Styling Your PDF for Print Publication

Meeting KDP Print's or IngramSpark's real requirements in Deckle comes down to picking the right trim size, checking your margins against your actual page count, and only turning on bleed if you actually need it.

What You'll Need

• A finished manuscript in Deckle with a known (or close-to-final) page count.
• A decision on which print-on-demand publisher(s) you're using: KDP Print, IngramSpark, BoD, or more than one.

Step-by-Step

1. Pick your trim size in Styles → Typography first. 6"×9" is the most common US novel choice; A5 is the standard European size; KDP's own 6.14"×9.21" is available if you're publishing exclusively through KDP. This automatically sets body size, line height, and margins to match.
2. Check your margins in Styles → Print. Deckle already derives them from your trim size, but you can override individually. Watch for the inner-margin warning: it's a general sanity check based on a fixed 300-page assumption, not a live check against your real page count, so once you know your final page count, cross-check it against your actual publisher's real gutter table (KDP's scales by page count; IngramSpark uses one flat gutter strip instead, see the requirement articles linked below).
3. Only turn on bleed if you actually need it (Styles → Print): full-bleed images or design elements that run to the page edge. Most text-only novels don't. If you do need it, both KDP and IngramSpark want 0.125" of bleed on the edges where content runs off the page.
4. Use the Spine Width Calculator (Compile → Format tab, with PDF selected) once you know your final page count, for cover design.
5. Export, and check your file against your specific publisher's current numbers before uploading, since publishers do revise these from time to time.

Common Mistakes

• Treating Deckle's built-in gutter warning as the final word for a long book. It's a general sanity check based on a fixed page-count assumption, not a live check against your actual manuscript. Always compare your real page count against your publisher's actual table once you know it.
• Using KDP's numbers for an IngramSpark submission, or vice versa. The two have meaningfully different minimums: KDP scales its gutter by page count, IngramSpark uses one flat margin plus a separate fixed gutter strip.
• Turning on bleed "just in case." It's only needed for content that runs to the page edge. Turning it on unnecessarily just changes your page dimensions for no benefit.