When creating a paperback book on KDP, two files are required: a manuscript file (the interior of the book including front matter, body matter, and back matter) and a cover file (the outside of the book including the front, back, and back matter). The manuscript file should be uploaded as a separate file from the cover, using a single-page format (1-up per page). All fonts must be embedded, and the final page should be blank. Margins must be a minimum of 0.5″ (13mm) from the final trim size on all sides.
BookBaby’s team of professional book designers can format your manuscript document into a great-looking, distraction-free, and highly readable book interior. They can help you convert your manuscript into a polished paperback interior ready for the KDP. To format your hardcover manuscript, ensure your book meets the hardcover trim size and use our paperback interior formatting resources.
To format your interior in your PDF to print correctly, start by learning how to create a custom book template and design your interior page documents with InDesign, Photoshop, or Illustrator. The interior file should have the pages in reverse order, with the first page being the last page of the book and page 2 being the interior.
In summary, when creating a paperback book on KDP, it is essential to format your manuscript document into a polished, distraction-free, and highly readable book interior.
📹 KDP Interior Print Requirements for Self-Publishing on Amazon
KDP Interior Print Requirements for Self-Publishing // In today’s video I’ll be going over the printing requirements Kindle Direct …
How do I format a PDF to print?
To export a file to a Boston printing services company, select File > Export, specify a name and location, choose “Save As Type” (Windows) or “Format” (Mac OS), choose “Adobe PDF”, and click Save. Choose Adobe PDF Preset “Press Quality” and select “Marks and Bleeds” under “Marks and Bleeds”. Click Export (Windows) or Save (Mac OS).
A press quality file includes crop marks, bleeds, colors (spot or CMYK), correct sizing, photo resolution at 300 dpi, and embedded or outlined fonts. Boston printers can work with files from various design applications, but it is best to provide a press quality PDF. A PDF package all components of the file, including fonts, color information, and other settings, while allowing the printer flexibility to make modifications and prepare it for printing.
How to format a document to print like a book?
To change the layout of a document, navigate to Layout > Margins > Custom Margins and adjust the setting for Multiple pages to Book fold. This will change the orientation to Landscape. If you have a long document, split it into booklets and bind them into one book. Under Sheets per booklet, choose the number of pages to print per booklet. This will ensure a smoother and more organized layout.
How to prepare a File for book printing?
In order to create a PDF file suitable for printing, it is essential to ensure that the text file has a minimum of 10mm of white margin space and a 3mm bleed all around. In the case of color books, the cover file should have a 5mm bleed, whereby the image extends to the edge of the page. Images should be at least 300dpi and the file should be locked with all fonts used in the text file, thus preventing any alterations or substitutions.
What is the best file format for CMYK print?
CMYK file types are essential for creating vector-based, scalable designs. PDF files are compatible with most programs and are the best universal file type for sharing designs. AI files, native documents created in Adobe Illustrator, maintain editability and are likely the original program for logo or design assets. EPS files are vector-based and compatible with other vector programs, making them ideal for open vector-based artwork in any design editor. Understanding when to use each color profile and file type allows for greater control over the final color look, ensuring brand consistency across all touchpoints.
Is RGB or CMYK better for print?
RGB and CMYK are color modes used in graphic design, with RGB being best for digital work and CMYK for print products. RGB stands for Red, Green, and Blue, the primary colors of light. These colors are combined in various ways to create a broad spectrum of colors, which is widely used in electronic displays. Every digital screen is made up of thousands of tiny squares called pixels, each containing three even tinier lights: one red, one green, and one blue of various intensity from 0 to 255.
Mixing all three at full blast results in pure white, while turning them off returns black. Understanding the mechanisms behind RGB and CMYK is crucial for optimizing design in various applications.
What file format should I use for printing?
It is of the utmost importance to comprehend the most efficacious file formats for printing in order to attain optimal results for your campaign. B and B Press provides a webpage containing guidance on artwork and a print guide, which assist customers at each stage of the printing process. The Portable Document Format (PDF) is optimal for larger jobs, whereas the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format is best suited for smaller jobs. This facilitates the process for customers.
What is the best format for printing PDF or PNG?
PDF files are recommended for printing, as they can retain formatting information from various desktop publishing applications. PNG is suitable for editing and saving multiple times. PDFs are preferred for printing because they can combine images and text in one page without altering layout or quality. They are universally accepted, compatible with most applications, can retain complex vector images, and produce great color clarity. CMYK print is ideal for PDFs due to their compatibility with most applications, ability to retain complex vector images, and excellent color clarity.
How to prep design for printing?
To ensure your design is print-ready, follow these top 10 tips:
Use CMYK color scheme instead of RGB, as every screen displays color differently. CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key, which are the most common ink cartridges. These colors provide the most true color of your print. If your design needs the exact right colors, you can choose certain Pantone® colors.
Consider whether you’re planning on offset or digital printing. Offset printing is great for larger projects and will closely follow the exact color. However, digital printing is often cheaper and better for projects with fewer copies needed.
Double check your images and save your document as the right file type. Add any bleed, slug, or crop marks, consider paperweight/finish, create your design based on the size of the print, and print a proof.
By following these tips, you can ensure your design is print-ready and avoid future printing headaches.
How to format a document for printing?
To format and print documents, choose Settings from the Format menu, enter margins, and select left, right, justify (block style), or center alignment. Determine the scope of formatting and choose Paragraph or All from the Format menu. After editing, choose margins and text alignment, with the default left margin being 0 and the right margin dynamically set to the text editor window’s width.
📹 How to Format KDP Self Published Books – Bleed and Margin
Knowing how to format KDP self published books on the KDP platform to sell and create an income on Amazon can be one of the …
Hey Mandi, I’ve downloaded your ebook series and I’ve been perusal many of your articles. Thanks for uploading all of these helpful articles. I have a question: Can you do a article about preparing a Word document for upload into Indesign. I’m just about finished with my book, but I don’t know what to do with the manuscript to get it ready for InDesign. Do you talk about this topic in the formatting course? Thanks
Hi, my text is in MS Word. My book trim size is 7×10, but it will have bleeds. In my KDP Book content page I will use 7×10. So in the calculator for the cover for Canva, should I again use 7×10 or 7.125×10.25? I take it the first, correct? I should only use the bleeds size 7.125 x 10.25 in the Word document for uploading PDF MANUSCRIPT, right? Thanks for your time.
Thank you so much for your help. I am trying to design empty journals or Low Content journals using Canva and the KDP calculator. I have two designs that I have created in Canva. I used the KDP calculator to create the dimensions. Now I understand I need to create a separate file of the interior pages. They will be almost entirely lines that are blank for the person who buys the journal to write in. The KDP calculator created the dimensions of 12.6145 9.25. I use that for the cover image which is for both front and back cover. Now I am unsure of where to go next. I don’t have the file of interior pages done. When I create that file for the interior pages, do I use the exact same dimensions I use for the cover? The number of pages is 155. These are Low Content journals or empty journals. The dimensions I gave are for the cover. How do you think I can use the KDP calculator for the interior pages? Maybe I don’t need the Calculator. Is the math the same for the interior pages file as the cover?
Your information is point on! You explain everything in such detail but in a manner that is easy to follow! But still, for me too much to navigate. So, how I do I find (or who do I find, their title) to help me to do all these steps the correct way (and when I say help, I mean hire)? I want someone local with your expertise that I could meet with face-to-face, or I guess in this age via zoom. Your advice or suggestions would be sincerely appreciated. My manuscript is complete, but I am at a standstill!
Hi Mandi, I’m writing an instructional book on how to play pedal steel guitar. All my design and formatting is done in QuarkXPress. Can I output those as PDF files, then turn those PDFs into an Amazon self-published print book and also Kindle book? I’m just starting to research all this, thanks for you guidance!
Paul, thank you so much for all the information you put out. I’m 4 weeks down the rabbit hole after hearing about KDP for the first time and your advice and knowledge has been fantastic! I’ve even managed 1 sale after only having had books up for 2 weeks and got on a best seller page 😆 I’m so keen to keep going and learn more from you. As an Aussie I also love your constant references to Australia 🙂
Thanks Captain. I learned the hard way last week. I made 5 books then I decided to upload them all. When I was uploading the first one, I ran into the dreaded margin problems. I had to redo all the books! I spent the entire day fixing them and reloading them again and they went through ok it seems. Still waiting to see if they allow them to go live. Keeping my fingers crossed. I’ll save this article to my playlist to refer to it in the future. Thanks again for your extremely helpful content. It’s really appreciated.
I love everything you teach and share in your website. You’re so gracious! I’m wondering if you might do a tutorial on how to do an inspirational journal. I’d like to create something with some of the lines removed for inspirational quotes added to the pages or could you possibly point me in the direction where I might find how to do this? I’ve already learned so much just from perusal your articles. Thank you for your generosity and thoroughness of everything you teach.
QUESTION: I want to know if it’s possible to format my children’s book in free programs? For example in Pages (Mac)? You use Affinity Designer and suggest Canva or Photoshop. I have made my drawings on a Wacom Cintiq 16 drawing tablet and I save my drawings in .jpeg I would very much appreciate your help.
Hello, loving the articles I’ve stumbled across but have a question about the margins. I’m using Canva which does show the margins however they are not adjustable. How can I tell where I need to keep my information on the page to not overlap my margins. Looking at the margins that are on Canva it appears I’m leaving a lot of extra white space which is of course wasteful. The bleed lines look accurate but the margin lines are confusing me. Thanks in advance
I know these may seem like a dumb questions, but I’m new to illustrating children’s books. Book is 8.5 x 8.5 (final cut) but they suggested 8.625 x 8.75 for bleeds. Are the margins part of that bleed? Do I extend the design completely across to all edges (margins included) except the interior gutter?
Hey Paul, Thanks for the great instructional. I’ve uploaded a graphic novel to kindle and it worked fine once I jumped through all the hoops. Now I want to publish the same book to Amazon as a paperback or comic size paper book. All my files are PDFs. I’m having a tough time. Their upload manuscript engine won’t find the files even though they clearly extant on my drive. When I try to send all 40 pages to be composed it will only take one page and then inform me that I need to send at lest 24 pages. I’m running round and round in this gerbil cage. Any suggestions?
Your articles have been so much help, thank you! Quick question though, I’m using Canva to create my interior for a 120-page notebook, and I’m using your templates for margins with no bleed. My question is, would I create 60 right side pages, and then 60 left side pages, save those as separate files and just add both files when I add the manuscript? Thanks again!
Thank you for your help, but I’ve encountered another problem. After applying the recommendations, I’ve found that the text on the final page of every chapter has been haphazardly pushed to the center (including the page number that’s supposed to be in the corner). Does anyone have any advice for how to fix this?
Hello Sir, a small query suppose i create 30 design mandala book… so basically each design on entirely different page not 1 behind the other… so it would be how many pages .. i mean 30 pages or 60 page ( should we could front and back of 1 sheet as 1 and 2) because we will insert blank page btw 2 mandala design i hope you got my question… thankyou for your vedios… ♡
Hi Paul! I love your articles. I’ve created a journal following your steps in Canva using the 6.125 x 9.25. In KDP, it’s still showing an error even after clicking the bleed. I have 120 of just lines to the end. It’s only rejecting a few pages when they all are the same. Am I missing something? Thanks for your help in advance.
Hey, Good tutorial! And managed to do the book cover with your help! Although, i have one issue, when i upload the PDF manuscript: for some reason, KDP is adding 1 blank page at the start of my book, and this, somehow, mirrors all the pages, but with their already added, correct margin settings, now everything is mirrored and its totally off the pages. meaning: the inside margin looks like at the outside, and vice versa. I’ve tried to follow your guide, but no matter how many times i’m uploading it, it has the same issue. Do you have any idea why does KDP do this? :S
I case bleed and no bleed : I understand that if paper sides be white (coloring) or without written so it is no bleed . And if paper sides including written and we want hold written in book so we must use from bleed, and this is for journal and other books,,so do I understand it correctly? This question is very important,please answer me thanks your the best,shahin
I made a beautiful cover using Google slides. You put in your dimensions for the slide. You put your imagery, your text, whatever you want. It finds your midline, it arranges beautifully, snapping into perfect alignment, it’s free, and it converts it to a PDF for you. Don’t waste your time and money.
Hey, great article! I’m really new to this and just wanted to ask: If I’m creating a 6 x 9 book with no bleed, the instructions say I need to allow a gutter of 0.375″ and an outside margin of 0.25″. If I’m putting together 100 pages, as they are printed double sided, do I have to change the margins on every other page? So for example on page one, the gutter is on the left so I set 0.375 and the outside (right edge) set 0.25 – THEN on page 2 is on the right, do I reverse this and put the gutter on the right? Or, does KDP do this automatically – as I haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere… Thanks!!
I initially set up my margins and gutter with no bleed measurements for interior in MS Word, but for some reason, KDP keeps informing me of errors after the upload of my manuscript. Here are the margin measurements I entered in the Page Setup: Top: 0.25″ Left: 0.25″ Right: 0.25″ Bottom: 0.25″ Gutter or inside (Left)= 0.375″ I don’t think he mentioned the left margin in the article. So, are my measurements correct?
Paul, thanks for this article. Something you didn’t mention, that I wanted to ask. Say I publish a book at 8.5″x8.5″. To this, I add the bleed as instructed. The margin would be inside if I understood correctly. Here’s my question. Do we need margins at all if our book extends edge to edge on every page?
Hi, thank you so much for this article and playlist. It has been super helpful creating my journals. Although, I’m not sure how you are calculating a book with bleed. I want my journal to be 5.5×8.5 with bleed because of pictures so I know I have to add 0.125. I see how for a 6×9 book: 6 + 0.125= 6.125 but I’m not sure how you got 9 + 0.125 to equal 9.25 instead of 9.125? Also, would I still use 0.125 for a 5.5×8.5 book? Thank you so much!
Thanks so much for the article. You did a great job with all the illustrations and your explanations! I am a little confused. I have two journals (6×9, 120 pages) with bleed, and in Canva I used 6.125 x 9.25 inches. And it was completly fine. So, for a coloring book (8.5 x 11 inches, 238 pages) I just created I used bleed too, and I used 8.625 x 9.25 inches, but all the designs go over the margin lines in the KDP previewer. So I am very confused. Do you know how I can fix it? I just don’t understand it in the KDP website. Thanks very much.
HELP! I’m writing a 32-page children’s picture book WITH BLEED. I have submitted 2x and still have issues. Page and margins are set up as required. BUT – I want my images to go to the edges of the page – left and right – AND THE TOP! If I add the top margin as required – it appears there will be a white margin around my pictures (according to the KDP proof.) Do i remove top margin so pictures go all the way to the top?
Can you clarify something when you are talking about adding the 0.125 inches on? In the article it says that a 9 x 6 would then be a 6.125 x 9.25. I am trying to add this for an 8.5 x 11 workbook. So that would make the page with bleed 8.625 x 11.125? I am lost on the height margin number based on the example. Thank you!
Thank you for this article. I am using Affinity Publisher to set up my children’s book. I have set the page size to include the bleed (8.625 x 11.25) and have all my pages imported. BUT when I save it as a PDF I loose the bleed and keep getting an error message. Is there something I should be doing? Thanks for you help.
Hey Paul, I’m not sure if you answered this in this article, I’ve watched it twice and I don’t get it. I must be the thickest! So I have written and illustrated 2 children’s books and they are 100% picture books, I want the images to go all the way to the edge of the page and not see any white margins, is this possible? I get errors from Kdp when I upload it this way, maybe it just isn’t possible but I thought I would ask. My book is 8.5 x 11 and I think I made my pages the right size but I always get errors, when I submit with the images within the margins it gets approved…please help?
Can you possibly explain the guides in the KDP Previewer? I am trying to ensure parts of my images don’t get cut off in the bleed trim. I can’t seem to find any templates that include the measurements or safety guides that I can use to preview my images. Example, I have images of people and when increasing the image the previewer on KDP shows the very tops of their heads being cut off. I need to prevent this. Going back to Canva and dragging the image down a bit would work, but I need to know how far to pull it down. 🧐
Thank you for this article! I’m working on publishing a book on KDP for the first time, and I have a question: Most of my book is made of of sheet music created by myself, and the way I put the sheet music in the book is by images. Now, all those sheet music images are full page size (8.5 x 11 inches), but those images include the margins. I mean, while the image file covers the entire page, the image itself doesn’t. All the sheet music page images have 0.5 inches for top, right and bottom margins, and one full inch for the left margin in the case of the Kindle version of the book. The paperback version has left and right margins switched for left pages. But again, those margins are included within the image files, which reach all the way to the page edges. Do I need bleed in this situation? Thank you in advance! P.S.: The book has 196 pages.
Hi. I followed your trial on how to properly set additional sizes on a file. However, the books are still sometimes rejected (pretty much 50% chance of rejection) and the message says that I need to make the interior size bigger, even though I’m the dimension are larger on the file. It leaves me confused because I followed all the steps, yet still have some sort of interior size issues.
I’ve published several notebooks and journals and have tried to get the sizing right but always got the error about bleed/margins, so I just ended up making lines that don’t go out to the edges. I keep trying to make modifications to see if I can get it work but never seem to get it right without the error. I don’t know what else to do. If I’m wanting to do pages with bleed with lines going to the edge, do I still have to fuss with the margins?
hello, just wondering if for bleed you said add 0.375 to all sides for margins and when you showed in the program you used you just did Left margin 0.375 and the rest 0.25. I am struggling with getting my book accepted and have it stet to bleed, It is a cook book with pics and I just keep getting denied with the same instruction to set margin to 0.125 and 0.375 I feel that I am doing it but it keeps getting returned . Please help. Thanks
This article is amazing. I’m finding it impossible finding information on publishing a KDP in a landscape format. I make classroom instructional material and landscape works best for me. Is there any way to publish in landscape? I’ve tried loading in pdf and word, but the pages still come out squished into portrait mode.
I fully understand the margins now but I have to change my margins for Left hand page and Right hand page with No bleed interiors? as the Inside margin will be on the opposite side for each page right. Is there a quicker way to do that it seems very time consuming? Also how do I know which page will be on the right hand side? Hope that makes sense
Hi Paul. Thank you so much for this article. Everything is really clear on this information. Anyway, as I upload into KDP my notebooks and journal I found out that the margins are different whether it’s even pages or odd pages, because on even pages you have the right margin with one size and on odd pages you have the right margin into the gutter margin with another size. So how can we do it so that we can make one page with opposite margin from the previous one? Thank you so much for your help.
Hi, Paul, I have been perusal your articles and they have been a great help. That being said, I still am a bit confused on these margins and adding them in for bleed, which I hope you can help me to better wrap my head around them, please. You mentioned that for books with bleed( those are like notebooks right?) that we need to add on the .0375 for the margins and then it showed add on 0.125 for the bleed so is that .0375 + 0.125 to the outside and all the other sides get just the .0375 added to them? Also, you mentioned about the margins and I am using affinity publisher and you showed 0.375 and then .25 for the other sections so where then do I add in the .0375 all the way around the sides like you mentioned within the article, please? Now, if I am doing the 8.5 x 11-inch book,( with bleed again lined journal) do I enter that number at the top of my document as 8.5×11 or do I start it off with 8.625 x11.25 at the top of the document size and then also add in the other numbers for the bleed and margins too, please? On the KDP help link you provided- it showed to add in .0375 for pages that have bleed on them, but I did not fully understand as to where that specific number went? I am just getting started and this is the part stopping me from completing even my first book. I sure could use your help with the above questions, and will be perusal for your reply. Thanks SO MUCH!!
So when using page count to calculate the spine measurement, is it the front and back page count, or literal pieces of paper… Otherwise said, 2 pages of print is one piece of paper, so in this calculation, do they want thr count as it shows in MS Word, aka, every page front and back, or just thr total pieces of paper, which would be about half of that
uploading the book is easy but the margins are a pain, I got a message in my email saying this: Resize the background or image on your cover so that it extends 0.125″ (3.2 mm) beyond the trim line. All covers must be sized for bleed, which means you need to add an extra 0.125″ (3.2 mm) along the top, bottom, and sides of your cover file. Once you have increased the size of your cover, extend any images or backgrounds that you want to reach all the way to the edge of the page 0.125″ (3.2 mm) beyond the trim line. This prevents manufacturing issues when the cover is trimmed to size. Learn more about bleed . Can you assist with this issue?
Excellent article BUT when you say ..hopefully no problems… I find there is a problem. If you are making a book with bleed, as you explain so clearly, the effect of adding the margins to the bleed requirement is that the ‘margin’ ends up as being 0.375 inches on all sides (am I right?) but when you then set it up in Affinity Publisher you entered the margins so that on the gutter side the margin was 0.375 and 0.25 on the other three sides, thus as the article whtn showed a wider margin on the gutter side. But surely due to bleed the margin should end up as 0.375 on all four sides. I tried KDP help with this question but they sais itwas too advanced and the diagram on the website is onlya guide. No wonder so many people get confused. Can you clear that up please!!
Hi Mr. Marles, thank you for your very informative youtube articles, I am a newbie and these are my go-to articles when I need clear information. I have a problem that I cannot figure out how to solve, I make all my book cover using an Amazon cover template, look all good, when I download them as pdf print and choose CMYK when I open my download the black background is missing, it only shows white background, I do lock before download, any, any ideas, please?. Kindest regards, Lorna Write to Paul Marles
I had this problem the Last couple of days. But I was making lined pages in Affinity Designer and transferring to Publisher and was getting frustrated. The KDP help section is helpful, but certain things are not always listed and easily spotted. So I had to use your lined pages and was wondering why mine was not working. I watched a couple articles and smacked myself for being dumb. Hehe. Thanks for this article.
already hate KDP. the previewer looks fine. approved. publish. rejected. publish again. rejected. I followed their stupid guidelines added .375″ all around my inside pages and still they keep telling me it’s not correct. my other journal got approved so why not the other one. I’m fed up. it takes them days to tell me it’s not approved because of interior size and their email is generic they don’t actually help telling me WHY it’s wrong because based on my math it’s correct to me. never had this issue with Lulu or blurb. EDIT: I wanted to leave my comment here for anyone else having this issue. I checked my book that got approved and i used LULU’s template there. and the KDP one i was basically adding bleed size on all 4 sides but you only need to add it once to the overall dimensions. i wish they made that more clear. so my letter size with bleed will be 8.875 x 11.375 and we’ll see if that gets approved! i just wish their previewer would actually detect it because it’ not detecting errors, it’s letting me approve and publish and then i have to wait 2-3 days to find out it’s not correct. this is a huge hassle but once i get this figured out hopefully publishing in the future will be faster. thanks for the article!! KDP should just add templates like LULU does or just use LULU’s 🙂
Sir, Greetings from Afghanistan! I faced a problem after reviewing my journal notebook, it came by Draft and (continue setup) again and face the expanded distribution error that does not allow to active this checkbox. and error stays with amazon.UK and amazon.com. and the rest are ok. Although I had this problem, I checked for all issues and fixed the problems as you described in many of your articles. still, the error was here and I did not know what to do. then I published my book with that error again and it is in review right now? Please help me? what should I do?
Hey Paul, really useful article with regards to the setups and whatnot I’m just a bit usure if I’m missing something with how I’m doing it. I’m doing comics and as you know those get a bit weird in terms of page layout but I placed the page into the edge where the bleed extension is taking up the whole page, in pairs as to not have them overlap but when I export (using affinity publisher) all the pages, including bleed with the correct measurements i keep getting a piece of carry over and i don’t understand why. It’s still new to me but I just really want to know how to handle my comic book pages correctly
Thanks for the great article, Paul. I know that for the book cover you will need the extra bleed for trimming. But does it apply to the inside pages as well. I’m doing a 8.5 x 11 and the inside pages have bleed. Your article only shows the margins for the pages. Do I need to put the extra bleed for the inside pages as well for trimming (like the book cover)?
Could someone please help me? I’m uploading my interior (it’s a PDF created from InDesign) to kdp and I’m having a big problem which is difficult to describe. When I upload the interior and check with the kdp checking tool, it’s taking the full spreads and centering each one on each page. So, I end up with a book which has two of my pages on each kdp page, with the gutter being centered on each page and content extending out of the margins and not visible. I don’t have the slightest idea of why this is happening or how to fix it. I tried to change the PDF to pages but I got the same result too.
Love your articles Paul . Very confused with the bleed page and margin settings. I follow the .375 for the bleed areas, however in all the images used the margin looks to be offset and not even around the entire page as a .375 area for margin settings. On the right side of the page the margin to page edge is a lot less than the instructed .375. Should the outside edge have a different margin size than .375?
At 7:35 Why doesn’t the page become 9.125 instead of 9.25??? Pal I’m in the dark! I am using Word for 271 pages book. I want my book to be 7 x 10 inches with bleeds = 7.125 x 10.25 (or 10.125?) OR should I add as it says at frame 8:54 or the inside gutter use 0.5 (I assume that would be left margin) and 0.345?? Which of the these should I place, 7 x 10 or 7.125 x 10.25: *in my Word Set up? *in the second page (Paperback content, shown in frame 7:50 ) : 7 x 10 or 7.125 x 10.25?? *for Width and Height calculating the cover template to place on Canva?? You can see I’m confused… If it helps any, my manuscript right now has 0.65” top, bottom, right and left, and gutter 0.63” and using mirror margins on my Set up Page. Thank you for your time and any help.
It has been frustrating. I passed 10 quality checks and every single time I get an email days or hours later saying that my bleed and margins are wrong. I’m sure there’s something I’m doing that is wrong, I haven’t used InDesign in more than ten years so I’m a bit rusty. I just published 2 books this week and it went well, but this one (238 pgs mostly full bleed) is killing me. Thank you for mentioning Bookow, maybe I’ll give it a shot. Your articles are excellent.
Hi Paul, I have a question. If the book with bleeding should have upper and lower sides being added 0.375′ separately and right and left sizes each adding 0.375′, I saw your other article, the final size you set on Canva is 8.625* 11.25 instead of 9.25*11.75. I don’t understand. The final page should be added 0.375*2.
My proof copy of my kids picture book came from KDP and I noticed my interior pages have the white border around all of them. I used Clip Studio Paint to make the book. My canvas was set to the size I wanted (8.5 x 8.5) and the artwork filled all the way to edges in the program. So, why does it not fill the pages in the KDP version? Will this same issue occur in Ingram?
I have been making some low content books 8.5 x11, and I have been making the images in AD and then copying and pasting it into keynote which then I export into pdf…for the books I am making now do I need to go back and create a margin? would I then copy that box into keynote? or is the box just for reference to set the images far enough in? thank you!
Thanks for this article. I was just wondering, I created a book with the dimensions 8.25×6 inches. I created the correct bleed as you’ve demonstrated in this article using Adobe InDesign but when I launch the preview, it has the smallest (I’m talking a couple of pixels) amount of white at the top, bottom and outside. Do you think this is just a graphical hiccup or do you think I need to adjust? I sent for a proof to test anyway. I would have thought it would literally be solid yellow (in my case) right up to the black borders. Many thanks.
I don’t know why I am still confused by this so I will just ask straight up. I’m creating a coloring book. The images I create are full bleed (AI). But, I want them to have a border because I don’t want people having to color right to the edge of the page, especially next to the spine. I have Affinity suite. Would I add the border size I want around my image in Affinity, and then upload that as full bleed on KDP? Or would I add the border and upload it as No Bleed to KDP? Or, if I have full bleed images with no border and I choose No Bleed on KDP, does Amazon add the borders to the image? This is where my confusion lies. Thanks, and I appreciate any help!
Hi Paul! 😁 But If I want to have in a text book some images full colored with no margin, I have to add bleed? Because if it’s full colored and no design I doesn’t matter if they cut something of the color (because I don’t have any design, just color) . And also I have some doubts, if you could help me… Could I autosend me my own book before publishing to make photos for listing? And, could I sell without registering like an enterprise or person and when I have profit create the enterprise ? I’m selling from Europe, I know it’s a difficult question, but if you have any idea it will be very helpfully. Thank you very much for all the content that you post, it’s incredible 😁👍🏼👍🏼
I think that without your articles I wouldn´t even try anything! So, if I understood, if I have 6×9″ and no bleed, I put in Canva dim 6.125″x9.25″ and then in the document I set up margins as you showed? So, all of my content should be inside that margins, no matter if I have a bleed option? Thanks for everything!
Hi Paul, I love your articles, really helpful and straightforward. I have a question though, I’m an absolute newbie here, I’ve created a planner 6×9 with canva but I had no idea about these margins. I thought it will be bleed like the cover. I haven’t uploaded it yet but after seeing this article I’m pretty sure I’ll have error messages everywhere cos I put images in the corners and lots of boxes to write inside of them. How can I fix it? Should I add the pdf as an image in a new customed size document adding these 0.25″ you mentioned? Or do I need to start all over? Thank you so much for your time and help
Hi Paul, GREAT article, clear and easy to follow, thank you! Just something you may have expert advice on. I also use AFFINITY PHOTO and each time I resize my document to 6.125 in X 9.25 in, click enter and OK, all seems hunky-dory until I reopen the document and the size keeps reverting to 6.127 in X 9.25 in. Why won’t it keep the number I have entered?
Thank you…such this is such a timely article! I feel like I’ve been dragging through the mud this week, making the slowest inch of progress daily! My problem has been the frustrating interior pages and finally today I figured out what margins I have to use and how I’ll go about fixing my interior pages. Your article confirmed what I’ve done and I hope I get it right tomorrow! *Crosses fingers! *
Hi Paul, Thank You so much for sharing your knowledge. I have created a low content book however it’s only 62 pages. Reason being that its dated example day 1, day 2 day 3 etc. Up to 30 days. I noticed that You recommend 120 pages. Can you suggest a way for me to increase my pages to 120 and still keep my theme? I look forward to your reply. Thank You
Hello! I am just starting out and had questions on duplicate content? How different does the interior have to be to avoid this issue? Including a watermark specific to each no content publication? What are your recommendations for publishing multiple books with essentially identical interiors but making them different enough to not get banned? For instance the same science notebook with 4 colors to choose from. Is this possible under KDP- or do I need to make them slightly different from each other? Great information by the way! Thank you.
I love your articles Mr. Marles! Thank you very much for your excellent advice. One question please. I have decided to use PowerPoint to create my work, because I can handle the program better. I can use Canva as well, but is the PowerPoint program Ok to use? Or will the the finished result not look good enough for printing?
I got a book up which the photos are centerd and the KDP asked me to put more margin So for a book with 110 pages 8.5×8.5 cover was ok at 17.525x 8.750 and then created the manusxript at canva at 8.750x 8750 with photos centered at 200mm each ( 7.87 inches centerd… i do NOT want the images to be printed all over the page. so, all ok in book review in upload in kdp and then they asked me to increase size ( certain numbers) … Which size ? form the 8.750 or from the 8.5 ? .. anyway thanks fo the article, I will watch it all but cannot understand wat this goes with bleed.. And how do you enter the margin in CANVA custom sizes when you create the book so it is the right one for right or left pages ? Why don they meke it simple so is the size and that is the clear area. and that’s all.
I watched about 10 articles on the topic and just got more and more confused about the interior layout. After perusal this it’s finally clear! Thanks! One thing though, someone in some other article mentioned that you don’t have to input the bleed amount when uploading it to Amazon, you just choose a bleed page size from their bleed vs no bleed page size list. Is that true?
I created a book with bleed and use the dimensions of 8.625×11.125 inches for the interior, but I emailed by amazon with “Add 0.125″ (3.2 mm) to your book’s page width and 0.25″ (6.4 mm) to the page height to ensure that the images in your manuscript extend beyond the edge of the page. Once you have added the size, extend any images or backgrounds that you want to reach all the way to the edge of the page 0.125″ (3.2 mm) beyond the trim line. This prevents manufacturing issues when the file is trimmed to size”. How do I fix this on canva?? Thanks
I create my book in canva, I use Amazons own templates, but nontheless my pdfs gets blown up in the amazon previewer, leaving me to have problems with sizing. I cant get past it. Anyone else have this issue? So end of story, I have the right sizes when i download my books from Canva, but as i upload them to amazon, they are blown up so I get error message. Anywone who can help?
Where do we add on those dimensions? My book says there are no errors but when it’s finished in review it says I need to make adjustments. I am not good at these things and have no idea where to add these measurements. My designer of my journal isn’t willing to help and I want to get my book published. Why does it say no issues and shows no errors and allows me to click approve? Can someone please help me understand?
Hi, I am publishing my coloring book of 100 drawings with 200 pages but when I load the manuscript after several minutes it says that it is not possible to load the file I checked and I did not find any problems I built the pdf file with INDESIGN What do you think the problem is, how can I solve it? thank you
Dear Paul, I have some questions about this troublesome bleed and alike issues: 1-if we only used KDP Cover Calculator instead of bookow or something like that, would not it be enough to design? Because I am seeing a lots of people use several sites to calculate this. If we have already that KDP Cover calculator, why do I need it something else? 2-Do I have to add always some additions like 0.125 inches even though I did not want it having bleed? 3-Is bleed has to do with both cover and the interior? 4-For example; if I want a 6×9 inches trim size, should I add a bleed margin to it absolutely?
Thank tou so much you’ve helped me so much. Just wondering my covers keep getting approved and then I receive a email afterward! If I’m not mistaken I think you mentioned this before about needed to call them when this happens. I could be wrong my apologies. But please help if you can I’m stuck two books that are 6×9 this keeps happening
Hey Paul, I have an idea for a article….what if you created a article that broke down Amazon’s payment method? This has been a mystery to me (and yes it’s my fault for not looking into it properly) because I spent almost all of my time thinking of and making books. I realize now that I am selling an average of 2-3 books a day, I need to do some admin housekeeping work. Anyway, keep up the good work!
Hi Paul, thank you very much for your content. I hope you can help me because no one has been able to. I have a white line at the bottom of my paperback cover, when is in my printing preview. I have used amazon kdp cover calculator for the dimensions of the cover, so it should be correct. But It keeps emailing me to add 0.125″ on every size. I have tried to add 0,125″ on every size and upload the cover again, but I still have the same issue. Do you know how can I fix it? Thank you very much in advance.
hello. I’m new in this type of business and I’m following you because I really like how you explain. I have it. I tried to upload a coloring book with bleed because I have elements that are all the way to the edge. The book is 8.5 x 11 so I’ll try to manually add it to be 8.625 x 11.25 as you said in the previous article but it won’t let me. It says it can be a maximum of 8.5…do you know why?
Hi Paul! Nonetheless I have followed your exact steps – from your articles – the error message I get on the margins of my book interior is the same, the only thing that varies is the pages where I have the errors. I`ve used small.pdf to merge the pdfs so I don`t understand why this message all the times. Can you please advice? Thank you.
I have a 200 page 6×9 journal – cover size 12.7 x 9.25 – I keep getting this rejection message: Resize the background or image on your cover so that it extends 0.125″ (3.2 mm) beyond the trim line. Does this mean I need to increase it to 12.825 x 9.375? It’s only a solid color on the cover so there is no “image” to resize. I’m lost. How can I fix this?
Hi Paul, I followed your instructions on the formatting the manuscript using Canva. All the pages are the same it’s a low content line page. Still… I keep getting errors on the 120 pg upload but for the first 20 pages only? Have you heard of this problem before? Is that typical even though all pages are duplicates of the first page? Thanks in advance.
Ummm is there an error in your dimensions for a bleed page here Paul? You say 1.25 top bottom and then 0.25 at the side – BUT 1.25 is written on the slide but you say 9.25 – just thought I’d say and be grateful to know if the side 1.25 is incorrect. Hope if the change is needed you can just edit that bit somehow. Cheers
So my book’s trim size is 6×9 and I added a bleed of 0.125in all-around and extended the images to the bleed. I uploaded it but got an email from KDP saying that I need to add 0.125in to the pages width and 0.25in to the page height.. even though I already did that in InDesign. I looked online and people have been saying that I need to check the box that says “use document bleed settings” so KDP can see that I do indeed have bleeds in my pdf, is this true?
Hi Paul, I saw In one off your articles that after you used the KDP 6×9 template in canva and When everything was in place, you then selected an option to “remove” the template we used from bookow. I tried it, but for some reason I never got the option to remove it and now I’m scared it can be seen when printed. If I am unable to remove it, just as long as the transparency tool is turned all the way up, will I be ok? Just don’t want it to show when printed. Help?
What file format do you use to upload your books, Paul? I have just tried to upload my first KDP book, got to the part where it says upload your manuscript and it says, well, we don’t really like pdf files, here is Kindle Create, how about you try that? After I had spent money buying Affinity Publisher and learning how to use it, and thought that pdf was what they wanted. Downloading Kindle Create to try it out.
Thank you for your knowledge. I was wondering, if I wanna make a no bleed interior in canva, can I do the inside margin on the left on the first page and duplicate that page for the rest of my book? or do I have to switch sides of the inside margin on the next page (which will be on the left side of the book) so inside margin on the right.
Paul yours is the clearest and easiest to understand explanation that I’ve found but I still don’t get it. At 10:20 you say that “as long as the content is within that box we’re all good to go. My question is, if my full page image has to be within that box how will it reach to the page edge ? Great vid I got my key words perusal them, thanks.
7:30 I was thoroughly confused. Thought I was trippin. Finally I got it. You say ‘0.125 for top and bottom’ but for the outside margin you SAY ‘0.25’ and your final number is 9.25 but your graphic is writing ‘0.125’ …. Please don’t misinterpret this as being bossy but you really should issue a correction via text on-screen where the mistake is made. Thank you 💘 you.
Hi @PaulMarles, Thank you for this very helpful article! I’m still a little confused about the margin element of interiors, specifically the gutter margin. My understanding of the inner gutter margin is that it’s placement/width will vary according to whether the manuscript page is on the left or the right, based on where the spine is e.g left hand pages have the larger inner gutter down their right margin. Do I have that correct? If so, when using Canva, or even Word, do the margin settings change based on the page/side of the manuscript? Or do the margins stay uniform through all pages of the document? Thanks so much for any insight you can share! 🙏
Thanks for the article Paul. It is very pain topic for the most KDP publishers… I had couple of questions for you if you don’t mind. I am new to the KDP. I published several books like 6×9, and 8.6×11, with 120-140 pages, which went ok, and is live. But won’t show on the search for some reason, even with ASIN search…? I was using bookaw measurements also, but for some reason it gives you wrong dimensions for the 8.5 x 11, 202 page book. I can’t get my book through the preview page, it keeps saying I have to add 0.5 inch for the gutter. I changed the size of the cover so many times on Canva and tried, even used KDP tamplate also for the size, it keeps giving me an error…🤔😠 Do you know exactly the dimensions for the 8.5 x 11, 202 page book by chance? Thanks in advance.