21-Point Apple Books Submission Checklist

Use this list as a pre-submission gate, not a post-rejection diagnostic. Work through each category before opening Apple Books Connect — most items in the File Validation and Navigation sections belong in your file-preparation workflow, not on the upload screen. The cover color mode check and the ISBN format in content.opf are the two Apple-specific requirements most commonly overlooked by authors publishing to KDP first and Apple Books second.

File Validation

Run EPUBCheck 5.x on the final packaged EPUB and confirm the report shows zero Critical or Error-level issues — Apple's ingestion pipeline rejects any file with outstanding errors, no appeal process
Open each XHTML chapter file in a markup validator — Apple checks HTML compliance inside chapter documents, a step beyond standard OPF and manifest checking
Search across all chapter files for duplicate id attributes and remove every duplicate before zipping the EPUB
Scan all EPUB 3 content files for EPUB 2 vestiges such as opf:role attributes — mixed-version markup triggers Apple's schema validator
Audit the CSS file for deprecated or non-standard properties — Apple's reading engine promotes certain parse warnings to blocking errors during ingestion

Required Metadata

Add ISBN-13 to content.opf: <dc:identifier opf:scheme="ISBN">978...</dc:identifier> — paid submissions without a properly formatted ISBN are blocked at the intake stage
Verify dc:title, dc:creator, and dc:language are populated in content.opf — empty fields are rejected even if the same data is entered in Apple Books Connect
Write a minimum 50-word description in Apple Books Connect — below this the editorial review queue may flag for insufficient metadata
Enter a publisher name in Apple Books Connect (required field in the Connect interface, independent of content.opf)
Select subject/BISAC codes in Apple Books Connect — category assignment is mandatory before submission unlocks

Cover File

Export cover image at minimum 1400×2100 pixels — Apple's intake system measures pixel dimensions and rejects any cover below this floor
Save as JPG or PNG in RGB color mode — CMYK output from print-production workflows is one of the most frequent Apple-specific rejection causes
Embed an sRGB color profile in the cover file — tools such as Affinity Publisher default to document profiles other than sRGB on export
Confirm body images are JPG, PNG, or GIF and that each has a matching MIME type declaration in the OPF manifest

Navigation & Structure

Confirm nav.xhtml exists and its <nav epub:type="toc"> element contains a properly nested ordered list of chapter links
Check that nav.xhtml carries properties="nav" in the OPF manifest entry
Include toc.ncx for backward compatibility with older Apple hardware running legacy iBooks builds
Verify the OPF spine sequence: every idref points to a declared manifest item and the order matches intended reading order

Rights & Distribution

Set territory rights in Apple Books Connect to match your actual rights scope — selecting Worldwide when rights are restricted triggers a rights conflict review
Review the book against Apple's content guidelines before submitting — flags for explicit content or prohibited categories arrive as post-submission rejections, not upload errors
If using an aggregator (Draft2Digital, Smashwords), verify the aggregator is not also configured to deliver to Apple Books — duplicate listings are removed, and the direct submission takes precedence

Common questions

My EPUB passed EPUBCheck but Apple Books still rejected it — why?

Apple validates against some Apple-specific schema rules beyond standard EPUBCheck, particularly for nav.xhtml structure, ISBN format, and cover image color profiles. The rejection email includes specific error codes — check those first. The three most common Apple-specific failures that pass EPUBCheck are: CMYK cover images, missing or incorrectly formatted ISBN-13, and nav.xhtml missing the epub:type attribute.

Is an ISBN required to publish on Apple Books?

For paid books distributed directly through Apple Books Connect, yes — a valid ISBN-13 is required as the dc:identifier. For free books, Apple may accept a UUID-based identifier. If you don't have an ISBN, aggregators like Draft2Digital provide free ISBNs — though using a D2D ISBN means D2D manages the book's Apple Books listing, not you directly.

Does this checklist apply if I'm distributing to Apple Books through Draft2Digital?

Most items still apply — D2D runs its own pre-conversion validation before sending to Apple, and a file that fails Apple's requirements will be rejected regardless of how it was submitted. The Rights & Territory section is the main difference: D2D handles the Apple Books Connect account, so you set territory rights in D2D's interface rather than directly in Apple Books Connect.

Validate your EPUB before uploading

The free EPUB Validator catches structural, metadata, and navigation errors — the same issues this checklist covers — before they become platform rejections. No signup required.

Validate Your EPUB Free →

For a complete guide to EPUB structure and common errors, see the EPUB formatting guide and the EPUB errors reference.

Platform rejection guides: Why Apple Books rejects ebooks

Common EPUB errors: Duplicate ID attribute errors, Missing NCX navigation table, Malformed XHTML — unclosed tags in chapter files

Tool comparisons: Jutoh alternative for EPUB formatting