Document prep for printing

[lukes246810]

Aloha! I have questions regarding preparing my document for printing (through Blurb). For design reasons previously discusssed in this forum, I have laid out the entire book in Illustrator. I then have placed the pages in InDesign. I am having trouble exporting it to pdf (using Blurb's presets) which leads me to wonder if I need to do more to prepare my pages for press. Currently, the pages are manipulated text, illustrations originally created in Procreate but saved then placed as psd images then enhanced with vector outlines, as well as photos. Should I be doing something to these elements to prepare them for printing?

[rob day]

Hi @lukes246810 , Do you mean you get an error on the PDF export, or your PDF doesn’t pass Blurb’s preflight?

[lukes246810]

Well it actually just gets stuck....no error message, but stuck at 43% no matter what I do.  I finally have been able to upload the pdf by exporting manually rather than using the Blurb plug-in for InDesign.  However, I still have the same question.  It will probably work as is, but am wondering if I could do a better job preparing my documents for press as the linked files (Illustrator, Photoshop and photos) were collectively quite huge in size for this 72 page book.  I laid out the pages in Illustrator:  I placed photos, placed artwork from Photoshop (Procreate artwork exported to Photoshop as psd), and created vector artwork mostly out of manipulated text.  I then placed this into InDesign.  I am wondering if I should take other steps to better prepare my work for printing or if my method was good enough.

[michelew83603738]

Can you tell us what errors you are receiving?

[Scott Falkner]

Is there a reason you aren’t saving (using Save a Copy) as PDF from Illustrator?

[lukes246810]

No, except for maybe lack of knowledge about the right way of doing it.  Does that affect the end quality?