Two things you'll want once the draft is done.
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The print-PDF checklist
A printer can reject a PDF that looks perfect on screen. This one-page checklist walks you through what to check before you upload your interior, in the order you'd actually check it. Your printer's own spec sheet always wins, so the list tells you where to look rather than guessing for you.
Before you format
- Trim size chosen, and it's one your printer and storefronts offer
- Paper type chosen (white or cream), since it changes the spine width
- Your printer's spec sheet open: margins, gutter, bleed, file format
Page layout
- Margins meet the printer's minimum on all four sides
- Gutter (inside margin) sized for your page count; thicker books need more
- Bleed added only if images or color run to the edge of the page
- Chapters start where you want them (right-hand page or next page)
- No headers or page numbers on blank pages and chapter openers
- Front matter in order: title page, copyright page, dedication, contents
Text
- Widows and orphans fixed (single lines stranded at the top or bottom of a page)
- No stray blank pages in the middle of the book
- Hyphenation and justification checked on a few sample pages
- Final page count noted for the cover designer (it sets the spine width)
Images
- Images at the resolution your printer asks for (often 300 dpi at printed size)
- Color mode and grayscale match what the printer expects
Export
- All fonts embedded in the PDF
- PDF exported with the standard or preset your printer names
- Page size in the PDF matches the trim size (plus bleed, if used)
- File opened and checked one last time page by page
Before you approve
- Printer's online previewer shows no errors
- Printed proof copy ordered and read on paper
The series-bible template
Book one is easy to keep straight. By book three, eye colors change and towns move. This template gives every character, place and event a home, so you can check a detail in seconds instead of rereading a whole book.
What's in it
- Characters: name, role, age and birthday, appearance, family and relationships, what they know and as of which book, a few lines of their dialogue, and where each detail was first stated
- Places: name, description, distances and travel times, which book introduces it
- Timeline: event, date or season, book and chapter, characters involved
- Changes log: what changed, in which book, and whether it was on purpose
- Open threads: questions raised that a later book needs to answer
Tip: fill it in at the end of each writing session, not at the end of the book. Two minutes while the scene is fresh beats an afternoon of rereading.
The trim size & margin calculator
Pick a trim size and a page count. See which printers list that size, the page size to set, the smallest margins KDP accepts, and your spine and cover sizes.
Free to use for your own books, forever.
If they save you an evening, that's the point.