Amazon KDP Book Export Issue - First page on the left side stays on the right side in final export

[Yannic333]

Hey everyone, 

After hours of trying to fix a little issue, i thought to try my luck in here. 
My issue can be best understood when looking at the pictures:

Here above you see an example/Illustration (Not the actuall Content/Pictures) of how my book looks when uploading it to Amazon KDP. All of that was created with Adobe Indesign. The content always begins on the right side, rather than on the left side. The same of course applies to the PDF when i preview it on my computer with Acrobat Reader or just the ordinary preview on the Mac - it begins always on the right side, no matter what export settings i used. In the final print it would look utterly strange, because when someone opens the book the left side would be white rather than filled with the background i choosed for every page. Here you see an example of how I wish it to look:

Here above you see that the content/pictures begin on the left side (edited with Photoshop to give the illustration).

Here you can see how the Document looks in Indesign. The first pages are Facing each other, exactly how I imagine it to be. I removed the checkmark on "Allow document pages to shuffle" to make that work. 

However when i export it, the page always begins on the right side in the "Previewer" and then of course when uploading to Amazon KDP its the same as illustrated in the pictures above.
I tried to change the export Settings under: 
General -> Viewing -> Layout. There I clicked basically on everything that one can choose but nothing worked. I cannot find the mistake, maybe some of you know a solution.
Would love to hear from you! 🙂 

Greetings
Yannic

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

It's rather perfectly normal behaviour - apps you use to preview your book have no info that two first pages should be interpreted as a cover.

No idea with KDP - but I think you would have to supply cover as a separate file? 

What specification says about cover? 

[Yannic333]

Hey Robert, thank you for your reply!

Yes, i also found that out with the apps, however the KDP Previewer actually shows how it would look when printed. I actually have configured my apps on the desktop to show it like the KDP Previewer and it always stays the same nomatter what configuration of the exported File I used.

Yes I have to supply the cover as a serparate file - the pictures above are just an illustration of the KDP Previewer which captures a summary of both the uploaded Cover and Manuscript, and how it would look when printed. 

Honestly I came up with another solution to fix that problem so that I could use the first Page of the Book which appears in "White" with content that matches this colors. Had to be a bit creative but it worked. 

[rob day]

Yes I have to supply the cover as a serparate file -

The interior text pages still need to start on page 1—your screen capture shows the interior document starting with the page 2-3 reader spread.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

And again, 'Page 1' in the OP's layout would be the inside of the cover. There is simply no getting around that with KDP. "Page 1" has to be a right-hand page starting the interior block.

[rob day]

And again, 'Page 1' in the OP's layout would be the inside of the cover.

Are you saying the first text page gets glued to the inside hard cover? It looks to me like the KDP hardcover books have end papers, which can’t be printed, with the first text page to the right of the spine:

https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/GKZVNAAFYWVKZWL8

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

No, I meant that's what the OP seems to have expected, that a left page 1 would get printed on the cover inside. But it's two completely different print/workflows.

I've done inside-cover printing, but only with (1) a competent trade printer and (2) Lulu.com.

[rob day]

Doesn’t look like KDP offers inside cover printing.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

No, they don't. That's been part of my answers all along. The OP seemed to be thinking more of booklet-style printing as the model.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/GDTKFJPNQCBTMRV6

[rob day]

Hi @Yannic333 , In your Pages panel you are showing a 2-3 page spread, so if you imagine that spread as a folded sheet—page 2 to the left of the fold, and page 3 to the right—where is the page that will print on the back of page 2? Even if page 1 is blank you need to include it, and it would be to the right of the spine.

[Yannic333]

Hey rob day, thank you for your reply! 

Yes, i know what you mean. The Pages Panel you see in my Screenshot from Indesign is just one of many different configurations I used in order to somehow make it work. I feel that i tried everything 😄 
I just renamed "Page 1" as "Page 2" and changed the order with the removed checkmark on "Allow document pages to shuffle" to play with it.  But I also had one configuration with the same setup/structure as "Page 1" and "Page 2" facing each other as illustrated in the Screenshot. 

For now, I came up with another solution to fix that problem so that I could use the first Page of the Book which appears in "White" with content that matches this colors. Had to be a bit creative but it worked. 

[James Gifford—NitroPress · Accepted solution]

Just to expand on good answers already given — I think you are focusing on the document layout without matching it to a sample (actual) book to see how the pages are organized there. Most books have no printing on the inside of a cover, although we have to discount from that the current practice of mass-market, major-author books using that inside 'real estate' for promotional purposes—blurbs, ads for other and forthcoming books, etc.

But in a usual softcover (paperback, TPB/Trade Paperback) book, the cover is printed in one operation and is blank on the inside, while the 'block' is printed on trimmed sheets and begins with page 1 on a right-hand page. So —

• It's not usual to have both cover and interior pages in one file. KDP and most other printers/services require you to submit two files, one a flat layout of the whole cover, and then a file of the interior pages. They print these separately and bind them into a trimmed book.
• Unless the print service specifically says they print the inside cover, the cover will be printed only on the outside, usually in color and with some kind of coating or lamination for protection. If any printing is allowed on the inside, it would be a second page in the cover layout, a flat two-page spread with room in the middle for blank spine width. (That is, it wouldn't be the first and last pages in your interior pages layout.)
• This means your interior pages MUST start on a right-hand page, which will be the first page facing the blank inside cover, and MUST end on a left-hand page, even if blank, which will face the inside rear cover.

I think you are either visualizing that Robert Patterson/Stephen King novel where the publisher takes the extra step of putting promo content on inside covers, or visualizing more of a "pamphlet" printing style where all pages are in one file and start with the outside cover, then inside cover content, all to be printed on more or less the same paper stock and saddle-stitched (stapled) together. (This is also called booklet printing and can be done with a desktop system, so it may be something you're familiar with... but commercial book printing follows a different method, as above.)

So the blank or omitted "first" inside page is actually the blank inside cover page, and your first book page (halt-title, title, or other starting page) will be a right-hand page... just as ID is trying to do for you.

Does that make sense?

[Yannic333]

Hey James, thank you very much for your reply! 

Yes indeed, that makes absolutely sense. I totally understand the points you make. Sadly with the Amazon Printers, the authors are limited to their conditions.. so like you said, I gotta start with my Interior Page on a right-hand page which will be the first page facing the blank inside cover. My Solution in the meantime was, to integrate specific content on that first page that matches the color - kind of a "Plan B" but turned out quite well.

It would give - from my point of view - a nice and unique touch, if the "Inside Cover" is printed. I know of some books in my category that do exactly that and it looks fantastic. But they are listed under a Book-Publisher, so I assume they have more flexbility in designing/printing the book with their Printers/Partners, like adding "Shining fonts" or as stated above "Printing the inside Cover". So my conclusion is, that the step to more flexbility is changing from Amazon's Print on Demand to an external Printer of ones choice. 

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

I don't think it's necessarily any 'fault' of KDP; they do offer a very wide range of print options, but printing content on the inside of a cover involves some added workflow that is not trivial to provide. Again, the cover is printed by one process, in a "ganged" workflow with many other covers, and printing on the reverse of that sheet could get quite involved and require complex QA to automate.

That is, it's not just a matter of printing a first interior page on one half and the last inside page on the other. It would have to be submitted as a second page in the cover printing flow.

They may offer it some day. I know Lulu.com and others do, but it does increase the per-copy print price, as it should. But then, Lulu also offers (very nice) jacketed hardcovers, which KDP does not. Amazon isn't a book printer... they are a POD book seller. Pretty big difference in market focus.

[rob day]

Also, Here you can see that page 1 always backsup to page 2 and is to the right of the spine

[Yannic333]

Yes, absolutely. That's generally a good illustration for visualisation purposes - thank you rob!