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I'm going to add some tips to the next version of my Publisher manual to help those exporting to PDF for a print-on-demand service because the sites don't provide Affinity-specific instructions. I've distilled their PDF requirements into a general list, along with a warning to always check the provider's specific requirements of course. If you've used one of these services, could you review the export settings below and suggest any tips that might help others avoid issues? For now I'm just looking at export settings and not document setup which is more specific to the service, but please share your document setup tips for specific services, too. Even if somebody doesn't read the manual it would be nice to have a concise list of settings in one forum thread so users don't have to sort through the many long troubleshooting threads. I bolded the export settings that seem to be the cause of frequent errors. Please let me know of anything that isn't correct or that you would add a caveat to. File format: PDF Preset: PDF/X-1a:2003 (unless otherwise directed to use PDF/X-3:2003 or another PDF standard) Raster DPI: no change (300) unless otherwise directed Include bleed: select if the document includes bleed Area: select All Pages Rasterize: no change (Unsupported Properties) unless otherwise directed Downsample images: no change (selected) Above: no change (375) Resample: no change (Bilinear) Use Document Resolution vs. Use DPI: no change (Use DPI, 300) unless otherwise directed Allow JPEG Compression: no change (98) Compatibility: PDF/X-1a:2003 (unless otherwise directed to use PDF/X-3:2003 or another PDF standard) Colour Space: no change (As document) Profile: no change (Use document profile) Honour spot colours: deselect Overprint black: no change (selected) Include bookmarks: no change (deselected) Include printers marks: no change (deselected) Embed fonts: no change (selected) Subset fonts: no change (selected) Allow advanced features: no change (selected) Tagged PDF: no change (unselected) Password Protection: no change (unselected)

Hi - I am planning to publish a book using Lulu's print service using APub V1 and I am trying to figure out how to satisfy their print requirement for landscape books. The requirements specified here are that "Pages should be set up as portrait orientation (if you choose to make a landscape book, the pages should still be oriented as portrait and the page size should be adjusted accordingly)." I am assuming that what this means is that when I create the press ready PDF each page (which I have setup in APub to have a landscape orientation) should be rotated through 90' so that when I view the resulting PDF each page has a portrait orientation with text running vertically (I'm hoping that Lulu is going to somehow figure out that I'm not giving them a portrait book and that I want the binding on the short edge - but that's probably another story). This seems a bizarre requirement because I'm sure it's a no-brainer for modern printing machines to orientate incoming pages in the optimum way for how they want to print. Nevertheless.... I've asked Lulu support how to accomplish this but all I got was a regurgitation of the printing requirements. So after a lot of fruitless Googling I finally found this post here on the forum that seems to offer a solution. Since I am a newcomer to APub the terminology there didn't immediately make sense but after a lot of experimenting what I am doing is this: I create a new document with a master page that has the same dimensions as my book but in portrait orientation and have the necessary bleed because images in my book extend into the bleed area. I then File->Place... my book .afpub onto the master page and rotate it through 90'. I start creating pages using the master page and for each page I: Detach the master. Click the placed document and select the right spread from the original book for the current page in the new book. I do this for both the left and right pages of a spread. I keep doing (3) above until I have all the pages from my original book in my new book. The above seems rather tedious, ie having to edit every page in the new book (is there a better way?), but it seems to work. That is, when I export the new book I have a PDF with all the pages rotated through 90' which I am assuming is what Lulu wants. The only remaining problem is that the bleeds from the original book are not propagated to the new book. The page dimensions on the PDF file are oversized by the bleed but there is nothing there, just white space on those pages where in the original book the image has extened into the bleed area. When I look at these pages in the afpub doc for the new book, sure enough, the bleed in the placed book is not carrying over. So I have a couple of question for you APub experts: Do Lulu's printing requirements make sense, or am I overthinking it? Does the method I outlined above to create a book with landscape rotated into portait pages the right/optimum way (have I missed some subtlety?). Why are my bleeds not propagating - how can I fix this? Many thanks

I am getting a fail trying to load a PDF to Lulu, Error message enclosed here : (Page Layout: The page size or orientation differs within your PDF. Please ensure that all pages are the same size and oriented the same way (Portrait or Landscape).) The PDF appears to look OK, but Lulu says there are page size inconsistencies. Please don't say it doesn't work BOOKx.pdf

Book is ongoing series, previously published via InDesign, printed by lulu.com. Previously printed PDFs show only single page layout. Will lulu.com properly print a book from print ready PDF spread layouts produced in Affinity Publisher?

Lulu, the book publishing people, and a very positive blog post from their lead writer. https://blog.lulu.com/2019/04/05/affinity-publisher-an-indesign-alternative/ Very interesting, and very useful links.