The Journal.
Working notes on book formatting, cover sizing and the small print of indie publishing. Written for authors preparing books for Amazon KDP and IngramSpark, and for readers considering Folio Format — desktop book formatting software built in the UK by an indie publisher — as their working studio.
-
Publishing on KDP
Uploading a book to KDP — what Amazon checks
The whole publish phase at a glance — the two files KDP wants, what it checks automatically, the previewer, metadata, and the one check only your own eyes can do.
-
Interior preparation
How to format a book interior for KDP
A reader never sees your file — only the pages. The whole interior at a glance: margins, front matter, chapter openings, headers and contents, and how each part fits together.
-
The page frame
Margins and the gutter — giving your text room
Margins are the white space that holds a page together, and the inner one — the gutter — has to grow as the book thickens. The figures KDP requires, and why the gutter is the one to watch.
-
Chapter design
Formatting chapter openings and headings
A chapter opening is a small piece of stagecraft — the sink, the drop cap, the suppressed running head. How each one works, and how to keep headings consistent across a whole book.
-
Running heads & folios
Page numbers and running headers, done right
Folios and running heads are the smallest marks in a book and the ones that most often give an amateur interior away. Where each one sits, which pages suppress them, and how to number front matter.
-
Contents
Building a table of contents that works
A contents page is two different things at once — a typeset page in print, a set of navigation links in an ebook. Manual versus automatic, print versus ebook, and why a contents page breaks.
-
When uploads fail
Common KDP upload errors, and how to fix them
KDP's upload errors are terse and a little cold, but each one points at a specific, fixable fault. The ones you are most likely to meet, in plain English with the fix for each.
-
Interior rejection
Why KDP rejects a book interior
A cover rejection arrives by email; an interior fault is usually caught more quietly, at upload or in the previewer. Either way it is one of six mechanical things — with where each fix lives.
-
Metadata
KDP metadata mistakes to avoid
Your files can be flawless and a book can still stall on the words around it — the title, description, keywords and categories. The mistakes that hold books up, and the rule underneath all of them.
-
ISBNs
Do you need an ISBN for KDP?
Every author meets this question and most blogs answer it badly. Whether you need an ISBN depends on the format, and KDP's free one versus your own comes down to three honest questions.
-
File preparation
What is a print-ready PDF?
A plain-English guide. What makes a PDF acceptable for KDP and IngramSpark — trim, bleed, fonts, images, flatten — and why each rule exists.
-
Manuscript structure
Front matter and back matter — what belongs
Title page, copyright, dedication, contents, also-by, acknowledgements, about-the-author — the pages around the book, in the order a reader expects them.
-
Before you upload
Book formatting checklist before uploading to KDP
A pre-upload run-through covering interior, cover and metadata. Twenty-one items to confirm before clicking publish.
-
Two platforms
IngramSpark vs Amazon KDP — what changes
Trim, file requirements, cover specs, royalties, returns, ISBN — where the two platforms diverge for indie authors publishing on both.
-
Cover preparation
How to calculate your KDP cover size
Trim, spine and bleed, in plain English — with a worked example for a 6 × 9 paperback. The arithmetic looks fiddly the first time, then never again.
-
When uploads fail
Why your KDP cover was rejected
Seven of the most common reasons Amazon KDP returns a cover, in order of frequency — with the fix for each, before you reupload.
-
Interior preparation
KDP bleed, explained without the jargon
What the word means, when you actually need it, and what changes when you turn it on. Bleed is one decision, not a setting buried in five menus.
-
Two formats, one manuscript
Paperback vs hardback formatting — what changes
The same manuscript, two different bindings. The interior is closer than authors expect; the cover is further apart than they expect. A guide to both.
-
Choosing a trim
KDP trim size guide — 5 × 8, 6 × 9, or custom
A walk through the trim sizes Amazon KDP supports, why 5 × 8 reads as a novel and 6 × 9 as non-fiction, and when a custom size is worth the trouble.
-
The numbers that matter
KDP spine width — how it's calculated, and why covers misprint
Page count, paper type, paper bulk: three numbers, one measurement, several ways it can go wrong before the courier arrives. The maths behind the spine.