Hi my name is Beroko
I'm a Japanese illustrator
Today I'd like to talk about two mistakes I made in creating the KDP paperback
KDP as you might already know is a service provided by Amazon that makes it easy
for anyone to publish books You can create both e-books and paper books I've been wanting to create a paperback version
of activity books for children and as a first one I created this book Sarah and Jiro Maze book
for kids However during the process I made some mistakes because I couldn't have predicted the
condition of the finished paperback specifically the printing binding and paper quality
So I'd like to share with you what my mistakes were and how I ended up completing the book
MISTAKE 1 Layout KDP allows you to order a proof copy and check the finished product before
publication First here is a first proof copy Initially, I had created it with a size of 14.8 cm
by 21cm in premium color, as it shown here When I opened the book, I noticed white lines
in the center of the book, at the gutter I have never seen this in books sold in general
This is not a "gap between the left and right images," but rather
"white lines on top of the originally centered image" When totaled on the left and right,
the center of the illustration is hidden by about 6 mm On some pages it is noticeable and on others it is
not but if you open the page tightly you can see it on almost every page The data was created
according to KDP's regulations and I was not sure how to avoid this phenomenon So I checked
KDP's website and found the following passage To accommodate The binding process we add about
0.13 inches of white space to the inside margin of full bleed color ink books the white space is
an expected part of printing and may appear even if the margins are set correctly So I thought it
was inevitable that the white lines would be added However looking at the reviews on YouTube of
people who did premium color printing it seems that not everyone has these exposed white
lines Some had the center nicely attached and the white lines were not visible I thought
that perhaps the white lines were added this time unfortunately Or even if white lines are
always added they may not be exposed like this So I decided to print the proof again to try it out
This time considering that the illustration in the center portion will disappear by about 6 mm
I adjust the maze 3 mm to the left and 3 mm to the light so the illustration in the center
looks like the same figure overlapping a little on both sides
Here is the proof I received By opening the illustration to the left and right the maze
is now connected but the white lines still appear So this is my first mistake I place the maze
spanning left and right without understanding the phenomenon of exposed white lines beforehand
Next I'd like to talk about the paper quality of the interior
MISTAKE 2 Misunderstanding a paper type KDP paperback offers a choice of glossy or
matte finish for the cover but it is a little different when it comes to the interior
For color printing you can choose between premium color and standard color but each of which
already has a specific paper type and no choice I mistakenly thought that there were several
choices of paper types for the interior And I chose the premium color Because the
standard color is not available in Japan When I received the proof I noticed that the
paper type of the premium color was glossy My book is an activity book so I wanted paper
that I could write on with a pencil or erase As you can see it was not suitable for this So I have decided to stop using premium
color for this book and used standard color So that was my second mistake I mistakenly thought
I could choose the paper type for the interior By the way regarding the finish of the cover this one
has a matte finish and this one has glossy finish The matte finish is unique to the touch
It feels like you are touching a silicone case of a smartphone The color looks a little
dull so it is suitable for those who want to create a calm impression On the other hand the
glossy one has a vibrant colors and looks great I like the glossy finish
Next I printed in a standard color Since I'm not an English speaker I asked
a translator to translated it into English The paper itself is rough and suitable for writing
with a pencil or erasing What about the gutter Actually contrary to the case with premium
color the standard color is a bit clogged However this is not a serious problem because I just need to adjust the data so that
there is more room in the center But when I take a look closer I noticed that
the heights of the left and right pages are not aligned It is easy to see from the page
numbers that they are not in the same position If the left or not pages are shifted up
and down the maze will not be connected And this is not something I can control
So unfortunately I realized that it is still impossible to lay out the maze in such a
way that it struggled the left and right pages One thing I'd like to mention is that this
is only a phenomenon that happened with my book made with this size and number of pages and I
don't think the same thing will happen to everyone I think the only way to find out is to try
out with the specification of the book you want to make Eventually I decided to rotate to
the maze 90 degrees and place them per pages That way I would no longer have to
worry about how the mazes are connected And here is the finished product In the end
I decided on a size of 18.2 cm by 25.7 cm I really wanted the book to be horizontal but the
regulation only allow a maximum width of 21.59 cm so I decided to make it with a cover facing
vertically and contents facing horizontally So today I talked about the mistakes I made
on my first attempt at KDP paperback Learning from these mistakes I think
I can create it more smoothly next time Finally after making the KDP paperback
I thought that it would be really nice to be able to try out proof copies
until I'm satisfied with the result This is because in my experience it is generally
not possible to make just one try copy at print shop and even if it were possible it would be
very expensive With KDP paperback if you order one proof copy you only pay for the
printing for one plus shipping and handling Also when it comes to the paper quality of the cover
it is firm thick and durable and I really like it I hope you enjoyed this video The Amazon link
to my activity book is an overview section if you would like to check it out visit me
anytime Thank you for watching Thank you
