Interior File Creation

Designing the physical appearance of your book is a crucial step in the development of your manuscript. Before your book is ready to be printed, its pages must be sized according to the printer’s specifications.

If you were to examine a published book, you’ll notice that there’s more than just text on every page—page numbers, chapter headings, sections of text, photos, illustrations, page headings with the title and an author name—these elements are all added during the design phase. Not only should a reader be able to understand the content you’ve written, but they should also be able to identify where they currently are in your book and be able to clearly see where distinct sections begin and end.

This is also an ideal time to add supplementary content to your book, including a copyright page, dedication page, table of contents, acknowledgments page, references section, and glossary. 

The best way to ensure that the visual appearance of your pages encourages smooth reading is to hire a professional graphic designer. The designer’s primary function is to mold your manuscript from a shapeless text block into an attractively presented, well-organized set of bindable pages. An experienced designer can also give informed recommendations on font choices, line length and spacing, and page margin width, all of which have a massive impact on your book’s readability.

Review the Requirements:

• Must be uploaded as a separate file from the cover
• Use single-page format (1-up per page)
• Do not include crop, registration, or printer marks
• All fonts must be embedded
• The final page should be blank. If there is no blank page, we’ll add one for you.
• Margins are recommended to be a minimum of 0.5” (13mm) from the final trim size on all sides. This includes page numbers and non-bleeding text and art. We allow for a 1/16” (0.0625 in / 2 mm) variance in printing. If text/ images are too close to the trim edges, they could be cut in the printing and binding process.
• Bleed: B&W and Color interior – Full 0.125” (3mm) past final trim size, except on bind/spine side
• B&W interior – Do not include spot colors or ICC profiles and all images should be converted to grayscale
• Color interior: 300 ppi is recommended. CMYK value should not exceed 240%. Elements should not be built in registration black (100/100/100/100). All spot colors with/without transparencies must be converted to CMYK before flattening or exporting.
• Export: PDF/X1a:2001 PDF standard is recommended for exporting.
• For revisions, the entire file must be re-uploaded. Partial pages cannot be accepted.

Layout your Book Interior to Meet Our Requirements: Full file requirements can be found here.

Create a Lightning Source Compliant PDF

• InDesign
• Quark

* Macintosh screenshots are shown in some documentation but the overall information may vary slightly from current Window’s versions.

Review Your PDF File for Accuracy

This is a very important – yet often overlooked – step in the process. Please open and review your newly created PDF to ensure that all elements are present and properly represented in your PDF prior to submitting it for printing. Incomplete or incorrect digital files will put your project behind schedule and could add charges to your account.

• How to review your PDF prior to uploading

Upload Your File

Once you have the PDF completed and reviewed, it’s time to upload the file to IngramSpark.

Note: The upload area is in the publisher’s password-protected account. If you are a Designer who does not have access to this area, you may:

1. Request for the publisher to email you a direct link to the upload area for this title (you will need a different link for each title needing to be uploaded).
2. Supply the publisher with the PDF file and the publisher can upload the file from their account.