Print on Demand (POD) Printing Specifications
Amazon.co.uk provides high-quality digital printing and paperback binding services for publishers. We currently can accept any paperback book within the following specifications:
Trim Size Amazon.co.uk can accommodate any trim size within these dimensions: For black and white titles : - Any width from 101.6mm to 215.9mm (4 inches to 8.5 inches)
- Any height from 152.4mm to 296.93mm ( 6 inches to 11.69 inches)
For color titles :
- Any width from 101.6mm to 215.9mm (4 inches to 8.5 inches)
- Any height from 152.4mm to 279.4mm ( 6 inches to 11 inches)
Minimum and Maximum Page Counts
The minimum page count for all books is 24 pages. The following table provides a breakdown of maximum page counts based upon trim width and text paper choice.
Trim Width mm |
Trim Width inches |
White (444 ppi) |
Cream (400 ppi) |
Colour (426 ppi) |
101.6 to 206.25 |
4 to 8.12 |
828 |
828 |
500 |
209.55 |
8.121 - 8.25 |
828 |
770 |
500 |
210.06
|
8.251 - 8.27 |
828 |
750 |
500 |
215.9 |
8.271 - 8.5
|
630 |
570 |
500 |
Covers/Binding
-
- 4-colour printed covers with film lamination
- Cover stock: 210gsm (244 microns) Premier Paper 'Symbol Card'
- Perfect binding
Setup Services
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- PDF and TIFF digital setup
- 600 dpi greyscale scanning
- 300 dpi colour scanning
Pricing for Publishers
All new publishers with 50 or more titles and all of our existing publisher customers are eligible for this pricing.
If you are a publisher with more than 50 titles and would like to learn more about Amazon Print-on-Demand, please contact our team by e-mailing POD-info@amazon.co.uk for more information. Amazon pricing for publishers with 50 or more titles:
1. Unit costs
Per page (black & white)
|
£0.01 per page |
Per page (colour) |
£0.045 per page |
Per unit |
£0.70 per unit |
2. Digital Setup Fees
Print-Ready PDF
|
£20 per book |
TIFF |
|
3. Scanning Fees
Per-Book Scanning
|
|
Simple B/W text |
£30 per title |
Simple greyscale, 1-5 greyscale pages |
£35 per title |
Complex greyscale, 6-50 greyscale pages |
£45 per title |
Per-Page Scanning |
|
B/W text pages (401 or more pages) ** |
£0.06 per page |
Greyscale pages (51 or more greyscale pages) ** |
£0.25 per page |
A la Carte Scanning |
|
Cover (300 dpi colour) |
£10 per book |
Colour interior pages |
£1.00 per page |
Scan File Return |
£25 per work |
** Note: Scanning fees for high page count and high-half-tone books are calculated by adding these surcharge rates to the applicable per-book scanning rate above.
For more information on our Print-on-Demand programme please contact our Print-on-Demand team by e-mailing POD-info@amazon.co.uk. Please include your name, title, the publishing house you represent, the number of POD titles you currently publish or are looking to publish and relevant contact information.
PDF Submission Guidelines
Publishers submitting PDF files for paperback books with black and white and colour interiors and full-colour covers should observe the following guidelines. The more closely your files match the Amazon.co.uk Print-on-Demand specifications, the faster we can process your files and make them available for printing.
General PDF Specifications
Version Set compatibility for Acrobat 6.0/PDF v1.5
Layers PDFs should not contain multiple layers. Layers are problematic when printing and do not guarantee an expected look and feel of the printed material. Transparency settings in the PDF should be avoided because flattening is not guaranteed to produce the same look and feel as the user sees on a screen.
Optimisation PDFs should be optimised. Optimisation is useful to reduce size and increase performance when viewing, printing and transferring files.
OPI Do not use any OPI code.
Encryption We do not accept any locked or encrypted PDFs.
ICC Profile If the PDF contains colour, the ICC profile should be saved with the PDF whenever possible. Most imaging tools (e.g., PhotoShop) enable you to embed the ICC profile. Embedding this profile enables us to match the colour content as closely as possible during printing.
Bookmarks It is preferable that your PDF not contain any bookmarks, comments, invisible objects, or any metadata. These serve no purpose in the printing process, and they increase the size of the PDF and may cause printing problems in some extreme cases.
Crop Marks Crop marks or other printer's marks should not be used on any files.
Cover PDF Specifications
Cover Page Size The Page Size for all cover PDF files should be 457.2mm x 304.8mm (18 inches x 12 inches). The covers should be centered horizontally on the spine and shifted to the bottom of the page, leaving only 3.157mm (1/8 inch) bleed at the bottom of the page. We will cut 3.157mm (1/8 inch) off the bottom of the book, and the second cut will be at the top at the trim height (i.e., we will trim the excess off the top). Please note that we do not print on the inside front or back covers.
Bleed A minimum 3.157mm (1/8 inch) bleed is required on all sides.
Live Elements There should be no 'live' elements closer than 6.35mm (1/4 inch) to the trim lines.
Colour Space We accept both RGB and CMYK colour spaces. We also accept profiled RGB or profiled CMYK spaces.
Resolution 300 dpi is the recommended resolution for quality purposes. Higher resolutions are acceptable, but lower ones will be flagged.
Spine Measurements
Black and White Interior The spine width for 60# white paper (444 ppi) is calculated as page count x 0.0572mm (.002252 inch) The spine width for 60# cream paper (400 ppi) is calculated as page count x 0.0635mm (.0025 inch)
Colour Interior The spine width for colour books (426 ppi) is calculated as page count x 0.05961mm (.002347 inch)
Spine Text Spine text on books under 130 pages is discouraged. Text on larger spines must be sized to fit the spine with at least 1.5875mm (1/16 inch) of space between the text and the edge of the spine.
Barcode All covers must have a 300 DPI barcode located on the back cover sized at least 38.1mm (1.5 inches) wide by 22.86mm (.9 inch) high.
Book Block (Text) PDF Specifications
PDF Text Page Size Create the book block as a 'one-up' PDF to the actual trim size of the book
Font Embed all font information. Do not use Type 3 fonts, as they can cause problems during printing.
Margins and Alignment The default gutter margin is 19.05mm (3/4 inch) and the default outside margin is 12.7mm (1/2 inch). Even-numbered/left-handed pages ('verso') should have their gutter margin on the right side of the text block. Likewise, the odd-numbered/right-handed pages ('recto') should have their gutter margin on the left side of the text block.
Colour and Halftone Images Resolution: 300 dpi or higher Format: JPEG or TIFF Compression: JPEG Photoshop compression level with quality 10 or higher. For TIFF, use JPEG or lossless compression.
Monochrome Bitmap Images Resolution: 600 dpi Format: TIFF Compression: CCITT Group 4 (preferred), LZW, or no compression
Media Box The media box of the PDF should contain all the content to be printed. Any content outside of the media box will be flagged, and your document will be rejected.
Interior Full Bleed Pages that are full-bleed (extend past the edge of the page with no white space on the edges) must have a 3.175mm (.125 inch) bleed on head, foot and face (excludes the gutter). For example: 152.4mm x 228.6mm (6 inches x 9 inches) trim size with full bleed should be submitted as 155.575mm x 234.95mm (6.125 inches x 9.25 inches) interior PDF.
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