For a KDP ebook, keep the storefront listing image separate from the cover referenced inside the EPUB manuscript. Rune Studio handles the manuscript-side assignment described here: select one EPUB cover, keep it distinct from two inline images, and inspect the local package reference and missing assets.
This guide does not include uploading to KDP or claiming retailer acceptance. Its sample contains one cover, two inline images, one alternate cover, and a horizontal three-chapter manuscript.
Separate the listing image from the EPUB cover
The image displayed on a retailer page and the cover resource packaged with the book are checked in different systems. Even when they originate from the same artwork, record them as separate uses.
For example, keep retailer/kdp-listing.png apart from epub/images/cover-main.png. Name the unused alternative cover-alt.png and the body figures figure-01.png and figure-02.png. Changing a listing image should not be assumed to change the EPUB cover assignment.
The manuscript-side decision is simple: assign cover-main.png as the cover and count the two chapter figures separately. Leave the KDP listing image outside the local package count.
Freeze the manuscript-side cover source
Duplicate the book folder and choose the accepted cover file. Do not insert it only as the first ordinary image in the chapter text. Record three source chapters, two inline images, and one selected cover as the expected inputs.
Rune Studio’s published documentation says it can combine navigation, writing mode, images, cover, and colophon into EPUB output. That statement does not make KDP storefront image management a Rune Studio feature.
Assign the EPUB cover in Rune Studio
Choose the accepted EPUB image in the EPUB Wizard’s publication-information flow. In the controlled sample, the stored relative path was images/studio-083-01.png. Confirm that this is the selected image rather than the alternate before export.
All three source chapters were included in navigation. With two inline images, the expected package image count was three: one cover and two figures. The KDP listing image was not part of that expectation.
Inspect only the local EPUB package
After export, inspect the cover page, reading order, packaged images, and missing assets. EPUB 3 gives different roles to the manifest, spine, and navigation document; the EPUB 3.3 specification is the general reference for those roles.
The sample spine contained cover, title, navigation, three content documents, and colophon. Inspection found three packaged images, no missing assets, navigation and NCX, and valid=true. The configured cover path was images/studio-083-01.png.
The record establishes the relative assignment and a package with a cover page and the expected asset count. It did not separately extract the literal OPF cover-image property. If your submission checklist requires that exact string, unpack and inspect your own package.
Keep retailer review as a separate boundary
A local valid=true result does not prove that KDP will accept the file or display it as intended. Read Amazon KDP’s image guidelines for reflowable books as retailer guidance, then use KDP’s own preview after upload.
This run did not perform upload, acceptance review, storefront assignment, or retailer recompression. Do not translate the local package result into a retailer guarantee.
Return each problem to the correct system
If the EPUB uses the alternate cover, return to the Rune Studio cover assignment. If a body figure is missing, return to the chapter reference and file location. If only the storefront image is wrong, the correction belongs in KDP rather than in the EPUB source.
That distinction prevents a retailer-page issue from triggering an unnecessary rebuild of the manuscript package.
Conclusion: reconcile the three local images first
To set an EPUB cover for a KDP manuscript, manage the listing image and packaged cover separately. In Rune Studio, assign the accepted cover and reconcile one cover plus two inline images with zero missing assets. Treat KDP acceptance and display as a later, separate check.
Start with a duplicate three-chapter book. Current Mac features and download options are available on the Rune Studio website.
