Self-publishing is an industry rich in jargon. From ARCs to front matter to bleeds, we’ve got some overwhelming terminology. So let’s start with one of the most important ones: your print-ready PDF file.
A Disclaimer: every print facility is going to have some specific requirements. We’re going to focus on Lulu’s Print-Ready file requirements here. They will NOT match every book printer around the world, so be sure to check with any printer you might use to get their specifications before submitting your file.
The name says it all. A Print-Ready file is prepared for the printer’s specifications.
Print-Ready Files Should Always Be PDF Files.
When you format your book, you create a DOCX file from Word or an INDD file from InDesign. This file may be a beautiful representation of your book. But it is not yet a Print-Ready file. Your file format matters. While software like InDesign and Word have print capabilities, the file they actually send to the printer (be it an at-home printer or a large-scale book manufacturer) is always a PDF.
Your word processor (like Microsoft Word, Scrivener, or Google Docs) all have options to export your manuscript as a PDF. But how do you know if it’s a print-ready file for Lulu?
For more details about each important element in your PDF, keep reading!
Introduced nearly 30 years ago by Adobe, the Portable Document Format (or PDF) is a file format designed to ease the sharing and distribution of content. PDFs are the single most versatile and simple to share file, offering consistency across a range of writing, editing, and design platforms.
Likewise, a variety of PDF viewers and PDF readers make it easy to share book files.
No matter what your preferred book layout software is, you’ll need to adhere to the requirements for a PDF that Lulu’s printers can work with.
Lulu has a set of rules that files need to adhere to. Don’t get stressed though! These aren’t difficult to apply to most files. Almost all page layout software will have the PDF export settings you need to ensure a perfect print-ready file.
But not all of them. And regardless of how much is automated, it’s valuable to understand the recommendations and requirements for your book design and file.
If your file contains any images, save them at 300 dots per inch (dpi), and output a PDF that keeps the image resolution settings.
If the original image is less than 300 dpi, it may not be possible to achieve the image resolution we require. That’s okay. You can use lower-resolution images, but the print quality may be off. Grainy or pixelated images are the most common issue you’ll see with lower-resolution images.
Your Color Space defines a set of colors and their organization. Importantly, you want to be sure your file uses the same color space our printers use, so the colors you see on your screen match the colors in the printed book.
For Lulu, we prefer sRGB and CMYK colors. If you’re working in Word, you’ll need to be sure your images are already using sRGB or CMYK. Word will only export at the settings the file comes with.
If your book uses a lot of images, software like InDesign, Affinity Publisher, or even Scribus offers more control over a range of settings, including image quality and color space.
Traditionally, crop marks show where the printers should trim the page. Also called ‘trim lines’, the crops show up in the corners to allow the paper cutter to align and perform a straight cut.
It’s very important to note that Lulu does NOT use crop marks. Our printers use a trimming process based on the book size you’ve selected. If crop marks are present, there’s a good chance the marks will appear as dark lines in the corners of your pages.
So, while crop marks are helpful while laying out your file (particularly in InDesign), you need to be sure to turn them off before exporting your print-ready PDF.
The bleed is a slightly larger margin applied to the edge of every page to ensure the page can be trimmed to the final size. For most common printers, the bleed is 0.125” on all sides of the page.
If you upload a file to Lulu without a bleed margin, we will add one.
A 6 x 9-inch book is actually printed at 6.25 x 9.25 inches. Once the pages are printed, the 0.125 in on each side is trimmed down prior to binding.
A book file NEEDS to include bleeds if you have content (like images or background color) that extends to the edge of the page. A file that does not include that extra 0.125 in will still be printed with the bleed margin. The result can be pages with a thin white border.
I recommend you create your file with bleeds, no matter what kind of book you’re creating. In Word, this means adjusting your page size and margins to allow for that extra 0.125 in. Other file layout programs, like InDesign, will allow you to set up bleeds when you create the document.
The above image highlights the dangers of printing without bleeds. The edge of the page is the black border, leaving the page on the right with white edges around the light-blue background.
Use Lulu’s free templates to easily create and publish your book today.
