Book Cover Error on KDP

[Charly6764]

Hi everyone,

I have formatted a book cover and interior for a client using InDesign, to upload onto KDP. The book itself is fine, but the cover keeps erroring saying 'insufficient gutter'. I have attached a screenshot of the error. 

The margins I have used on InDesign are,

Front and back - 0.5 top, bottom and outside/ 0.625 inside

Spine - 0.625 top and bottom / 0.0625 inside and outside 

The book is 347 pages, and 5.5 x 8.5. Spine size is 0.8675 width. 

Bleed - 0.125

Gutter - 0.625

I have extended the background to the bleed. I have ensured elements are within the margins. 

I can't work out where I am going wrong, so I am seeking advice to see if anyone else knows? I am wondering whether it's because I should be using the page size 6x9 or if it's to do with the design itself. I used illustrator to create the design and the elements, so perhaps something went wrong there? But I didn't think transferring a design from illustrator to InDesign would cause any problems. 

Any help would be appreciated! 

Thanks,

Charley

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

I don't see a screenshot. I am also a bit confused in that "gutter," as KDP uses it, almost always applies to the interior pages and not the cover. (It's a widely misused term, especially in that MS Word applies it as a separate element from inside page margin, which is just nonsensical.)

A cover layout should be simple: trim height + 1/4 inch bleed total, and trim width * 2 + spine width + 1/4 inch bleed, total. Any other size will be rejected. (Or, for very small variations, usually related to spine width, given an error but allowed to pass if you okay it.)

If your exported PDF — without any crop or bleed marks, KDP doesn't want them — isn't exactly this value, you will get an error.

I can't really figure out why a "gutter" error would come into play unless you have what they regard as live content (text, usually) extending into the spine flex/bind area.

The simplest check and guide is to go back to the KDP spine width calculator page, carefully enter your book information, and download the template it offers. Take that (JPEG or PDF, as I recall) and Place it in a layer behind all your current cover elements. It should be exact size to your bleed margins, with no adjustment or scaling required.

Then use it to verify you have all margins, layout, clearances from spine, etc. correct. This is a fairly absolute check and if there's something out of place (like text extending too close to the spine fold, which is the only relevant meaning of "gutter" here)... you'll see it.

Check back if there's no obvious fault to correct.

[Charly6764 · Accepted solution]

Hi James, thanks for your reply! sorry I thought I had attached! This is what I thought. I am looking at my client's screenshot again, and I am realising what the issue is. She had only sent me a screenshot of the front cover, and asked me to fix the cover margins. But I have done a 'test' upload on KDP my end, and can see it is the manuscript that is causing the issue, not the cover. 

I knew it would be something obvious, sorry James. I appreciate your advice however, it is very helpful! 

I am going to adjust the inner margin of the manuscript, and then it should be all good to go, fingers crossed. 

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Okay. I am still a bit confused in that there's a sort of mix of information and questions about the cover and the interior block, which (as you well know) are two completely separate layout/upload components. The error image you attached is clearly related to interior pages, not the cover.

I was going to note, in any round two (such as this) that the inside margin was a bit tight. Both for perfect binding in general and KDP's rather tight "pinched" binding, anything less than an inch is likely to be unsatisfactory for a reader. Noting that this is a 350-page book, the recommendation/"gutter" error of less than 0.625 is correct; this would be a very tight book needing hard spreading of the pages to read, which is not reader-friendly. If the layout is still in play, I'd make it that full inch.

I'm not sure how you did an upload without a full cover layout, but that's neither here nor there.

As for "doing a test upload," I am not clear if you did that to your own KDP account using a test book listing, or via the author's account. Just a warning: KDP frowns heavily on third parties having access to individual author/publisher accounts and will block the book and/or the account if they detect it.

But assuming you have the cover layout completed etc., the error here is indeed too small an inside margin — which gets confused by loose/somewhat incorrect use of the term "gutter" — and widening that inside margin should fix it.

[Charly6764]

Hi, yes, I see this clearly now. At the time I was confused as the screenshot she sent was of the front cover. (I have only sent you the error, not the full screenshot). So obviously you upload both components separately, but when previewing on KDP, it is the cover and interior altogether, so my client assumed it was the cover without looking through the preview fully.

And no I do not have access to her account, I tried uploading from my account to establish exactly what the issue was.

Yes, the cover is completed. But the margins with the cover are correct. It is the interior inner margin that needs enlarging. But perhaps I should increase the cover inner margin to an inch as well as the interior to be safe. 

Thanks for your help!

Okay. I am still a bit confused in that there's a sort of mix of information and questions about the cover and the interior block, which (as you well know) are two completely separate layout/upload components. The error image you attached is clearly related to interior pages, not the cover.

I was going to note, in any round two (such as this) that the inside margin was a bit tight. Both for perfect binding in general and KDP's rather tight "pinched" binding, anything less than an inch is likely to be unsatisfactory for a reader. Noting that this is a 350-page book, the recommendation/"gutter" error of less than 0.625 is correct; this would be a very tight book needing hard spreading of the pages to read, which is not reader-friendly. If the layout is still in play, I'd make it that full inch.

I'm not sure how you did an upload without a full cover layout, but that's neither here nor there.

As for "doing a test upload," I am not clear if you did that to your own KDP account using a test book listing, or via the author's account. Just a warning: KDP frowns heavily on third parties having access to individual author/publisher accounts and will block the book and/or the account if they detect it.

But assuming you have the cover layout completed etc., the error here is indeed too small an inside margin — which gets confused by loose/somewhat incorrect use of the term "gutter" — and widening that inside margin should fix it.

By @James Gifford—NitroPress

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Jsut one more observation, that cover margins don't have much to do with interior page margins. Printed using different processes and to different ends, and the only two things that usually matter are live content too near a trim edge or coming too close to a spine fold. You don't have to maintain the same margins as interior pages, that is.

As Peter notes, any change to margins will likely change the page count and thus the spine width. If you haven't used the method, the 3-page spread layout for covers is recommended and allows easy spine width changes as well as compartmentalized work and output (such as an easy way to output just a front cover image for listings, Kindle editions etc.)

Can be worth the time to rebuild the cover if the change is needed, put it in this more flexible format and gain familiarity with it for future books.

There's a template with instructions on my site page link, direct link to the file doesn't seem to want to load...)

[Charly6764]

That's great, thank you so much! 

I have done the cover as three spreads already, but I will check over it to make sure the margins are exactly right.

Thankyou both your help, it's much appreciated! 

[Peter Spier]

Adjusting the inner margin may well increase the page count, and that will change the spine thickness, so be prepared for reworking both the inside and cover files.

[Charly6764]

Thanks Peter and James,

I have now adjusted the inner margins to 1 inch for the inside and the rest 0.7. I used word previously for formatting, but find InDesign a lot easier. However there are still some aspects I need to learn/master. Such as, I'm not sure if there is a quicker way to adjust the text frames to fit within the new margin size? Rather than going through page by page. Or a quicker way to ensure the text is above and below the header/page numbers once applied from the master pages, without manually shifting the text.

But perhaps I need to start a new thread for these questions, and sorry if they seem like stupid questions! I have tried researching but I was struggling to find the answer.

[Peter Spier]

It could have been automatic to adjust the text frames had you done a bit of preparation, but now that you've done the margin adjustment the automation may not work.

There are two ways you can create threaded text frames, either by creating a frame on your Parent Page, and using that when placing text on the document pages, or by or by placing text on document pages that have no exiting frames at all, and the relationship between frames and margins is subtly different depending on the method.

If you are using a Primary Text Frame from the Parent page, adjusting the margins on the parent page and adjusting the primary frame there should propagate across all pages based on the parent, as long as you have not changed the dimensions or position of the frames in any way on the document pages, whcih would break that link.

Non-primary frames, as long as they are snapped to guides, can be adjusted automatically by simply checking the box to Adjust Layout in the bottom half of the Margins and Columns dialog under the Layout menu, but you have to do that BEFORE you click OK and leave the dialog. frames no longer snapped to guides won't adjust after the fact.

We know that the book was 347 pages, but not how many threaded stories or how it was set up. If the number of stories is small, it might be faster to reflow the text into a new document with the revised margins rather than try to adjust frames on hundreds of pages. You can select an entire threaded story by place the cursor anywhere inside it and choosing Edit > Select All, then copy to the clipboard, and paste into the first frame of the new document. Again, how this document is set up will affect whether the text flows to multiple pages, but if it doesn't auto-flow on its own, pick up the overset text by clicking the red + sign in the out port of the first frame, hover the loaded cursor over the next frame, hold down the SHIFT key and click to flow the text. If there are no frames on your pages, click the loaded cursor on the top margin to create a frame that fills the margins. Clicking below the top margin will make a frame that fills the column width and extends from where you clicked to the bottom margin. All things being equal, it's probably easiest to put text frames on the Parent Pages in the new doc befor moving the text.

If you have graphic content not anchored into the text that can be moved with Copy/Paste as well.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

As Peter has noted, this can/should be an automated thing, but I've struggeled with it for years — it's a bit fussy. In theory, if you have all your pages defined by facing-pages Parent pages, and enable Adjust Layout, and all the existing frames are touching at least one margin of the original layout... changing page sizes or margins will make the text frames adjust automatically. You might back up to a backup copy, if you have one, and make your changes through the Layout | Adjust Layout menu. It might take a pass or two, so be prepared to revert and try again. Otherwise, it's manually fix all those pages, although there might be a script out there for it.

Peter's note about reflowing all the content into a new document with the margins etc. set up is a good one, too. After a file has been hacked at a certain amount, a "fresh pour" can be a good idea. If the content is one continuous flow, it might be the way to go.

And since you're still hacking at it... 0.7 might be a bit wide for the outside margin. A layout I've used for many books is 1 inch inside, 0.5 inch outside, and then 0.375 for a top or bottom without a header/footer, and 0.75 to make room for either or both. Experiment a little before you do the full conversion and lock it down. Really, though, it's that deep inside margin that's most important. It looks enormous on the layout and print proofs, but once KDP eats up flex space, especially in a thick book, it's 'just enough.'