Guidelines on setting up the Inside pages (or Guts) of a Perfect Bound Book

The Inside pages of a book have to be properly formatted to make sure the end result when printed is fine. Problems occur mainly due to using bad fonts, not proper margins, or bad PDF exporting software. So to avoid these issues, please follow the file requirements mentioned below for worry-free printing.

FILE REQUIREMENTS

ALL FONTS must be embedded in all PDF files.

To confirm fonts are embedded, open the PDF in Acrobat, select the File menu, then Properties. The fonts tab lists the names of all fonts in the file: (Embedded) or (Embedded Subset) should appear next to all fonts listed. If one of these tags is not listed, the font is not embedded. Files with unembedded fonts will be rejected, and we will request a corrected file. Please note the default Acrobat ‘Standard’ setting does not embed base 14 fonts and will cause a file to be rejected.

MARGINS: Please provide a minimum of 0.5" margin on all sides of your text block. If text/images are too close to trim edges, then they could be cut in the printing and binding process.

BLEED: Black and white interiors can be submitted with or without bleed.

A file without bleed may be submitted at the actual trim size. Page items should have adequate white margins.

A file with bleed should be submitted with the required 0.125" added to all the edges.

CROP MARKS: Please do not include crop/printer/registration marks in a file. Marks included in a file could show up in printed copies.

SPREADS/FORMAT: We cannot accept files in spread format (2-up per page). Files should be sent as one, single-page PDF file.

PAGE COUNT: All text files will be processed and stored with a mod 2 page count: page counts divisible by 2. Storing files at mod 2-page counts will help to ensure the least amount of blank pages possible are added to the back of the book.

BODY TEXT: For best results for text that is 24 pt. or below, please use 100% black only.

IMAGES: For Books where the Inside pages are printed in Black and white and if there are images, then for best results, do the following:

1. Images should be of good quality and have high resolution for printing. Continuous tone images are recommended for submission as 8-bit, grayscale. Black-and-white images are recommended for submission as 1-bit, black-and-white

2. All color images should be converted to grayscale before submitting. Images submitted in a file as RGB or CMYK will be converted to grayscale when printing–this can sometimes cause a color shift. Any dissatisfaction with color shift will be the publisher’s responsibility to correct

For Books where the Inside pages are printed in color and if there are images, then for best results, make sure that all images in the text file must be in CMYK color space and the resolution is no less than 300 dpi. Low-resolution images (less than 72 ppi) from the web should not be used at all

BLACK or RICH BLACK DENSITY: We recommend a rich black with CMYK values = 60% Cyan / 40% Magenta / 40% Yellow/ and 100% Black. CMYK total value should not exceed 240%. Elements should not be built in ‘Registration’ (100% of all colors).

*Files sent with densities higher than 240% may be rejected for correction.

SPOT COLORS/ICC PROFILES: Please do not include Spot colors (PMS / PANTONE) or ICC profiles in your file as these can produce unexpected results during processing. If you do have Spot colors then convert with/without transparencies to CMYK (if printing in Color) or Grayscale (if printing in B&W)

The most Common issue when ICC profiles are applied to 100% black text is that often the color converts to a shade or percentage of gray (less than 100% black). This will result in text in your proof that is not solid black. If text is intended to appear as solid black then avoid ICC profiles and Spot Colors.

Any dissatisfaction with color shift will be the publisher’s responsibility to correct.

REVISIONS: When sending a revision file, please make sure to send your entire file. Partial revisions (i.e. single-page changes) will cause your interior to process incorrectly.

FILE SUBMISSION

PDF COMPLIANCE: Files must be PDF/X-1a:2001 or PDF/X-3:2002 compliant. The PDF/X-1a:2001 setting is found in the Professional versions of Adobe Acrobat 6 or above (listed as PDF/X-1a in Acrobat 6 Professional). The PDF/X-3:2002 setting is found in the Professional versions of Adobe Acrobat 7 or above.

Inside Pages or Text files must be submitted as a single PDF file. Submissions with multiple files will be rejected. Zipped/stuffed submissions of single files are accepted.

QUICK REFERENCE

The following are recommendations and specifications that you should know when doing the book layout.