KDP publishing error - bleeds and background color

[yerkanian]

Hello,

I'm having issues with the KDP previewer regarding a couple of chapter pages that have a background color (a solid color shape). My book is 6x9", and since there are these pages that have a background color that extends to the edges, the document is set to 6.125x9.25" with bleeds. The margins are correct and exceed the minimum requirements.

When I remove the background color (delete the shape), the error goes away, but I want to keep the background color for design purposes.

How can I resolve this issue? Did I do something wrong?

I've attached screenshots of the document setup, the actual document, and the KDP preview.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

@eschempf 

KDP is not particularly fussy about PDF export settings; it's almost entirely concerned with EXACT page size and content within both the trim and 'live content' margins. If you have the document set up correctly, a wide range of PDF settings will pass KDP review — which doesn't necessarily mean they will print well or as intended, but that's a second tier of setup.

The overall page size must be exactly what KDP expects, and it will tell you those dimensions. And if you're getting repeated "add more bleed" errors, it means you have what the review bot considers "live content" somewhere too close to a trim edge. The latter can be a fraction of a letter width, especially on the inside margin.

Put very simply, your pages should be set up at exact trim size. Your bleeds should be the KDP recommended 1/8"/0.125 on teh outside three edges only. The PDF export should be page+bleeds, and the result in Acrobat should be a page size of exactly those additive dimensions. (And you ahould have NO content except non-text background bleeds within 0.375 or a bit more from the page trim margins, and the bleed content should fall EXACTLY on the bleed margin.)