keriAH Posted November 20, 2021 Posted November 20, 2021 I'm looking into using Publisher in a workflow that takes material in Word and produces (currently) a PDF that goes to Amazon's 'self publish' service. Is there any documentation on the settings, workflow, etc. that work smoothly with Amaxon as the specific publishing target? This would be for a 'paperback' (not eBook) format. Thanks in advance! Quote
thomaso Posted November 21, 2021 Posted November 21, 2021 Hi @keriAH, welcome to the Affinity forums! Do I understand right that you want to export a PDF from Word and ask for the Amazon specifications? If yes, you wouldn't use Affinity Publisher. Just in case: APub is a design & layout software, not a publishing tool or service and it is not related to any printing service nor can it get connected to one. Maybe this site will give you more useful info: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G202145060 Quote macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1
keriAH Posted November 21, 2021 Author Posted November 21, 2021 It was my impression (could be wrong!) that Affinity's Publisher app sits in what I would term the "producer" space, between authoring raw content (say, in Word) and the print production (such as Amazon's self-publish service or, alternatively, traditional book printing services). In the past, we've run into issues from the printer folks having more particular requirements than simply doing "Print as PDF" out of Word. (For example, not dealing with 'bleed' or 'spot color' specs). I have been working through the Affinity-posted tutorial videos and specifically found this one ("PDF publishing for pro print": https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/tutorials/publisher/desktop/video/337466797/ ) to be a close fit to what I am asking about. Now that I've viewed all the tutorial videos I do see that a lot of the capabilities offered by Affinity Publisher can also be found in Word, though perhaps not as easily accomplished in Word. The aPub videos in the last set (Publishing and Sharing) seemed to address the kinds of capabilities that fall short when attempting to go directly from Word to print. Quote
thomaso Posted November 21, 2021 Posted November 21, 2021 This is correct, you can use APub to create layouts + export them as PDF for print. But APub does not know the specifications of print services, so you would find the desired "documentation on the settings, workflow, etc. that work smoothly with Amaxon" rather at the KPD website linked above. If you want to know how to setup for export from APub according to a specific PDF you would need to tell the forum the specific PDF conditions required by the print service. Quote macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1
keriAH Posted November 22, 2021 Author Posted November 22, 2021 If my folks decide to go with APub and do their own production for Amazon self-publishing, I'll likely be the one to compile the documentation for them on just how to set up APub for their specific workflow (pulling together information from the APub docs and the link you cited above). My original question was if someone had already done that for a workflow that uses APub, given that Amazon's printing service is a popular one. It sounds like the tutorial video I mentioned above is the closest to what I'm looking for. Thanks for your replies. Quote
thomaso Posted November 22, 2021 Posted November 22, 2021 There were a few topics apparently related to KPD, a search will find them, for instancehttps://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/search/&q=KPD&quick=1&search_and_or=and&sortby=relevancy These do not provide a recipe but rather have questions, too. – Whereas your mentioned video tutorial gives an impression what to consider in general you need to know the required specifications for your specific medium, process / workflow which may vary between print services, in particular if they have an automated processing where a software receives and checks the client's PDF. Quote macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1
keriAH Posted November 22, 2021 Author Posted November 22, 2021 I went back through my notes from earlier jobs (that had used Word to create a PDF that went to a printer -- note, not a KPD workflow). Here is one item that was an issue from the printer with the PDF produced from Word: Quote When PDF files are produced from a Microsoft Word document, unless the type is changed to “BLACK” rather than “AUTOMATIC,” the PDF file created will automatically default to RGB, which is not something from which many printers can print. This is especially a problem with 2 color print jobs. We can print up to 2/color text, so when files are sent, and they are either RGB or CMYK we have to convert to black. In the case of this title, we have to convert to black + a PMS color. It is better to use a program designed to create PDF files. In the Word source, the author will typically have the text color at "Automatic" by default. Is getting a proper "black" text spec something that APub will take care of in the PDF that is produced, or will we need to make this change throughout as part of our producer workflow? Quote
thomaso Posted November 22, 2021 Posted November 22, 2021 7 hours ago, keriAH said: Is getting a proper "black" text spec something that APub will take care of in the PDF that is produced, or will we need to make this change throughout as part of our producer workflow? APub doesn't assign or convert to a proper text colour automatically, you would assign the correct black colour swatch, means one which uses black ink only and is defined in CMYK (not RGB) as 100 K without using the C, M, Y inks. Quote macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1
keriAH Posted November 22, 2021 Author Posted November 22, 2021 Wow. That's a lot to digest. Thank you very much for providing me several paths to start on! Much appreciated!! lacerto 1 Quote
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