How to Prepare a Book for Press With InDesign · Press With InDesign 2. Export Your InDesign File as a B&W Print-Ready PDF Interior 3. How to Format a Color Book Interior for Press

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This tutorial will offer you some advice on how to use Scribus to create print-ready files for our print program. Books can be prepped for Black-and-White, Standard Heavyweight Color and Premium color. Whether you are preparing files for standard Heavyweight color or premium color, the prepa-ration is nearly identical. The only exception is noted below when you get your cover template from the Lightning Source website be sure to specify standard heavyweight or premium color. If you want to prepare a book in both color formats, be sure to download two different cover templates and prepare two different color cover files (premium color paper stock is thicker thus the spine of the book is wider).

The Tutorial is Broken up into Sections:1. How to Format a Black-and-White (B&W) Book Interior for Press With InDesign

2. Export Your InDesign File as a B&W Print-Ready PDF Interior

3. How to Format a Color Book Interior for Press with InDesign

4. Export Your InDesign File as a Color Print-Ready PDF Interior

5. How to Create Your Softcover or Hardcover File in InDesign

6. How to Create Your Print-Ready PDF Cover

7. Tips and Things to Remember

8. What Do I Do next?

9. I Need More Help!

Books going into the print program need two PDF files, the cover file and the interior (or Book Block) file.

What do I Need? This tutorial will have you use Adobe InDesign to create your content and cover and prepare them as a print-ready PDF.

The screenshots shown in the tutorial use Adobe InDesign CS4 and CS5. If you are using different versions of the software, some of the in-structions and screenshots will be slightly different, but you should be able to find the right feature in your software version.

How do I Get This Software? Adobe InDesign is available from Adobe at www.adobe.com. Adobe does have educational discounts on their software if you are able to take advan-tage of them:

https://store1.adobe.com/cfusion/store/html/index.cfm?store=OLS-EDU&event=displayCatalog&catalogOID=2071995

Or get it as part of the Creative Cloud and pay a monthly fee.

http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/designstandard.html

How to Prepare a Book for Press With InDesign

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This is a basic step-by-step to help take you through all of the stages to laying out a B&W book block in InDesign.

For your convenience, we have created a few template files for different standard book sizes to make your layout work easier. You can find these templates on the Print Templates and Tutorials of the Publisher Knowledge Base, under Title Management/ Book Printing.

Lets start with the master pages. When you open the template, click the Pages tool on the right and double-click the Master Page at the top of the box. Anything you place on the Master Page, including guidelines, will appear on all the pages of your book (guidelines will not appear in the print PDF). If you have background art that is intended to appear on every page of the book, place it here and make sure it is lined up properly with the page edge and does not reach the bleed lines (see below).

The template has page numbers at the bottom of the page in the correct placement. You can edit the font and size of the page numbers on this page.

What are all these lines?

• The red outer lines mark the bleed box. This is used for color books only and will be addressed in the color formatting section.

• The black line is the page edge. Art can be lined up with this but should not go past it in B&W books.

• The teal line between the page edge and margin line is your safe area. Anything inside this area should not be affected when pages are cut.

• The pink and purple boxes are the margin lines. Text stays in this area.

• The inner teal line is the gutter allowance and is used for color books only and will be addressed in the color formatting section.

• The space in the center with the black line is called the gutter and is the inside spine edge of the book. Art can be lined up with this but should not go past it in B&W books.

1. How to Format a B&W Book Interior for Press With InDesign

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What are all these lines?

• The red outer lines define the bleed box. Any graphics you want ex-tended to the edge of the page should reach this line

• The black line represents the edge of the page.

• The teal guideline is the safe area. Anything inside this line will not be affected when the pages are cut.

• The pink and purple box defines the margin. Text should stay inside this area.

• The inner teal guideline defines the gutter allowance area. Anything that is intended to go to the center of the book should stop at this guide-line; this is where the pages are glued into the book. The glue does not adhere well to color ink, so it is very important to keep this area free from any print items. Gutter allowance is used ONLY in color books.

• The space in the center black line is called the gutter and is the inside spine of the book. This area should remain empty.

3. How to Format a Color Book Interior for Press with InDesign

For your convenience we have created a few template files for different standard book sizes to make your layout work easier. You can find these templates on the Print Templates and Tutorials of the Publisher Knowledge Base, under Title Management/ Book Printing.

Let’s start with the master pages. When you open the template, click the Pages tool on the right and double-click the Master Page at the top of the box. Anything you place on the Master Page, including guidelines, will ap-pear on all of the pages of your book (guidelines will not appear in the print PDF). If you have background art that is intended to appear on every page of the book, place it here and make sure it is lined up properly with the bleed lines (see below).

The template has page numbers at the bottom of the page in the correct placement. You can edit the font and size of the page numbers on this page.

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Adding Text

In the Type pull-down menu select Paragraph Styles.

In the box that pops up, choose New Paragraph Style by clicking the small arrow on the top right of the box.

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In the new window, select Basic Character Formats. It is the second choice down in the options to the left.

This is where you format the basic font for the book. Headers and other speciality fonts are set up elsewhere and will be addressed next.

• Name your style

• Select the font size and family.

Remember, this text will be small, so use a font that is easy to read with-out any bells and whistles. Industry standard for size is 10 to 12 pt, and leave the leading set to auto.

• Under Indents and Spacing, in the pull-down choose Left Justify.

• Under Keep Options, in the pull-down choose Keep With Next 2 Lines.In keeping with a good publishing convention, avoid leaving a single word at the end of a paragraph or a single line at the top or bottom of a column of text, as well as avoiding hyphens between columns of text.

Click OK when you have these options selected and the little window that is left open can be moved to the right side of the screen to be out of the way. To format body text, simply select the text to be formatted and click the style name. InDesign will autoformat the selected text.

Adding Text (cont.)

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Now go back to the font pull-down menu. Select Character Style.

Click the little arrow on the top right of the box and open New Character Style.

Adding Text (cont.)

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Select Basic Character Formats. It is the second choice down in the options to the left.

Here is where you define your Headers.

• Name the Style.

• Select the Family, Style, Size etc.

You can repeat this to create different headers.

Header fonts should remain between 24pts to 14pts

Use different sizes and bolded fonts to create a hierarchy.

Place the box over to the right when you are done and you are ready to start adding text.

Adding Text (cont.)

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There are two ways to add text to an InDesign file. You can select the text, copy it, and then paste it into the file you are working on.

If it is more than one column’s worth of text, you will have to manually place the text by clicking the [X] box at the bottom of the text box, then clicking on the next text column with the shift key held down.

If you are adding a lot of text you can go to the File pull-down menu and select Place. Find where you have your text and select it.

You will see a little text block attached to your cursor. If you click in a column InDesign will place the opening of text in that column. If you have a lot of text to place hold the Shift Key and InDesign will place all of the text for you. If you are working on a larger format book and it is two columns, the text will be placed from left column to right column and page to page in order.

Once all of the text is imported you can format it, move it around, and add art to finalize the book.

Adding Text (cont.)

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With the Text tool selected click anywere in the text, then right click and choose Select All to select all of the text you placed. The text will be highlighted for the whole book or chapter. Se-lect the Paragraph Styles menu on the right and select the style you created. This will format the basic body text.

Italic and bolded formatting can be lost when importing text. Double-check that you have not lost this information. If you can see that you have lost this, use the Character Styles menu to correct the lost formatting.

To make headers, select the text and click the Character Styles menu on the right. Select the header you want from the ones you created earlier. Repeat this with the headers until they are all formatted and your text is done.

Formatting Text

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To add art or graphics, first make sure nothing is selected by clicking on the white space outside of the book with the black arrow tool. Go to the File pull-down menu and select Place (same as with text).

Find the art or graphic you want to place and click Open.

Your cursor will have a thumbnail of the art attached to it. Click where you want the art to go.

Adding Art

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The art will most likely not be the size you want it to be and it will be sit-ting on top of text.

Select the text with the black arrow tool and change the column length to accommodate the art. InDesign will automatically reflow the text for you.

Now hold down the shift key and resize the art box with the black ar-row tool.

Once you have the art box the size you want it you will want to resize the art to fit in the box.

In the tool box at the top of the page is a series of boxes to help you format the art.

Adding Art (cont.)

Click on the box to fit the art pro-portionally in the box. Repeat this pro-cess until all art is placed.

If you move art or graphics to a new folder you will need to relink each one. You can do this by clicking the broken chain in the Link menu and thenby finding the file in the window that pops up.

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Your cursor will have a thumbnail of the art attached to it. Click where you want the art to go.

The art will most likely not be the size you want it to be and it will be sit-ting on top of text.

Select the text with the black arrow tool and change the column length to accommodate the art. InDesign will automatically move the text for you.

Now, hold down the shift key and resize the art box with the black ar-row tool.

Once you have the art box the size you want it you will want to resize the art to fit in the box.


Click on the box to fit the art proportionally in the box. Repeat this process until all art is placed.

Adding Art (cont.)

If you move art or graphics to a new folder you will need to relink each one. You can do this by clicking the broken chain in the Link menu and thenby finding the file in the window that pops up.

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Once you are ready to export, make sure the book or chapter shows no errors. On the bottom left of the page is an indicator. If it is red, double-click it and then click each arrow to find out what the problem is and what page it is on.

Correct these problems now before exporting.

Once your book or chapter is error free, go to the File pull-down menu and select Export to make a PDF.


NOTE: You can now produce B&W books with bleed. To do this follow the instructions for exporting a color book.

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Name the PDF, choose where to save it then click Save.

In the new window click the Acrobat PDF Preset pull-down menu and select PDF/X-1a:2001. Check Optimize for Fast Web View, and click Export. The PDF will be pro-cessed and saved to the location you indicated.

That is it! You have created your B&W Interior book block PDF for print!

NOTE: You can now produce B&W books with bleed. To do this follow the instructions for exporting a color book.

It’s a good idea to package your book in order to archive it. See how to do this on page 33.


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Once you are ready to export, make sure the book or chapter shows no errors. On the bottom left of the page is an indicator. If it is red, double-click it and then click each arrow to find out what the problem is and what page it is on.



4. Export Your InDesign file as a Color Print-Ready PDF Interior

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Name the PDF, choose where to save it, then click Save.

In the new window click the Acrobat PDF Preset pull-down menu and select PDF/X-1a:2001. Check Optimize for Fast Web View.

THE NEXT STEP IS VEry IMPOrTANT, PLEASE FOLLOW IT CArEFuLLy.

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Click the Marks and Bleeds tab on the left. In the section named Bleed and Slug click the use Document Bleed Settings box. Double check the bleeds are set to .125” for all sides EXCEPT inside which should be set to zero.

Do not check any other boxes or fill out any other informa-tion on this page.

Then click Export. The PDF will be processed and saved to the location you indicated.

That is it! You have created your Color Interior book block PDF for print!

It’s good idea to package your book in order to archive it. See how to do this on page 33.

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5. How to Create Your Hardcover or Softcover File in InDesign Filling out the Cover Template Page

To get the correct file for your book cover, fill out some details and Lightning Source will generate a template for you.

Go to: http://www.lightningsource.com/covergenerator.aspx

• 13-digit ISBN: Enter all zeroes [000-0-00000-000-0]. Do not enter a real ISBN even if your book has one.

• Publisher reference Number: Optional field for your own stock code if you use one.

• Trim Size: Select your book size.• Interior Color and Paper: Select if your book interior is B&W,

Standard Heavyweight Color, or Premium Color. Since these are printed on different paper stock, your cover template’s spine width will change depending on your interior content type, so be sure you are using the correct setting.

• Binding Type: Case Bound is Hardcover, (we do not offer Cloth Bound), Perfect Bound is Softcover and Saddle Stitch is Softcover for very low page count books under 48 pages.

• Laminate Type: Select your choice.• Duplex Cover: Select No. We currently don’t offer duplex covers. • Page Count: Your final page count, minus 1 (your page

count does not include the cover). • File Type: Select PDF.• Email: Your email address. • Optional Information: Leave them as they are. Click Submit: The template will be generated and emailed to you..

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Breaking Down the Cover Template What are all of these colors? Regardless of what type of cover you are producing, the guides will look the same, just in different proportions, and the book data will appear in different places depending on what format it is.

• Pink Boxes show the Safe Area. No text, logos, borders, boxes, or barcodes should extend outside this area. Each part (back cover, spine, and front cover) has a safe area.

• Blue Boxes show the Bleed Area. Any background color (white for example), pattern, gradient or image that you wish to extend to the edge of your cover should extend to, but not past, the Blue Box.

• White Space shows the Template Area. None of your cover elements should be in this area. Please do not alter any of the information in this area.

Sample Cover Template

• Black horizontal and vertical lines are the Trim and Fold Marks. This is where your spine will fold and your book will be cut after it is bound with the interior pages.

• The Barcode inside the barcode box on the back cover should be deleted or covered. Lightning Source will place your barcode for you. If you do not remove the sample one here, your cover will be rejected. If you would like to designate where the barcode should be placed, use a white box for placement, sized to 1.75” wide by 1” inches tall.

1.75” wide by 1” inches tall.

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To add art, first make sure the art space for the front cover is selected to place front cover art, the spine to place the spine art, or the back cover space to place the back cover art by clicking on the box with the x on either the front cover space, spine space, or back cover space of the book with the black arrow tool. Then go to the File pull-down menu and select Place.

Find the art you want to place and click Open.

Open your InDesign file, and remove the barcode here by selecting it and pressing the delete key. remember while working on your cover to save often.

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The art will import directly into the correct place, but may not be the correct size. If it is too small or looks cut off, don’t worry.


With the art selected, click the symbol that rescales the content proportionately.

Repeat this process until all of the cover art is placed.

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To add text to the cover, select the Type Tool from the menu on the left (it is a capital T), click and drag it to make a text box. Type what you need into the box and then use the Character menu to the right to adjust the font, size, etc. (If you do not see the window you can open it under Windows the pull-down window at the top, select Type&Tables, then Character)

Be careful where you place your text. Make sure it is easy to read. If you are losing text in the background you can change the color or put a stroke on the text (usually white or black) to help make the text more vis-ible.

Then open the Swatches (if you dont see it click the Windows pull-down at the top of the page and select it). Click the hollow T then choose white or black for the stroke color.

To put a stroke on the text double-click the text with the Text Tool and open the Stroke menu to the right. A range of .5 to 1 is acceptable.

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To add text on the spine, create the text the same way you did for the cover, but keep it small enough to fit on the spine.

Add all the art and the text you want to have on the cover.

In the tool box at the top of the page there are a series of tools that will turn the text for you.

Select the spine text with the black arrow tool. then click the symbol that turns the text clockwise 90 degrees.

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Once you are ready to export, make sure the cover shows no errors. On the bottom left of the page is an indicator. If it is red double-click it and then click each arrow to find out what the prob-lem is and what page it is on.



6. How to Create your Print-Ready PDF Cover

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Name the PDF, choose where to save it, click Save.

In the window that opens in the pull-down menu for Adobe PDF Presets, choose PDF/X-1a:2001. Check Optimize for Fast Web View and click Export. The PDF will be processed and saved to the location you indicated.

That’s it! You have created your cover PDF file!

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When you are all done with the layout and have made the PDF, it is best to Package the information to archive it. To do this, select Package from the File pull-down menu.

In the window that opens select Package.

Several windows will open after this. Just click OK through all of them. This process will collect all of the files and fonts in one place for you.

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Specifications When preparing your cover remember to add an extra page to the page count! Our printer requires that the final page of a book be completely blank, therefore they add a blank page during premedia setup of your print files. Our printer needs the final page blank to add an internal production tracking barcode to that page. This barcode is used to scan the book interior during book binding to be sure that the correct cover is put on the correct book in-terior. (This production barcode is unrelated to and should not be confused with any ISBN or UPC barcodes.)

Depending on a book’s interior type (color or B&W) and its size, the final page count of a book must be evenly divisible by 4 or 6. Therefore, it is best for you to submit book interiors that are one page less than an evenly divisible page count so the printer can add the blank page at the end and then print the book at that page count, otherwise the printer may have to add additional blank pages to the end of the book in order to make it evenly divisible and printable.

The following table summarizes whether a book type and size requires a page count divisible by 4 or 6.

Interior Type Size Divisible By

Color Any 4

B&W 6.14 x 9.21 and smaller 6

B&W 6.69 x 9.61 and larger 4

• All Images must be CMYK color format at a 300dpi/ppi resolution.

• Header fonts should remain 24pts to 14pts, Body Fonts 10pts to 12pts.

• Avoid leaving a single word at the end of a paragraph or a single line at the top or bottom of a column of text.

• Embed all fonts (all font families used, including both screen and printer).

• For covers of books less than 80 pages, do NOT place text on the spine.

• Covers should be produced on a document page, wide enough to en-compass the front, spine and back of the book, along with bleed on all sides. Use the template you received via email from the Lightning Source cover template generator.

• Do not add information such as crop marks, web-press comments, etc.

• For best results text should be at least 0.25” from trim edges of the book.

• It’s best to leave at least .5” between the text and the edge of the spine.

• The recommended barcode box size is 1.75” wide by 1” high.

• Black elements should NOT be built in “Registration” black. These ele-ments should be built out of “Rich” black. For best results, we recommend the CMYK values of 60% Cyan, 40% Magenta, 40% Yellow, and 100% Black. CMYK total value should NOT exceed 240%.

• You can place a barcode box anywhere on your back cover that you pre-fer. Leave the box blank white. Our printer will fill in a production barcode during prepress.

• For color books, a quick way to be sure your gutter allowance is correct, go to the master page, add a new layer and keep it at the top, make a white box (no stroke) that is 2/8” wide and as tall as the page plus bleed. It will appear on every page that is assigned to that master page and you can be sure your bleed is proper for every page of the book.

7. Tips and Things to Remember

When using the cover template, specify the final page count with the blank page added, but when submitting your interior file, make it one page less than that final page count.

For example, when doing a large, B&W interior book, you might want a final page count of 120 pages. Use 120 for the page count when using the cover template generator on Lightning Source’s site. When you submit your book interior PDF file, make it 119.

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8. What do I do next? Once you have your finished interior PDF file and cover PDF file, it’s time to upload them!

Log into your DriveThru account, and go to your Publisher Hub on the Publish page. If you have not already set up a title record, go to TITLE MANAGEMENT/Set up a new title to do so.

If you have any questions or need more information about how to proceed with filling out this form, you may also find it helpful to follow our Book Walkthrough located in the Publisher Knowledge Base.

After a successful upload, you can choose to activate your title for live sale! How exciting!

9. I need more help! Your publisher service rep is not really an expert on print layout, so chances are slim that he or she will be able to an-swer questions not answered in this tutorial. However, p lease do email us your questions anyway so we can help find an an-swer if we can and also so that we can improve this tutorial so it answers more questions for everyone.

You can also find people with professional skills at print lay-out and contract them to create your print files. The cost of this work depends on how much of the work you do yourself before handing it over for layout.

We can recommend someone for layout if you would like. Please contact Publisher service for details.

Or you can also find freelance layout professionals at sites like www.upwork.com

Documents

How to Prepare a Book for Press With InDesign · Press With InDesign 2. Export Your InDesign File as a B&W Print-Ready PDF Interior 3. How to Format a Color Book Interior for Press