Exporting for Kindle Direct Publishing

[PB83]

I have designed a complete book and cover using Affinity in order to upload it to Kindle Direct Publishing, but no matter what setting I use to export it, the PDF fails to upload.  It opens perfectly as a PDF on the laptop, but can anyone enlighten me on what settings I need to be using in order for a successful upload to the Kindle site?  I have followed all Kindle's instructions but there are so many technical terms on Affinity it is proving to have been a waste of money and time - bring back good old PagePlus!!  Help!

[MikeTO]

You'll find some tips in this thread which I've also incorporated into my free Publisher manual that you can download from this forum.

Cheers

 

[Twolane]

I regularly upload POD b&w print interiors, with the occasional b&w image on the inside, to Amazon. I have a couple of dozen POD books up there.

I use Raster DPI: 300. Area: All Pages. Use DPI 300. Compatibility: PDF/X-1a:2003. Color space CMYK. ICC profile: Use document profile. Leave everything below that alone. Include printer marks is UNCHECKED.

Edited to add that I use Resample: Lancos 3 Separable to get a marginally better image.

Do you have images that lie outside the margins of your book? Put them back inside.

Do all your pages use the same margins? They'd better.

Do you have images that overlap two facing pages? Sorry. Can't help  you there.

It's difficult to get an idea of what you're looking for when you don't know yourself.

Furthermore, if you've been randomly checking and unchecking boxes on your Export page, that makes it even more difficult to diagnose.

[KarinC]

17 hours ago, PB83 said:

I have designed a complete book and cover using Affinity in order to upload it to Kindle Direct Publishing, but no matter what setting I use to export it, the PDF fails to upload.  It opens perfectly as a PDF on the laptop, but can anyone enlighten me on what settings I need to be using in order for a successful upload to the Kindle site?  I have followed all Kindle's instructions but there are so many technical terms on Affinity it is proving to have been a waste of money and time - bring back good old PagePlus!!  Help!

This happened to me a few months ago. I had one book up and selling well for nearly a year. When I tried to upload my second book all I could get was manuscript upload failed. Dealing with support was a nightmare. They kept telling me it was my fault, that the manuscript had layers and transparencies even though that was not possible given that it was the correct PDF file which does not support layers and transparencies. They gave me a different link to upload which was successful but they told me it wasn't there - twice. I asked questions here, even had one member look at part of it and he couldn't find anything wrong with the file. This went on for a week. One bot told me that the problem was that I was using Affinity. The emails from their "support" got so bad I finally gave up, unpublished my other book and closed my account. Two hours after closing my account - where you can never come back - one of the "support" people (or computer bot for all I know) told me that the problem was on their side but they didn't know when it would be fixed. 

I completely divorced Amazon at that point.

I wish you luck solving the problem, but it is not a fault of Affinity.

[Twolane]

I don't think closing an account is a solution. You should have requested that your issue be passed on to a supervisor. But what do I know. How's the book selling going?

[KarinC]

1 minute ago, Twolane said:

I don't think closing an account is a solution. You should have requested that your issue be passed on to a supervisor. But what do I know. How's the book selling going?

I did request that I be passed on to a supervisor. I got an incomprehensible rant back which was the final straw.  

I had successfully upload the cover. I talked to someone on the phone who told me that the reason I couldn't upload the manuscript was because the cover had layers and transparencies - the cover that successfully uploaded. I tried to reason with the person who I could barely understand but she started to yell and rant. It was a surreal experience. Closing my account solved the problem.

[Twolane]

KDP requires a flat jpg image for a cover file (for an e-book). Did you do a Document / Flatten save before uploading the flat saved file?

In any event, there are other ways to get an e-book and consequent print book up on Amazon. Have you tried Draft2Digital?

[KarinC]

5 minutes ago, Twolane said:

KDP requires a flat jpg image for a cover file (for an e-book). Did you do a Document / Flatten save before uploading the flat saved file?

In any event, there are other ways to get an e-book and consequent print book up on Amazon. Have you tried Draft2Digital?

I went through all of this here. I could not find any document flatten in Designer or Publisher. It was a PDF/X-1a:2003 just as it should have been which flattens the document. I did the same thing with the manuscript that I did with the cover. This happen twice. After the first time it happened with no help from support, I waited a couple of weeks, did some edits then tried again and it uploaded, first try. I got a proof did some more edits and in a few weeks tried to upload the final version. That was when it failed again. The problem then was that the first draft was there and I kept getting support telling me that the file was there so it uploaded successfully. I had to explain every single time that I couldn't upload the final version. I must have communicated with over a dozen different people (or bots) in a thread that broke into two threads each with conflicting information. I literally have miles of emails. They would tired of me and go back in a circle telling me to watch a 6 year old video on how to export a PDF out of Word.

I was told more than once it was because I was using Affinity. One bot told me that if I am using Affinity I would have to go to the Adobe forum and learn how to use it! And, this guy wanted me to email my 250MB manuscript to him.

They said well if I can't upload it then they can't do anything. Again, after I closed the account they said it was an issue on their side and I just had to be patient and I could keep trying if I wanted but they did not know when it would be resolved - after a week of telling me it was my fault.

I posted the whole story on their forum with the emails. It had a record number of views.

I decided to do work more on the second book and will publish it on Barnes and Noble first, in January I hope, then with Ingram Spark. The other book is selling on my website as a downloadable PDF from my website and is selling better than it did on Amazon and I get all of the profit.

When KDP works it's great. If you have a problem and have to deal with support I wish you luck.

[Twolane]

I don't depend on luck. I depend on experience, with over 50 e-books and 20 print books successfully uploaded to multiple sales sources. It's called "going wide" in the indie author biz. I might add that I get from 12,000 to 15,000 downloads of my e-book product each and every year.

[KarinC]

27 minutes ago, Twolane said:

I don't depend on luck. I depend on experience, with over 50 e-books and 20 print books successfully uploaded to multiple sales sources. It's called "going wide" in the indie author biz. I might add that I get from 12,000 to 15,000 downloads of my e-book product each and every year.

Congratulations.

[Twolane]

Thanks for the accolades, but I was only trying to show that I wasn't talking out my rear end. Since you're having such great success with Amazon, et al, I'll allow you to proceed on your own. You do realize that there are multiple online sites that are available to assist indie authors with their problems. Unfortunately, for the moment, the list of sites eludes me. Good luck in your endeavors.

[KarinC]

13 minutes ago, Twolane said:

Thanks for the accolades, but I was only trying to show that I wasn't talking out my rear end. Since you're having such great success with Amazon, et al, I'll allow you to proceed on your own. You do realize that there are multiple online sites that are available to assist indie authors with their problems. Unfortunately, for the moment, the list of sites eludes me. Good luck in your endeavors.

I was being sincere. I had hoped for your kind of success as well. Amazon says not with them but there are other avenues to pursue.