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Inspiring
May 8, 2019
Answered

How do I get a print-ready image for a papberback for Kindle Direct Publishing?

  • May 8, 2019
  • 4 replies
  • 4410 views

I'm using PE 19 and when I went to save it there as a pdf jpeg compression was the default. Then there was "zip" and "none" as the other choices. I chose "none" figuring that would be the best quality. Lossless. The file was pretty big. 39MB. But I'm figuring it's not an ebook, where the file size matters for delivery costs, so Amazon can do what it wants with it. I'll soon see if they accept it. Thanks.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Test Screen Name

    There's absolutely no reason to go from ZIP to None, in fact no reason to use None. The buzzword here is "lossy" which means the image is changed (we assume for the worse). JPEG is always lossy, but the chances you will see any difference on a photo at top quality settings is small. But don't use JPEG for things with text, ever! It's for photos, that's what the P stands for.

    ZIP is lossless. What comes out is perfectly the same, every time. So None just wastes space for no quality gain.

    4 replies

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    Test Screen Name
    Legend
    May 9, 2019

    Yes it’s the same compression as ZIP, but not the same as a ZIP file. None is no compression, yes. There is no other difference.

    Even at 300 ppi, text can be poor quality. Ok for a large print title, probably, but not for small text. Photoshop can save vector text if the stars are in the right place, not sure about Photoshop Elements.

      MichelBParis
      MichelBParis
      Legend
      May 9, 2019

      https://forums.adobe.com/people/Test+Screen+Name  wrote


      Even at 300 ppi, text can be poor quality. Ok for a large print title, probably, but not for small text.

      I beg to differ.

      The original question is for 'paperback' printing, which means two things:

      - the print size in in/cm is not known, but generally it's well under the A4 format. This explains why your stating the ppi dimension is meaningful in this situation. In digital photo printing, what matters is the size in pixels. For instance, online book printers recommend 12 x 300 = 3600 x 3600 pixels for standard 12 x 12  inches scrapbook pages.

      - the paper quality is generally just so so, inferior to the quality of any of the photo books you can have printed on demand, such as the 30 x30 cm quality common for scrapbooking.

      So, keeping in mind that the quality from those book web printers is inferior to what you can print on good quality glossy paper on your home printer, you can easily check by yourself if 300 ppi is good enough for image or very small text in a photo book. No surprise, if the printer requires 300 or 360 ppi (I have tested ten providers, none requires or accept more), you'll get perfect small text. If the 'paperback' book is printed on just standard quality paper, 300 ppi will be a big waste. My guess is that even with a magnifying glass, you would not see the difference with 200 ppi. And I don't take into account the fact that it's not a good idea to use very small fonts in a book cover.

      Photoshop can save vector text if the stars are in the right place, not sure about Photoshop Elements.

      I admit I don't understand

      if the stars are in the right place

      There is no difference between Elements and Photoshop for text layers. That's why it's recommended to keep your original pages in text (vector) format like .psd or .tiff. That also makes saving that originals in "Photoshop PDF" format a very good idea, even with the big size. That keeps the vector quality of text, which enables scaling loslessly.

      A good comparison test would be to print at home at 300 ppi on glossy photo paper:

      - a .psd or .tiff version of your page with text layers

      - The same saved as Photoshop PSD and printed from Acrobat Reader.

      - The same flattened .psd from Elements

      - the same flattened version in jpeg, quality 10.

        B
        BadStarAuthor
        Inspiring
        May 10, 2019

        Thanks Michel.

        A good deal of what you wrote is over my beginner's head.

        As suggested by Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing, the process for making a file for a paperback cover is:

        1) Make the .psd

        2) Flatten the .psd

        3) Save as print-quality .pdf

        It seems to me from what you wrote, that it would actually be best to save the .pdf under the "none" setting. Did I understand you correctly?

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        Test Screen NameCorrect answer
        Legend
        May 8, 2019

        There's absolutely no reason to go from ZIP to None, in fact no reason to use None. The buzzword here is "lossy" which means the image is changed (we assume for the worse). JPEG is always lossy, but the chances you will see any difference on a photo at top quality settings is small. But don't use JPEG for things with text, ever! It's for photos, that's what the P stands for.

        ZIP is lossless. What comes out is perfectly the same, every time. So None just wastes space for no quality gain.

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          BadStarAuthor
          Inspiring
          May 9, 2019

          Awesome. Thank you.

          Questions

          1)So "zip" is zip compression, right? (lossless)

          2) And "none" is no compression, right? (lossless)

          3) What (besides file size) is the difference between zip and none?

          4) My book covers are made with 300DPI digital photos but I've added text to them, so the text would be a reason to never use JPEG compression to make the pdf, right?

          T
          Test Screen Name
          Legend
          May 8, 2019

          That's a good way to make a print-ready PDF but make sure your original is print ready. No good if it's designed only for screen use. What is the resolution (ppi)? If you don't know, what is the size in pixels?

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            BadStarAuthor
            Inspiring
            May 8, 2019

            Thanks Test. The original was 300 ppi so I think I'm good. The pixel size is 1838X2775.

            So when it comes to saving pdfs in PE, Jpeg compression (and the various choice within it: maximum etc) compresses the pdf the most, then comes zip compression. And so if I want the least compression, I choose "none," right? And choosing "none" in effect would be the most print-ready pdf, right?

            MichelBParis
            MichelBParis
            Legend
            May 8, 2019

            When Elements saves as pdf, it saves as "Photoshop pdf". That's a variant of the pdf formats which consists in a plain 'Acrobat' pdf (printing file) together with a normal .psd (image) format. Hence the very big size.

            With this format, the pdf can be opened directly in PSE, Photoshop as well as in Acrobat, Indesign...

            If you save a layered pdf with text or vector layers, you get them back when opening in PSE without having to convert to bitmap. The same format is opened directly in Acrobat Reader.

            If you want a regular Acrobat pdf, instead of 'save as', rather use a virtual pdf printer driver (such as Microsoft Print to Pdf). You'll master the size of your output pdf. You 'print' instead of 'save', and you get the expected pdf file format.

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              BadStarAuthor
              Inspiring
              May 8, 2019

              Thank you, Michel. I flattened the image before I saved it as a pdf. I'm not concerned about opening it and having the layers available, but that's very good to know that I can should I need to.

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