by Anura Guruge
on November 6, 2022
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Caveats:
1/ Never start off by using this workaround because it is GOOD to make sure that your margins are within limits & noting will get cut-off. Got that?
You should ONLY use this ‘trick’ if you are 120% certain that there is nothing wrong with your margins (& gutter) that NOTHING, BUT NOTHING will get inadvertently trimmed off during production. Got that?
2/ The KDP Paperback Previewer is getting more crochety in its old age — or, to be kinder, as it gets more mature. It, literally, cuts you no slack. If you have anything that barely touches the trim lines, it flags the book as being unprintable!
This is where you need to use your experience, expertise & judgement. Check the pages. Are you well & truly outside the trim lines. IF so, you really should fix it. But, is it just the case that you have text & maybe some graphics that are JUST on the line. Not over it. Just on the line.
In cricket, the line ALWAYS belongs to the umpire.
Well, KDP doesn’t have any LIVE umpires you can appeal to for some mercy. It is binary. You have to fix the margins BEFORE you can go ahead.
3/ This overzealous Previewer really only starts to show its unpleasant side when you are dealing with BIG books, with THICK spines, i.e., books with over (say) 500 pages.
4/ Well I stumbled upon a workaround. ONCE I have triple ascertained that nothing is really outside the trim lines, I set the BLEED SETTING to BLEED! Smile. You work it out. That is all I am saying. Just trying to help. SMILE.
P.S., You can ONLY use BLEED with manuscripts submitted in PDF form. OK?