PDF standards
IngramSpark says your file is not PDF/X-1a:2001 compliant
The single most common IngramSpark rejection, and the one that tells you least. Five separate conditions produce the same message.
Guides
Book design and self-publishing guides
Practical guides to designing a book, preparing files that print correctly, and getting a title to market.
Diagnosis
Why your file was rejected a second time for a different reason
You fixed what the printer named and it failed again. That is how preflight works, not bad luck. Here is how to break the loop.
Platform specs
KDP vs IngramSpark: why a file that passes one fails the other
A cover built for one platform will not pass the other. A side by side comparison of PDF standards, spine math, color and ink limits.
Platform specs
Lightning Source file requirements, and why files get rejected
Same company as IngramSpark, same specification, but nothing preflights your file at upload. The full spec, and the template that does not transfer.
Cover production
Why your spine width changed when you did not touch the cover
Spine width is calculated from page count and paper stock, not chosen. Change either and the whole cover wrap moves.
Fonts
Fonts are not embedded: the export setting that breaks your book file
A printer cannot use a font it does not have. How to check in thirty seconds, and what to do when a font refuses to embed.
Margins and bleed
Content extends beyond the trim or safety area
Trim, bleed and safe zone are three different things. Confusing them causes this rejection, in both directions.
Images
Images are below the minimum resolution, even at 300 DPI
Your image says 300 DPI and the printer refused it. Effective resolution is the number that counts, and it changes with the size you print at.
Color and press
Total ink coverage and the 240 percent limit
The rejection almost nobody writes about. What the number means, why dark covers exceed it, and the rich black to use instead.
Color and press
Your file contains RGB color space objects
A press has four inks and cannot print RGB. Where RGB hides, the black text trap it creates, and how to convert without flattening the design.
File preparation
Why Word and Canva cannot produce a print-ready book file
Ingram lists Microsoft Word under non-supported programs. What a press-ready file requires, and which of it these tools cannot do at all.
Rather hand it over?
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