TROUBLE WITH KDP AND AFFINITY

[E.M. Wolfram]

I'm at my wit's end with this. I have formatted and published books (through Kindle Direct Publishing) for 2+ years now - using Affinity Publisher V1, and now Affinity V2. So far, I haven't had any issues. 

 

Recently, I formatted a journal in the same way I have before, and KDP wouldn't process it. After spending 1 hour and a half on chat with them yesterday, I just got this email. I have no idea what I did wrong or what to do to fix it. Any help would be appreciated.

[R C-R]

How specifically did you export the PDF from APub? Can you try the suggested "Print to PDF" method?

[lacerto]

Basically the referred instructions are fairly "relaxed" (assuming production from apps like Microsoft Word), so you should be able to create an acceptable PDF as long as:

1) It has been exported per pages (rather than as spreads, which is the default setting in Affinity Publisher).

2) If you have bleeds, make sure they are as instructed, and do not include any print marks (e.g. bleed or crop marks).

3) The maximum file size is 650MB.

4) The transparencies have been flattened; you can do this manually before exporting, or use PDF/X-1a:2003 or PDF/X-3 export method (all other export methods within Affinity apps retain transparencies). If you flatten transparencies manually, you can use more compatible PDF 1.7 method (e.g. PDF (for press). Note that Affinity apps do export time transparency flattening always by rasterization so make sure that the export Raster DPI is at least 300dpi. This is what they recommend for general raster DPI (for images), as well. 

The instructions do not specifically mention anything about color profiles but since e.g. PDFs created from Word (using e.g. Microsoft Print To PDF or Save as PDF, or Adobe PDF, are typically DeviceGray or DeviceRGB and sRGB based (note though that e.g. black text from Word will always be DeviceGray, so this is what they might expect from text and other pure black objects), it is probably a good idea to produce device colors and NOT embed ICC profiles, so leave the "Embed ICC profiles" unchecked whenever possible (by default it is checked). Note that if you export using PDF/X-3, the ICC profiles will be included, and you cannot turn the option off (they do not instruct against using PDF/X-3, but it might be something they do not expect to have).

Since KDP is basically a hobbyist print service, there should not be any strict policies as for color space (e,g. requirement for using CMYK, or specific document profiles for specific papers, since these kinds of options are not available when producing PDF e.g. from Microsoft Word). You would achieve best results, though, by planning your workflow appropriately and producing as compatible and coherent output as possible. This would typically involve choosing a document profile that suits best for your job (e.g. considering printing to coated or uncoated stock), and exporting "simply", without needing to make export time profile changes. As they specifically mention PDF/X-1, working in CMYK color mode should be the most compatible mode, in which case you would define your text and other pure black elements in K100 (and C, M and Y zero), then have placed images in grayscale and /or RGB color mode, and export to PDF/X-1a:2003. This will produce a flattened DeviceCMYK output where black elements are K100 (if defined so). KDP should have no problems processing this kind of a PDF, as long as you have the other specs as defined (points 1 - 3 above, and 300 DPI raster resolution).

However, exporting to PDF/X-1a has limitations within Affinity apps, related to placed PDF content: if you have ones, make sure that they are PDF/X-1a, as well, otherwise this kind of content will be rasterized and their color values are recalculated. 

[Alfred]

3 hours ago, lacerto said:

However, exporting to PDF/X-1a has limitations within Affinity apps, related to placed PDF content: if you have ones, make sure that they are PDF/X-1a, as well, otherwise this kind of content will be rasterized and their color values are recalculated.

Do you mean ‘if you have any [placed PDF content]’ or have I misunderstood what you’re warning about?

[lacerto]

25 minutes ago, Alfred said:

Do you mean ‘if you have any [placed PDF content]’ or have I misunderstood what you’re warning about?

Yes. If you let interpret, you need to have all resources of the placed content, and also need to make sure that you have the same color profile, but you avoid rasterization. Interestingly, Passthrough / Interpret setting is document-wise, so if one of the placed files uses Interpret, they all do, disregarding whether Passthrough is subsequently used in any other reference.

[Alfred]

55 minutes ago, lacerto said:

Interestingly, Passthrough / Interpret setting is [document-wide]

Hmm, that is indeed interesting, mainly because it’s somewhat unexpected! Ideally we should be able to choose separately for each item of placed content.

[lacerto]

29 minutes ago, Alfred said:

Hmm, that is indeed interesting, mainly because it’s somewhat unexpected! Ideally we should be able to choose separately for each item of placed content.

True. At least the identical file linked to another location gets handled as passthrough even if the same file from another source chosen to be handled interpreted gets identical handling. On the other hand, it does so, even it is embedded! Personally I consider this a bug, since the selection can be made object-wise. If it is supposed to be a resource-wise option, it should be made in Resource Manager (in connection of parent item under which individual references get listed).

[Alfred]

34 minutes ago, lacerto said:

Personally I consider this a bug

I’m inclined to agree! It might be worth filing a bug report and finding out what Serif’s QA and Dev staff think.

[E.M. Wolfram]

On 2/6/2025 at 8:54 PM, lacerto said:

Basically the referred instructions are fairly "relaxed" (assuming production from apps like Microsoft Word), so you should be able to create an acceptable PDF as long as:

1) It has been exported per pages (rather than as spreads, which is the default setting in Affinity Publisher).

2) If you have bleeds, make sure they are as instructed, and do not include any print marks (e.g. bleed or crop marks).

3) The maximum file size is 650MB.

4) The transparencies have been flattened; you can do this manually before exporting, or use PDF/X-1a:2003 or PDF/X-3 export method (all other export methods within Affinity apps retain transparencies). If you flatten transparencies manually, you can use more compatible PDF 1.7 method (e.g. PDF (for press). Note that Affinity apps do export time transparency flattening always by rasterization so make sure that the export Raster DPI is at least 300dpi. This is what they recommend for general raster DPI (for images), as well. 

The instructions do not specifically mention anything about color profiles but since e.g. PDFs created from Word (using e.g. Microsoft Print To PDF or Save as PDF, or Adobe PDF, are typically DeviceGray or DeviceRGB and sRGB based (note though that e.g. black text from Word will always be DeviceGray, so this is what they might expect from text and other pure black objects), it is probably a good idea to produce device colors and NOT embed ICC profiles, so leave the "Embed ICC profiles" unchecked whenever possible (by default it is checked). Note that if you export using PDF/X-3, the ICC profiles will be included, and you cannot turn the option off (they do not instruct against using PDF/X-3, but it might be something they do not expect to have).

Since KDP is basically a hobbyist print service, there should not be any strict policies as for color space (e,g. requirement for using CMYK, or specific document profiles for specific papers, since these kinds of options are not available when producing PDF e.g. from Microsoft Word). You would achieve best results, though, by planning your workflow appropriately and producing as compatible and coherent output as possible. This would typically involve choosing a document profile that suits best for your job (e.g. considering printing to coated or uncoated stock), and exporting "simply", without needing to make export time profile changes. As they specifically mention PDF/X-1, working in CMYK color mode should be the most compatible mode, in which case you would define your text and other pure black elements in K100 (and C, M and Y zero), then have placed images in grayscale and /or RGB color mode, and export to PDF/X-1a:2003. This will produce a flattened DeviceCMYK output where black elements are K100 (if defined so). KDP should have no problems processing this kind of a PDF, as long as you have the other specs as defined (points 1 - 3 above, and 300 DPI raster resolution).

However, exporting to PDF/X-1a has limitations within Affinity apps, related to placed PDF content: if you have ones, make sure that they are PDF/X-1a, as well, otherwise this kind of content will be rasterized and their color values are recalculated. 

I learned that the export setting I was using (PDF for Print and PDF for Export) were making the file too large. I did have placed images on each page. I ended up using the Export PDF Flattened and that worked. 

 

But lately for my novels, I have been using the PDF/X-1a:2003 and that's worked flawlessly. 

 

Thank you for this response! It's helped a lot! 

[E.M. Wolfram]

On 2/6/2025 at 6:28 PM, R C-R said:

How specifically did you export the PDF from APub? Can you try the suggested "Print to PDF" method?

I tried. I even tried taking my Affinity PDF and running it through Kindle create. It messed up the formatting. 

 

I ended up just exporting flattened and that worked.