How to Properly Use Margins and Bleeds in KDP Books

In this video, I’m going to show you how to use margins in Adobe InDesign, as well as when to use bleeds, in books being created for KDP.
0:00 - What this video is about.
0:07 - Intro animation.
0:18 - A little bit about myself and my channel.
0:43 - Why I created this video?
1:00 - Everything you need to know about KDP interior dimensions.
1:55 - How to create your book document in Adobe InDesign.
2:28 - How to properly set up book margins in Adobe Indesign.
5:42 - How and when to use bleeds when publishing with KDP.
11:16 - Closing comments.
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[@thepurpleufo]

It's funny how so many other videos on this topic make it extremely complicated and sometimes even get it wrong. But your explanation is the clearest one I've seen. Thank you.

[@CraigBabin]

You're welcome.

[@mygiita]

As clear as the summer sky. You are good at teaching, thank you so much.

[@CraigBabin]

You're quite welcome.

[@SteveHilliarphotography]

What a fantastic explanation. You are the man. Thanks for the great effort

[@CraigBabin]

Thanks Steve, I appreciate you saying that.

[@ojatro]

Great video with lots of useful information. Keep it up!

[@CraigBabin]

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it.

[@FisnikSylkaFisnik]

Such a great and detailed explanation. Thank you for this great video Craig!

[@CraigBabin]

You're welcome.

[@WebFanNY]

Your instructions were so clear and easy I ended up subscribing.

[@CraigBabin]

I'm glad you did.

[@lizamijburgh8456]

Extremely helpful thank you so much!

[@CraigBabin]

You're quite welcome Liza.

[@kile009]

Absolutely helpful. SO glad I subbed and found this. Thanks for this.

[@CraigBabin]

You're quite welcome Kile.

[@truthseeker7169]

Finally, you've made me understand this margin and bleed thing :)

[@CraigBabin]

Glad I could help!

[@dreamscapes6787]

Excellent video. Thanks for the assist!

[@CraigBabin]

Glad it helped!

[@swissgermanshorts]

this is awesome and helped me a lot! Thank you so much, Craig!

[@CraigBabin]

Glad it helped!

[@ludneyderosiers2273]

This was the best explanation out there ! Thank you

[@CraigBabin]

You're very welcome!

[@Egarciaf]

Thank you for video! You solved the key step for setting up my appropriate bleeds with KDP, changing the size page 🙂

[@CraigBabin]

Glad I could help Eduardo.

[@vladimirzhukov2188]

Thanks a lot for your simple explanations!

[@CraigBabin]

You're welcome!

[@kevinklein8194]

Thanks so much, Craig! I've printed several author copies of my picture book in KDP prior to publishing, and they looked great. As soon as I published yesterday, though, it came be rejected for this exact reason. I never would've figured it out on my own. So glad I found your video!

[@CraigBabin]

Glad it was helpful!

[@max-ub4vt]

Another great video!

[@CraigBabin]

Glad you like them!

[@suzevidz]

Thank you so much for doing this video. I've watched several videos because I've been having a lot trouble with my first book files for KDP. This is the first video that actually explained what I needed to do. Others have stated what size I needed to make the files and now I'm finding that those were incorrect. Thank you so much for clarifying everything!

[@CraigBabin]

You're quite welcome Suzee.

[@graphicsgalaxy1985]

What a nice explanation it was!!!! Just awesome🥰🥰🥰

[@CraigBabin]

Glad you think so!

[@Maria.Achanova]

Great Video! Thankfully I found you! 🌟

[@CraigBabin]

I'm thankful you found me as well Maria.

[@chofoess7432]

nice maan ! great explanation with details . thanks

[@CraigBabin]

You're welcome.

[@FrequencyAlchemy]

Thank you SO much! I've been racking my brain with the lack of (or outdated) information on KDP!

[@CraigBabin]

Happy to help!

[@jessargarate8642]

So useful, thank you!!

[@CraigBabin]

You're welcome Jess.

[@visualchamber1753]

DUDE!!! This the video! straight to the point with no B.S or the origins of KDP. SUBSCRIBED!

[@CraigBabin]

Glad you liked it!

[@sarahjosiah6520]

You're a legend. This is the best video ever! THANK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUU. You deserve a subscribe for this.

[@CraigBabin]

I'm glad you're coming along for the ride Sarah!

[@juniorvalenciaoficial]

@@CraigBabin Totally agree!

[@juniorvalenciaoficial]

New sub! BTW

[@simplylovie007]

Wow, you made this so easy to understand. Ty

[@CraigBabin]

You're quite welcome.

[@ebyh1172]

Excellent! Thank you!

[@CraigBabin]

You're welcome!

[@monisonill4005]

Great teacher. This video is the best out of all of them as information is given with visual examples and explanation of pros and cons which makes learning so much easier to understand! Thank you

[@CraigBabin]

Thank you for saying that, I'm glad it was helpful.

[@S.p.a.c.e.C.o.w.b.o.y]

Very helpful. Thanks 😊

[@CraigBabin]

You're welcome.

[@shaddyseller]

It was really helpful, thank you.

[@CraigBabin]

You're welcome!

[@IqraMusulmana]

I watched like 5 videos on margins and bleed and this is the one who make sense and I finally understood. Thank you so much! God bless you

[@CraigBabin]

You're very welcome!

[@oliviachapman6989]

This video was an absolute lifesaver for me, as it is my first time creating a book for a client. I had been confused for hours until I came across this video! Can't thank you enough.

[@CraigBabin]

I'm glad it helped.

[@melindawolfUS]

Thank you! I've been looking everywhere for a simple, clear explanation for using InDesign to ready my book and this is the first time it really 'clicked' for me. You're an excellent teacher and you've earned my sub. Please make lots of Adobe product tutorials specific like this one, I'm an old hat at Photoshop but while I have the full creative cloud, I'm not confident in the others for making art (or money). There's lots online for Photoshop but so little for Indesign, Illustrator and Animator that I settle for old videos with outdated tool names/locations making it take longer to learn anything without confusion. Thanks again! Looking forward to seeing what more you do :)

[@CraigBabin]

Thank you for the compliment Melinda, it's nice of you to say. And I will continue to create Adobe related tutorials for many years, in fact I'm going to be launching a new playlist very shortly that teaches people how to start drawing in Adobe Illustrator. It's going to begin with very simple drawings and slowly graduate up to more elaborate illustrations that can be used in coloring and activity books to sell on Amazon. I'm also working on courses that will teach you how to create original art and how to make a passive income from licensing it. So stick around.

[@theworldthroughmyeyes00]

Thank you very much!! Subscribed!!!

[@CraigBabin]

Thanks for the sub!

[@shinyoungpark9012]

Thanks so much master!

[@CraigBabin]

You're very welcome Shinyoung.

[@jenniferlambert3886]

Thanks for your tutorial! I feel like I have to “KZbin hop” to get all information out there on KDP and InDesign. BTW, you’re the first person I have come across that informs the audience about setting up a bleed document to be exported in PDF. I will try this method for my next KDP submission!

[@CraigBabin]

KDP can be a very complex subject at times. I'm glad you found my tutorial useful Jennifer.

[@soogoodromantic4659]

thinks a lot for all those details.

[@CraigBabin]

No Problem.

[@SoyAndreschimp]

Thank you! this was very helpful!

[@CraigBabin]

You're welcome.

[@TeeJamma]

Thank you 😊

[@AmethystWoman]

Thanks Craig. I'm so tired of hearing about Canva etc. I've been looking for somebody who uses Adobe. Appreciate it.

[@CraigBabin]

My pleasure.

[@DesiStefanova]

Thank you Craig for the clarification on KDP and bleed/page size. I've been forwards and backwards with KDP for the last month with 5 rejections of my book. They kept telling me to extend the pages and I thought they meant to add the bleed which I had done but obviously, as you point out, they don't see that... You confirm what my next step was going to be, namely to scrap the InDesign bleed and just make the page size bigger than just 6x9 inches. Keep up the good work! You seem like a man on a mission!

[@CraigBabin]

I'm glad you figured it out Desi. And yes, I am on a mission!

[@DesiStefanova]

Now I seem to have a different problem - InDesign crashes when I ask it to resize the page... I'm fed up with all this nonsense!!!

[@CraigBabin]

@@DesiStefanova The only reason I can think of that InDesign would crash when trying to change the document settings, is if you were using very large graphic files (images) in your document. If your computer doesn't have enough RAM on it, it would cause the program to shutdown. One way to get around that, is to create a new document at the proper page size, and then bring all of the images in from scratch. Another tip: don't have your image resolution in InDesign, set to high performance while you're creating the book. Keep the resolution as low as possible to save on RAM.

[@DesiStefanova]

@@CraigBabin Yep! After a bit of sweat and tears, followed my son's advice (same as yours which I read too late, unfortunately) to set the performance to low and then it resized the document very easily... Phew!! However, by that time, I had done some irreparable changes to my master pages (i.e deleted the old ones and created new ones with new size in the effort to manually resize all of the 100 pages of the book!) So, perseverance is my maiden name (Haha). Now I have learned a new trick! Thank you!!

[@LeAnnKelly-bf1nt]

I just love watching your videos, I get so much information about KDP. So thank you for posting everything anyone needs to know if they choose this journey. I do have an issue and I could really use some help. So I completed my first KDP and of course had some errors and it was all related to bleed and margins. So I went back, resized it and moved things around. So I hit the 'launch previewer' and finally got it without any errors and was able to hit the 'approve' button. I went to see if my book had gone live a few days later only to see an email saying that I had to add .125" to my width and .25" to my height to ensure that the images in my manuscript extend beyond the edge of the page then once I have added the size I could then extend any images or backgrounds that i want to reach all the way to the edge of the page .125" beyond the trim line. I am completely confused now I honestly thought I had done this. What am I doing wrong? HELP???

[@CraigBabin]

I can't say for sure why this is happening, but if I had to guess, I would say that you're doing one of these two things wrong. 1. When you're setting up your document, you're setting the trim size (in the document size setting) to the actual book size, and then are adding the additional .125 and .25, to account for the bleed, in the bleed section. What you should be doing is setting your trim size to include the bleed right from the start and just ignore the bleed settings all together. (ie. Instead of setting your document (trim) size to 8X10 in InDesign, and then under the bleed section adding .125 to the width and .25 to the height; what you should be doing is setting your trim (document) size to 8.125 X 10.25, and leaving the bleed section set at O. And make sure that you're extending your images right to the very edge of the page. 2. When you're uploading your book to KDP, since you are using bleed dimensions, you need to make sure that you are selecting "Bleed" as your option in the set up, and not "No Bleed". Even if you have the bleed of your document and your images set up correctly for bleed. if you accidentally choose the "No Bleed" option when uploading your book, then you're images are going to be too close to the edge of the paper because KDP thinks you want a white border around the edge of your book, because you chose the "No Bleed" option. But if you're not doing either of those things, then I have no idea why KDP would be asking you to add additional bleed to your book. I hope this helps LeAnn.

[@LeAnnKelly-bf1nt]

@@CraigBabin thank you so much for your prompt reply!! I greatly appreciate it. So when I started I set it to 8.5X11 and then when I was done with 120 pages I went in to resize it to 8.625X11.25 and then I had no way of setting the gutter margin. So I watched a couple videos how people were going in and editing their manuscript with their computers editing app whichever that might be. So I tried that and found out I couldn’t no matter what I did! So I sent it to my daughters MAC and was able to edit it and resize the manuscript perfectly. I sent it back to Canva and it doesn’t even look the same. I know it had to convert it to something else while in her MAC but once it came back to me I can’t get it converted back to PDF. I am so stressed over this! I guess I will just start over, not sure how I am going to do this but it’s all in Canva now so I will hope I can figure it out! I want so much to to do KDP I can taste it but I have been running into so many brick walls it’s beginning to break me. Thanks so much for your help! I am definitely starting over and just taking your advice. Your amazing!!!

[@CraigBabin]

@@LeAnnKelly-bf1nt That's your problem, you need to create your book at 8.625X11.25 right from the start, no resizing. If you're looking to do the whole self publishing thing and you find the process of setting your books up to be a little challenging, I recommend using Book Bolt over Canva. Book Bolt does the entire set up process for you. Plus it has all of the research tools as well as the puzzle generator. If you want to learn more about it, watch this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i2WnYWeVdrSAhpY

[@therealist_216]

Very helpful! I had a book rejected and couldn't figure out why!

[@CraigBabin]

I'm glad it helped!

[@dr.carmencaltagirone5868]

I loved this video absolutely loved it. ❤❤❤. I especially liked what you did with the paper which really gives a fantastic excellent visual on The concept of margins and gutters etc. this is my fifth book but my first attempt at self publishing and I’m finding the formatting to be very challenging even though I am a daily user for over 20 years of MICROSOFT. I just find that some of the requirements are kind of convoluted in a bit much. I was doing well with the margin formatting after mini trial and error attempts and I’m going to go back to the drawing board now and basically do what you said about adding to the inside margin. What has happened to me is that today I went to PDF for the first time to test it and found that, for example, my page numbers were outside the boundaries of my book size. In other words for a 6 x 9“ book if you counted from the first line on the page all the way down the page number on the bottom of the page was at 9.75 inches! How can that be? My top margin is 1 inch in the bottom is .75 inches. Even though it does not ask you for a header footer measurement., Somewhere the H/D measurement has to be factored in right ? Any help you can offer me, would be appreciated. Thanks for the great video I’m going to go work on it now and I know that it will be a great help.

[@CraigBabin]

When you set your margins, they should be set inside of the 6 X 9" page dimensions. All of your type set should fall inside of those margins, whatever they are. Once you have your book all laid out, then go back to the document set up page and add the bleed to the overall book by increasing the page dimensions. After you do this don't resize your type set, leave it right where it is. I don't understand how your page numbers could be outside of your margins. Are you writing your book in another software and then copy and pasting it into InDesign? Are you setting up your page numbers in InDesign or in another software? Also, do your type set and page numbers look accurate in the InDesign workspace? Because if they do, saving the document out in PDF shouldn't make any difference.

[@dr.carmencaltagirone5868]

@@CraigBabin thank you for your quick response! You are an outstanding KZbinr! Regarding the page numbers being outside of the margins… I am as perplexed as you are over that. In answer to your question I am only using Microsoft Word no other software no in design or anything. A few c questions… Are you saying that I should add a bleed ( there is no bleed anywhere in my book) ? Is it OK to leave the gutter at zero and just do a bigger inside dimension? I have a book published by KDP by someone I don’t know and I’m going to use their dimensions for a 6 x 9 because their page numbers are almost identical to mine. This guy used inside .875 and outside .625 If there’s any other advice, I am always open to it. Thank you very much for your help.

[@CraigBabin]

​@@dr.carmencaltagirone5868 No you don't need to use bleed. For some reason I thought you were using InDesign. I don't really use Word for desktop publishing, so I have no idea as to why your page numbers would be off your page. In the version of Word that I have, once you establish your page margins and then choose to insert page numbers, the page numbers are automatically placed just below the bottom margin. And when I save the document out as a PDF, the page numbers appear in the same spot as they appear in the Word document itself. So I really have no idea what is going on with your version of Word software. Sorry.

[@maryanncarl646]

So glad you popped up on KZbin. I just had a go-round with KDP for the last few days. I am a brand new wanna-be publisher so my first two books were just journals. My second book kept getting rejected because of the gutter margin. The journal has 153 pages so they wanted the gutter to be 0.5". The problem that I had is that none of the software that I have allows me to set the gutter margin for each page of the spread individually. The place for the settings (using Affinity Designer) asks for the right side and the left side measurements not inside and outside as you had on Adobe. If I set the right margin for the even-numbered page it would take care of the gutter but for odd-numbered pages, the right margin would now be the outside margin and the gutter margin would be too small. I am so brand new that I am just beginning to learn the software so I have no idea how to get around this problem. I hope you have a suggestion. I am sure I am overlooking something very obvious. Again, thank you for a great video.

[@CraigBabin]

Hey Mary, For me, Affinity Designer is not an alternative to InDesign, it's an alternative to Adobe Illustrator. And I would never layout a book using Adobe Illustrator. I don't know how hooked you are on Affinity, but if you want a free software that works just like InDesign, I recommend that you try Scribus. It shares a lot of the same features as InDesign, especially the ability to set wider inside margins. www.scribus.net/ If you insist on using Affinity, the only thing I can think of to create wider inside margins would be to set all of your margins to an equal width, then using the ruler at the top of the interface, insert a line guide that's 0.5 inches from the inside edge of each page. And do every page manually. Then just line your content up to the inside line guide instead of the margin. I know that answer sucks, but that's all I've got. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

[@maryanncarl646]

@@CraigBabin This was perfect. Thank you.

[@plal9459]

Hi. I am also new to KDP. I have bought Affinity Publisher. It's the same as InDesign. I just find it a bit clearer especially for me as a beginner. And I don't have to pay 25€ every month. Maybe I'll switch later when I've gotten better. With Affinity Publisher you can also enter the margins as with InDesign. I have built templates for the different book sizes in which I also color the corresponding margins with the option rectangle.

[@CraigBabin]

@@plal9459 If Affinity Publisher gets the job done for you, then there's no reason to switch to Adobe Indesign. I use InDesign because I also use many other Adobe products for other projects (i.e Premiere Pro to edit videos, Illustrator to draw, Photoshop to create thumbnails and social media material, After Effects to create animations like my logo sting at the beginning of my video and Audition to score music). So I use a lot of the products which makes an Adobe subscription worth it to me. But you don't have to use Adobe. Use what you can afford.

[@katydart3739]

thank you LEGEND!!! Can now cancel my help desk ticket to KDP and Tangent Templates :). thanks so much. Lovely clear voice too thanks

[@CraigBabin]

You're too kind, I'm glad you liked it Katy.

[@katydart5857]

@@CraigBabin just wondering - do you have the same interior margin for page 1? Also no matter how thick the book, is it good to have 0.5 exterior and .75 interior margins? Thanks heaps

[@CraigBabin]

@@katydart5857 When you set the interior margins, they apply to the entire book, so yes the first page is the same as the last. As for your second question, I had answered it further down in the comments but here it is again. The following are the gutter dimensions for any book size. Page Count Inside (gutter) Margins Outside Margins (no bleed) Outside Margins (with bleed) 24 to 150 pages 0.375" at least 0.25" at least 0.375" 151 to 300 Pages 0.5" at least 0.25" at least 0.375" 301 to 500 Pages 0.625" at least 0.25" at least 0.375" 501 to 700 Pages 0.75" at least 0.25" at least 0.375" 701 to 828 Pages 0.875" at least 0.25" at least 0.375"

[@katydart5857]

​@@CraigBabin sorry to be a pain but i dont understand the above chart. How does that work with your recommendation of the .5 top,bottom, exterior and .75 interior margins? Seems too narrow especially as im using some of that margin space as bleed due to KDP dumb bleed setup settings ?? (im talking inDesign). Thanks!

[@CraigBabin]

In the video, when I recommend using 0.5" on the outside and 0.75" on the inside, those are just margin settings that I've found to be optimal. The chart above are KDP's suggestions. So you can set your outside margins to 0.25" (no bleed) or 0.375" (bleed), without having to worry about anything being cropped off during printing. I use the dimensions that I suggested in the video, because I personally think they look better aesthetically. So it's up to you, you can go as low as 0.25" or as high as 0.5". Anywhere in between is fine. The only dimension on the above chart that's important to pay attention to, is the inside margins. When taking your book's page count into consideration, never go lower than any of those recommendations. So even though I recommend using an inside margin of 0.75" on any book with less than 700 pages, if I was to create a book that had 900 pages, I would make my inside margin 0.875", to account for the extra pages. In summary, for any book under 700 pages, using outside margins of 0.5" and inside margins of 0.75" are fine. And remember, your bleed is just being added on to your outside margin width. So if you're doing a book with bleed and you want an outside margin of 0.5", then you would need to add 0.125" to the 0.5" to give you a margin of 0.625". The 0.125" of your outside margin will be cropped off when the book is printed, leaving your book with an outside margin of 0.5" I hope this helps.

[@thanhluanvu7577]

Craig Babin, thank you for your video. At 8:40, For the bleed setting, I think you should turn "Inside Bleed" to zero. Outside, Top, and Bottom are the same 0.125 in. Because I saw you setup all four bleed options same 0.125, so your final paper size is 8.5in x 8.5in, not 8.375in x 8.5in as page size with bleed requirement of KDP. I guess that is the reason why your books got rejected. That is my personal opinion based on my understood. What you think about my comment? Please let me know. I just start my KDP and I am learning, and Bleed is one of my big concerns, so I want to clear understand about that before I publish my book.

[@CraigBabin]

Good catch! And you're right, the inside bleed should be set to zero. I actually forgot to do that when I was creating the video. Both of the books that I had rejected by KDP had the inside bleeds set to 0, and they were still rejected. I don't know what it was, maybe it was just a glitch with their software, who knows. But I know that when I just set the page size to their bleed dimensions right from the beginning, I never have any problems. But keep in mind that I recommend keeping all of your important information (especially graphics) inside the margins. But if you were to put a picture that covered the full spread of the book and you were using a perfect binding for your book, part of your picture would end up in the gutter, making the picture look like it didn't line up properly. Some printers (like Lulu) would request that you set the interior bleed to 0.125 inches, just so that there is an overlap. This way when the pages are cropped during printing, the image will appear to line up better. This is where bleeds get tricky and why if I'm creating one continuous picture spread, I try to make sure that there is nothing but solid color in the gutter area of the picture, so that I don't need to worry about interior bleeds. Here's an article from Lulu, so you can see what I'm talking about: help.lulu.com/en/support/solutions/articles/64000255584-how-do-i-make-my-content-cover-the-whole-page-what-is-bleed-

[@sandeebartsch9063]

Craig Babin, thank you so much for this clear, concise and informative video. Currently I'm writing my memoir and I want to publish through KDP. My book has art journal pages and text, so I am using indesign. One question, "when I upload my book to KDP, do I enter the trim size as 7.5 x 9.25? This is the size I chose for my book. I have set all my pages to bleed size, 7.625 x 9.5. Being a newbie I may have a heart attack if my book is rejected, hee hee. Thank you. I subscribed to your channel.

[@CraigBabin]

When you upload your book interior to KDP, the only dimension option you'll be given, is the 7.5 x 9.25. So you're going to choose that. Then they will ask you if your book trim is "with bleed" or "without bleed". You're going to choose "with bleed"; KDP will then evaluate whether or not you have set your book interior up correctly. If you choose a book dimension of 7.5 x 9.25, regardless of whether you add the extra 0.25 to the margins, or whether you choose bleed or no bleed, your book is going to be cropped to 7.5 x 9.25, because that's the size of the book you've chosen. By making you add the extra 0.25 to the margins and asking you whether you want bleed or no bleed, KDP is just trying to determine if you've left them enough margin for error when they crop your book. If your content doesn't go anywhere near the edge of your pages, if the cropping is slightly off, you won't be able to tell because none of your content got cropped off. But if you have an image that goes right to the edge of the page (but stops at 7.5 x 9.25), if the crop if slightly off, the side of the page that was under cropped will look fine, but the opposite side of the page that was over cropped, will have a thin line of blank white paper, where there should be colored image. That's a misprint, so to avoid that, they have you stretch your image out past the actual size of the book (7.25 x 9.25), to the bleed size of 7.625 x 9.5. This gives them a margin of error of 0.25 when cropping. I hope that makes sense.

[@sandeebartsch9063]

@@CraigBabin It totally makes sense. Thank you so much.

[@lekartdesign28]

Hi Craig! I just discovered your fantastic channel. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I had some rejections from KDP and I don't understand where the cause is. This is the message: "Increase your outside margins so that content isn't trimmed when your book is printed. The outside, top, and bottom margin requirements are 0.25" (6.35mm) for books without bleed and 0.375" (9.52mm) for books with bleed." My document must be after trimming 7x10 so the final dimension of the file is 7.125x10.25. I choose "bleed" option because is a color activity book, so is my choice if the "irrelevant content" is spreading out (like snowflakes). I don't know what to do because I have had 3 rejections already. Thank you!

[@CraigBabin]

I think it's because it's a coloring book. If it was a children's story book that was already colored, then they wouldn't flag it just because a few snowflakes got chopped off. But because it's a coloring book, they probably view cropping part of your image off, as cutting off part of the activity. They may not even realize that you're doing it intentionally. What they're are basically saying to you is not to increase your margin outwards (because you already have it set correctly), they're advising you to increase your margin inwards, so that all parts of your illustration are away from the edge and are not being cut off during printing. Cropped art work in a coloring book can be seen as a misprint to the customer, which means a complaint, and Amazon having to reprint the book at their expense. So to avoid that, they're making sure that all of your art work is well within the border of your page. I guarantee that if you pull all of your image inside of your 0.25" border, your book will be accepted.

[@lekartdesign28]

@@CraigBabin That means suppressing creativity.😀 Thank you very much!

[@CraigBabin]

@@lekartdesign28 Unfortunately, we have to play by their rules.

[@youtubewatcher2006]

Thank you for all the info! I watched a dozen videos on this topic but couldn't find a clear answer. For a 6x9 in book with lined interior and no bleed, what margins would you choose? Top, bottom, outside margin 0.25 in and inside margin 0.375 in maybe?

[@CraigBabin]

Yeah, that would work. Here are KDP's recommendations: Page Count Inside (gutter) Margins Outside Margins (no bleed) Outside Margins (with bleed) 24 to 150 pages 0.375" at least 0.25" at least 0.375" 151 to 300 Pages 0.5" at least 0.25" at least 0.375" 301 to 500 Pages 0.625" at least 0.25" at least 0.375" 501 to 700 Pages 0.75" at least 0.25" at least 0.375" 701 to 828 Pages 0.875" at least 0.25" at least 0.375"

[@youtubewatcher2006]

@@CraigBabin Thank you!

[@zay-antalarabella3303]

Thank You for this awesome video ! I have a question regarding to margins and bleed. I created all my coloring pages in Adobe Illustrator and the size what i choose is 8.5x11 in. On all the coloring pages I use a box with white clean space around, as you described in the video on min 6:10 (Prompt 1) , only the interior of the boxes are for coloring. But for the interior template I would use Adobe In design. I mention that this framing box does not go to the edges. For This coloring pages do I need to use inside margins and no bleed? If I have around 106 pages? Thank you.

[@CraigBabin]

KDP has a crop variation of 0.125 inches, which means there's a chance that your books' crop could be off in one direction or another by up to 0.125 inches, whether you're using bleed or not. For that reason, if you want to make sure that the white clean space stays around your graphic box, I recommend creating a margin in your book set up, of at least 0.25 inches and keep everything including the graphic box surrounding your images within that margin. This way, even if your book crop is off by 0.125 inches on one side of your book, you'll still have 0.125 inches of white space around your box. And if you're doing this, you don't have to use bleed. Secondly, you always need to use inside margins. And regardless of what your outside margins are, your gutter margins should be at least 0.375 inches for a book up to 150 pages. I myself personally never use a gutter margin that is less than 0.5 inches in any book. You want your images to appear centered when the book is lying open and the only way to achieve that is to have gutter margins that are slightly wider than the outside margins are. So create your margins and make sure the inside margins are slightly wider and then center all of your content including the frame around your images, inside of the margins. Don't not center your content to the entire page size, center it to the margin edges. I hope this helps Zay.

[@zay-antalarabella3303]

@@CraigBabin Thank you so much ! I really appreciate your help ! Make sense now !

[@scopsmusicproductionandcom3926]

Hi, I have a question. I set the inside margins bigger for the paperback, but now I want to make a PDF, but when I export to PDF and view as single page, the text column bounces from left to right when I turn each page because the text on the right page is pushed more to the right. I tried to change the margins to .5 for all sides, but this made a lot of the text run over the pictures in my document. I have no idea what to do and have been searching about this for a few hours.

[@CraigBabin]

Creating a book interior for print and creating an interior for digital download are two separate actions. The text column moving from left to right in your PDF, would be hidden by the gutter in a printed book. Where as in a PDF, it just looks off centered. You actually have to layout your book interior for a digital download separately and make your margins equal all the way around (as you did). Unfortunately, you're going to have to readjust all of your images as well.

[@shivaneechowrimootoo4992]

Thank you for the tutorial! But can we enlarge the pages instead of adding the bleed? Im creating a book 6" x9". And on Amazon it is written to add some inches on the pages to make it 6.125" x 9.25" for bleed. Thanks

[@CraigBabin]

Yes, I cover that in the video.

[@meredithhansenfavero5899]

Hi Craig! This was super helpful, thank you! Question... I notice you recommend exporting the document as "press quality (modified)". Can you share what your compression and output settings are? I have found SO little on this topic. btw, I am printing a children's picture book. Thanks so much!

[@CraigBabin]

I just leave the compression settings at their default values. The "Press Quality" setting is what KDP recommends for their printer. If you're using a printer other than KDP, most will tell you what settings they want you to set your document to, based on their printer set up.

[@meredithhansenfavero5899]

​@@CraigBabin Thanks for getting back to me! I am printing for KDP (this time around), but to clarify, in your video, you choose "Press Quality (modified)," which would suggest that some other setting has been changed. Do you happen to know what that would be? If you didn't change anything, is there a reason why you wouldn't choose just "Press Quality"? I'm asking because I have now done five samples with KDP, and all are coming out different in color.

[@CraigBabin]

@@meredithhansenfavero5899 The reason that the (modified) was on was because just prior to filming, I turned the bleed and margins on so that I could show you in the video that they need to be turned off. By turning them on, I triggered the modify. So I'm guessing your interiors are in color? Are you creating them in RGB or CMYK. RGB colors are always going to be darker than what's on your monitor. CMYK will give you a much truer idea of what your print images will look like. If you're using Adobe software, try using Pantone Solid Coated Swatches for your colors. I discuss the difference between using RGB and CMYK here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/apPKf4NvhJKHmdU

[@LTHanlon]

Great video. Thanks, Craig! Question: In my Mac version of InDesign, I can only create an inside margin of 0.75 inches by selecting "facing pages" and unlinking the margin dimensions. But when facing pages is unchecked, "inside" changes to "left" and "outside" to right. Since KDP wants pages rather than spreads, will it sort everything out? Or will the left- and right- pages have unequal gutters?

[@CraigBabin]

You're setting up your book with facing pages, you're just saving it out as individual pages in PDF format. When you save out your PDF file (with the individual pages option selected), look at the individual pages of your finished document. You'll notice that the .75 gutter jumps from the left side of the page to the right side with every new page. That's how you know that your gutter margins are fine.

[@LTHanlon]

Ah, OK. I need to keep "facing pages" selected in Document Setup. It's individual pages when saving as a PDF. Thanks!@@CraigBabin

[@plal9459]

Thanks for the video. I'm also new to KDP and have only published one book so far. And except for your video, I haven't heard about the wider Gutter Margin. So thanks again. From what number of pages should you make Gutter Margin larger than bleed and outside margin? Or should you always do that no matter what page number. I also get a little confused. What should Gutter Margin be for an 8.5 x 11 book?

[@CraigBabin]

The following are the gutter dimensions for any book size. Page Count Inside (gutter) Margins Outside Margins (no bleed) Outside Margins (with bleed) 24 to 150 pages 0.375" at least 0.25" at least 0.375" 151 to 300 Pages 0.5" at least 0.25" at least 0.375" 301 to 500 Pages 0.625" at least 0.25" at least 0.375" 501 to 700 Pages 0.75" at least 0.25" at least 0.375" 701 to 828 Pages 0.875" at least 0.25" at least 0.375"

[@plal9459]

@@CraigBabin Awesome. Thank you! :)

[@tim_longhurst]

Super clear and helpful explanation. Thanks for sharing. Could you confirm if the workaround steps for bleed in KDP are still true in 2024? Thank you :)

[@CraigBabin]

Yeah, that will never change.

[@tim_longhurst]

@@CraigBabin what I meant was does KDP still not correctly recognise bleeds in 2024. In fact, I’ve recently submitted an InDesign doc with bleeds and margins and it went through ok. I didn’t need to use your workaround. So hopefully no one should need to these days.

[@CraigBabin]

@@tim_longhurst Oh that's possible, KDP could have changed things since I created this video. But if by chance your book gets rejected with the bleeds, it's nice to know that you still have the workaround.

[@tim_longhurst]

@@CraigBabin Absolutely. Your instructions and workaround were very helpful and clear and I was all set to use your approach if things went south :)

[@stephaniemodkins4624]

Great details. I am new to KDP and now understand how off my margins have been. I have gone back and updated some interiors. Do you know how many times an interior can be changed in a single book?

[@CraigBabin]

As many times as you like.

[@stephaniemodkins4624]

@@CraigBabin thank you for the info.

[@CraigBabin]

@@stephaniemodkins4624 You're welcome.

[@dianegee8954]

That was amazing! Can you tell me if what you instructed applies only to KDP paperbacks? Would anything be different for KDP hardcovers? Many thanks :)

[@CraigBabin]

The rules for margins and bleeds are the same for both interiors.

[@dianegee8954]

Wow! Thank you so much for your quick reply! @@CraigBabin

[@jbello9398]

Thanks so much, can I do all this in photoshop? Thanks😊

[@CraigBabin]

You could, I'm using Indesign in this video. If you use Photoshop you'd have to layout one page spread at a time, instead of the entire book at once as you would in InDesign.

[@lisawebskowski609]

Do you have to flatten the PDF and Transparencies in inDesign or is it automatic when you select press quality?

[@CraigBabin]

Saving something to PDF doesn't always flatten transparencies, so it's best to just flatten them before saving. Here's an article that may be of some assistance to you: helpx.adobe.com/ca/indesign/using/flattening-transparent-artwork.html

[@sonalim720]

Please xan you do a tutorual about setting margins etc on canva . Thanks

[@CraigBabin]

Sorry, I don't use Canva and I know absolutely nothing about it.

[@redesignedbydelicia3052]

Ok this was much better than other videos I have watched! But I’m still confused when I want to do a border and a dashed “cut line” for a “poster” book. Could those elements go between the normal margin and the bleed margin? I don’t want them to run off the page just be larger than the “coloring” page if that makes sense. Or if I have a sketch in a journal and I’d like to fill the margin area of a page but not go off the page either…. ??? Thank you

[@CraigBabin]

When you want an illustration to go right to the edge of the page, just use full bleed dimension as your upload option in KDP and have your illustration go right to the edge of the bleed. As for the border and cut line, if you've got your book set up with margins of 0.5 on the top, outside and bottom of the page, and a 0.75 margin in the gutter; then I would place your border right on top of the margins all the way around the page. And since your border is sitting at the 0.75 mark on the gutter side of your page, I would place your dotted cut line at the 0.5 mark in the gutter.

[@redesignedbydelicia3052]

@@CraigBabin ok I think I’ve got it! So I wouldn’t use bleed for cut lines and borders just use the margins as a guide? 8.5x11 for example. Not 8.75x11.25.

[@CraigBabin]

@@redesignedbydelicia3052 You're books dimensions would be 8.75x11.25, your margins would be 0.5 and 0.75 in the gutter and your border would be right on top of your margins. Then your dotted cut line would be at the 0.5 mark of the gutter margin. Remember, even though your book's dimensions are 8.75x11.25, you book is still going to be cropped at 8.5x11 when printed.

[@twixie__5651]

i need a 6x9 inches size per page for my comics. but im confused how to add margins, bleeding. im new to this.😢 the orig page is 6x9inches and then i add margin and bleeding? the real drawings will be smaller? so if i submit my work the original size they are asking is 6x9inches but i can submit 6.125x9.25? the publisher will understand?since they asked it to be cymk ready for printing

[@CraigBabin]

Margins and bleed are not the same thing, so don't confuse them. You only need to use bleed if you want your illustrations to go to the very edge of the page, if you don't (ie. your illustrations will be contained inside of panel boxes, as they are in comic books), then you don't need to use bleed. But if you do want your illustrations to go to the edge of the page, then you need to increase your page dimensions to 6.125x9.25 inches. Now you'll be able to run your images right off the end of the page, without having to worry about a white border appearing around the edge of your page. Margins on the other hand are only a guide designed to keep you from placing your books content too close to the edge of your page. As long as you're using a margin set up of .25 inches for the top, bottom and outside margins and .5 for your gutter margin, you should be fine.

[@twixie__5651]

@@CraigBabin thank you for the fast reply 😭i will submit my graphic novel to a publisher. that's why i am thinking how much margin should i put so my drawings won't get cut off

[@jonnysegway7866]

If you set your page to bleed size then do you also need to adjust your margin size, in the video you kept them the same?

[@CraigBabin]

No, the two don't affect one another. The margin is the distance from the edge of the page "inwards", whereas the bleed is the distance from the edge of the page "outwards". The edge of the page is still going to be cropped in the exact same spot when printed, whether you apply bleed or not.

[@zombiemillionaire6397]

Super helpful video. My issue has been lots of mistakes in the images. I've hired VAs to fix them but I'm tired of spending the money because their work has not been "Amazing" What do you do when you have an image you really like but need to fix things within the image?

[@CraigBabin]

What do you mean by mistakes in the images? Mistakes you made when creating the image, or mistakes that occur in the final print coming from KDP?

[@zombiemillionaire6397]

normal Midjourney mistakes like making a mushroom and it having 3 stems, lol. I've actually had that happen.

[@CraigBabin]

@@zombiemillionaire6397 Okay, you're not going to like my answer to that question. If your problem is mistakes that occur using Midjourney, then my advice would be to either, learn to draw yourself, or hire an actual artist to create the image for you! In case it wasn't obvious, I'm not really big on AI. lol

[@zombiemillionaire6397]

@@CraigBabin I appreciate the answer. I do have an amazing artist but I have him busy on a book. I will probably wait until he's done and have him fix the images.

[@CraigBabin]

@@zombiemillionaire6397 It's good to hear that you haven't given up on artists.

[@Zencat-cv6tx]

🎨

[@smartphonetechs8939]

Hello please do we still need margins for lined notebooks

[@CraigBabin]

Only if you're leaving a blank border (margin) around the outside of your pages. If you're running your lines right to the edge of your page (full bleed), then no.

[@smartphonetechs8939]

@@CraigBabin thanks

[@kiandratrickett8091]

I've had Amazon KDP customer support staff tell me about 6 different file sizes for an 8 x 10" paperback with bleed... they keep adding 0.125 on top of the bleed measurement column.. ?

[@CraigBabin]

A lot of people move their margins with their bleed settings and you don't want to do that. So create your book with the 8" x 10" dimensions, then set your margins to whatever size you want them to be (ie .25"); and then go and change the 8" x 10" dimensions to 8.125" x 10.25" and leave the margins where they are. Some people run into to problems because they set the book dimensions to 8.125" x 10.25", and then set their margins to .2" on top, bottom and side. Not realizing that after the .125" bleed has been cut off, they will only have a margin of .075", and that's not enough, so KDP rejects it. If you're creating your book in Book Bolt, just set your book dimension to 8" x 10" and then choose bleed, Book Bolt will do the rest. I hope that helps.

[@awallacecreative5488]

Help! My book still keeps getting rejected! I give up! Do you have indesign templates??

[@CraigBabin]

Is it just the interior that's being rejected or is it the cover as well? And are they saying why it is being rejected? Here are links to both KDP interior and cover templates. Just know, that if you have used any transparencies in your cover images or in any images in the interior of your book, KDP will reject your book until those transparencies have been flattened. KDP Book Cover Template: kdp.amazon.com/en_US/cover-templates Kdp Book Interior Template: kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G201834230

[@sandeebartsch9063]

Craig Babin, I don't know of anyone who can answer this question, so I'd thought I'd ask you. My book for KDP is not low content, it has art journals spreads, photos along with text. Currently, I am scanning my art at 600 DPI. Will this be a problem when I try to publish the book?

[@CraigBabin]

No, I highly doubt it. 600 DPI is not that high. It may slow down the processing time when you upload your book, but nothing more. This excerpt is straight from the KDP website: "Images that contain 300 DPI produce the best print quality. As the DPI increases, so does the resolution and print quality, showing more detail in the image. We recommend images at a minimum resolution of 300 DPI. There is no set maximum DPI for images, however, images with excessively high resolutions may result in files timing out during processing, or cause manufacturing delays. The maximum file size for upload is 650MB." I think you'll be fine at 600DPI Sandee, just as long as you stay under that 650MB file size.

[@sandeebartsch9063]

@@CraigBabin Man...thank you so much for replying so quickly. I was worried and now I'm not. I will continue with confidence. Thank you so so so much. You are a really great guy in my books.

[@CraigBabin]

@@sandeebartsch9063 I'm glad I could help.

[@lizamijburgh8456]

Is it possible to enlarge the page dimensions without impacting the margins and baseline grid?

[@CraigBabin]

No, the margins are calculated from the edge of the page inward, so if you enlarge the page, the margins will move. They'll still be the same distance from the edge of the page, but they won't be in the same spot as they were on the smaller page.

[@lizamijburgh8456]

Thanks so much @@CraigBabin - I increased my margins and the starting point of the baseline grid and it works perfectly now

[@CraigBabin]

@@lizamijburgh8456 I'm glad you were able to figure it out.

[@dr.carmencaltagirone5868]

I am going to seek your advice once again at the risk of being a nuisance. You have been so helpful so far that I just want to fill you in on some things in and ask you a couple of questions, please. I am at the point of going to a publisher (KDP)to begin the actual publishing process, but I have a problem that I just don’t understand. I have set margins according to my best knowledge, but I am so afraid that they are off. From everything I read, they might be. I understand the concept of gutters, but I don’t understand why you wouldn’t just make the inside margin larger-in other words, why are there two factors inside and gutters? What I have done to help myself I learned from you. I took a book that was published by someone through KDP and I did what I saw you do on KZbin. I actually measured the space between the inside most text and the edge of the paper which is glued inside the gutter. It was .875 in. The outside margin was .625. I used the .875 as my inside margin and 6.25 as my outside margin. Should I add EVEN MORE for adding a gutter or just leave the gutter at zero? it would seem to me that because of my measurements I’ve already included the gutter in that .875 figure. I hope I’m making this clear. I really need help and this is so important to me. According to my physical measures and calculations, this worked for this author beautifully in terms of what I can see visually in his presentation. But I have no idea as to what the numbers were in the custom margins for him. I tried to reach the author, but did not get an answer. Please help if you can. I wish all KZbinrs were as kind and helpful and accommodating as you are. Thank you so much, Craig

[@CraigBabin]

"Margins" and "bleeds" are two mutually exclusive things and it seems like you're confusing them. When it comes to "bleed", you're only adding it to the top, bottom and outside edges of your page. That has nothing to do with the "margins", that space is beyond the margins (think of it as additional paper around the outside edge of your book). So there's no need to add anything additional to the inside margin when it comes to bleed. You're just adding that little bit of extra width to the inside "margin" to account for the gutter of the book which is held together too tightly to be able to print text on it. Remember, bleed is the part of the book that is going to be cut off by the printer during the printing process. You can't cut anything off from the gutter. Envision your finished book lying closed on a table with the cover on it. But there is a little bit of excess paper peaking out from under the cover on the top, bottom and side (the side that opens), of your book and it's coming from the interior pages. That extra paper is the bleed and it is going to be cut off. So in your situation, your margins all the way around your page are actually .625, you're just added a little more to your inside margin, to account for the gutter and that's why it's .875. This will make the top, bottom, outside and inside margins appear to be the same in the eyes of the reader. I hope that helps.

[@montagnu]

I'm in the process of setting up a 6x9 lined notebook using one of my watercolour paintings as a full background image for each of the pages. After scanning my painting I edited it in Affinity Photo. I'm using Affinity Publisher to set up the book. I set the page dimensions at 6x9, and added the bleed dimensions separately. Whenever I try to export to PDF using a PDF/X-1a format, as the KDP guidelines as they stand now state is the preferred option, the pages have weird things happening around the edges. This has been making me nuts. The only solution I've found so far is to reduce the size of the image and then add a fill layer to complete the background. This is not really what I want to do, so I'm going to kick the bleed settings to the curb and set up the page dimensions at 6.125x9.25. Maureen

[@CraigBabin]

That's exactly what you should do.

[@montagnu]

@@CraigBabin You are the man when it comes to explaining all the technical gobbledygook about working with design and publishing software. 😃

[@CraigBabin]

@@montagnu That's only because I majored in technical gobbledygook in college.

[@montagnu]

@@CraigBabin 😅

[@montagnu]

@@CraigBabin I redid the interior for my notebook after watching this video. It came perfect. 😃

[@nina.tarot.23]

Do you have a video about the Bleed on the cover?

[@CraigBabin]

When creating a KDP cover you should always use a template. The template has bleed automatically included. You can create a cover template here: kdp.amazon.com/cover-calculator If you want to see how to create a cover template, watch this video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/apPKf4NvhJKHmdU

[@nina.tarot.23]

@CraigBabin I've already done that and they're not accepting it. It says they don't support thi format because it's for posters and wall hangings and they suggested I add some millimetres to the image. But I don't know whether I should add them to the overall size of the cover orto the front image only. It is already stretched all the way to the edge.

[@CraigBabin]

@@nina.tarot.23 I'm not following you here. What do posters and wall hangings have to do with book covers? If you watch the video I told you to watch, I walk you through how to set up your cover so that it gets approved by KDP. Just create your template using the calculator that I gave you a link to above, then download it to your desktop. Once on your desktop, right click on it and choose open with Photoshop, or whatever software you're using and then layout your cover on top of the template. When you're done, turn off the template layer and export your cover out as a PDF. It will be the exact size that KDP requires for your book. If KDP is not accepting your cover, then you're not doing what I just said.

[@nina.tarot.23]

@CraigBabin I submitted my files and I got an email from KDP saying that they don't support posters and wall hangings formats. I watched a lot of tutorials about creating a cover and so far I'm doing everything right.

[@nina.tarot.23]

@@CraigBabin This is the email I got from them: Cover During our review, we found that the book format is not supported. KDP offers paperback and hardcover print formats. Content designed for other formats, such as wall-hanging calendars, magazines, periodicals, or spiral-bound books are not allowed. To prevent a negative customer experience, we will not be making the book available for sale on Amazon. Learn more about KDP’s content guidelines. 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 .

[@skins3738]

I posted a huge response with a question. Was it deleted?

[@CraigBabin]

Yes, KZbin will automatically delete anything that has too many words, or that seams like you are promoting something. They think it's SPAM. So try to keep your questions short.

[@skins3738]

@@CraigBabin Thanks. I didn't know that. It was one of my more wordy responses but definitely not spam. :)

[@CraigBabin]

@skins3738 I found the email of your post. To answer your question, if you are running a solid color (like a children's book illustration) or lines (like in a journal), KDP will reject your interior if you chose no bleed, but your color or lines go right to the edge of your paper. And this is because there is no guarantee that the pages will be cropped evenly. As for a border around the edge of your page, the border must be at least .025" away from the edge of the page or KDP will reject it. Again, it comes down to KDP not being able to guarantee a perfect crop. If your border lines up parallel with the edge of the page and the crop is off, it will look like a misprint and KDP doesn't want that. I hope this answers your question.

[@skins3738]

@@CraigBabin Thank you for your response. I understand what happens at the edge where the cutting takes place. It is just that I have seen designs that seem to go against the rules and have elements like a decorative border placed all along the edge and declare it to be a no bleed page template. It is my understanding that KDP doesn't allow this so I have been devising a way to create a page border that extends fully to the outside edge of the bleed and make sure that it is saved with bleed so to have the right proportions for uploading. I was just wondering if there is any gray area there that I maybe am not aware of. Just trying to make some sense of other peoples instructions that seem to contradict the rules of Amazon. All your instructions in your video were very clear. I am looking ahead for design possibilities while following all formatting rules. My policy for formatting is strictly staying within the margin except for elements that bleed all the way to the outer edge of the bleed at least. Asking you because you appear to be knowledgable on the matter. Thanks again for the great video.

[@CraigBabin]

@@skins3738 That may work, give it a try and let me know if it goes through.

[@user-sx3tu3sx6f]

Where is the Adobe InDesign? It shows Kindle Direct publishing and then next you shown us Adobe InDesign. Can you explain where please. Thanks

[@CraigBabin]

Adobe InDesign is part of the paid Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. You can find it here: Adobe CC Software: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Audition Every Software Program You'll Need to Run Your Creative Business, all in One Bundle 60% Discount for Students and Teachers bit.ly/3SkPz8z