysis of another well-known book. These are no longer accepted by distributors. Publication of this content will cause the removal of your titles and suspension of your Lulu account.


Typos

Make sure there are no misspellings or grammatical errors in your file. Please update your interior and/or cover file and correct any errors.

Details and Metadata Rejections

Compound Author

When listing authors for a work, each author should have their own field. You will need to create a new project and ensure the contributors are separately listed on the Copyright step.


The copyright year entered in the metadata has to match the year on the copyright page in the interior file. Update the year on the Copyright step or upload a new interior file with the matching year.


Description

The description of your title should not be too short/vague. Update the description on the Details step.


Keywords are Paragraphs

At least one keyword is required for books sold through our Global Distribution partners. Keywords should not contain full descriptions of the book. Update the keywords on the Details step.


Links/Upsell

The book (cover, description, or content) cannot contain links to third-party companies or conversion software links. Please remove any links from your cover and/or interior file.


Insufficient Content

Our retail partners do not accept coloring books, journals, diaries, puzzle books, or any books with many blank or lined pages and limited detectable text. You may choose to sell this content on Lulu.com.


Metadata Mismatch

Your book’s metadata is the information attached to your book. Your book’s title, subtitle, contributors (e.g., author name), edition type, edition statement, imprint, publication date, ISBN, and copyright are all part of your book’s metadata.


Title metadata includes any and all titles and subtitles on your cover image. All contributors (authors, illustrators, editors, translators) listed on covers should also be listed in the metadata. No contributor roles should be in the metadata; only list their names. Update the metadata in the file to match what's entered in the Copyright step.


Misleading Product Book Covers

Product images, such as prescription drugs, shampoo, or anything that could be confusing to the customer, where it is unknown that they are not purchasing said product, will be cause for rejection. Publication of this content will cause the removal of your titles and suspension of your Lulu account.


Project Retired

If you choose to retire your project from sale, we will no longer review or submit it to our retail partners.


Special Characters in Title

The book title and author name should be entered without special characters or symbols. You will need to create a new project with the updated title and/or author and remove any special characters in the Copyright step.


Title in Non-Latin Characters

The title and subtitle on the files and the metadata must be in Latin characters. You will need to create a new project with the updated title and/or author in Latin characters in the Copyright step.