Hello, I just got a sample paperback from Kindle Direct and the interior/gutter margins on my book are too tight. On the KDP previewer, the lines run right up to the gutter “warning” line and the book I received today did not handle that well. It ran the lines too far toward the gutter. I need to essentially move the text away from the gutter slightly to have it line up in the “safe” area for Kindle. How would I do this?
Hi
If Amazon’s previewer showed it would be OK and it is not, perhaps you should also ask about it on their forum. Or contact their customer service.
Hello Vincent, Thank you for the reply. I’m not sure I follow what you’re suggesting here. Do I need to adjust the margins to 1" all the way round in this section? Also, I’m not clear where I find these compile settings. If you could point me there I would appreciate it. Thanks again for your help.
To access this panel, double-click the compile format you use in the compile panel, left column.
No, you do not set it to 1" all around. That’s just where you set it to your own needed values. (I have no idea what values you need.)
But given that your problem concerns only the gutter, you’ll have only one to increase. (Again, I don’t know which one, left or right. – I would assume it is the left, since a book always starts with a right side page… But I am not certain.)
The second screenshot is so that it is always on the right (right as in “correct”) side of the page ; by alternating.
Try with the left margin, and if the increased margin is on the outside, then reset the left margin to its initial value, and increase the right one.
OK. I will experiment with this and see how it turns out when I compile. Thank you for your help.
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If prior you were using the margins set in File / Page Setup (if the option is checked in my first screenshot, blue marking), make sure to reproduce those margins in the compile format [<–my first screenshot, still] (except for the one margin that came out wrong, and that needs to be increased.)
. . . . . .
[EDIT] I just realized that when the alternating pages option is checked, the left/right margin changes for inside/outside. So, whether it is the left or right that needs tweaking : that answers it.
Yes, I noticed that it did have “inside” and “outside” labels, so that made it simpler to adjust. I’m experimenting with different settings now - going back and forth from the compiled manuscript and KDP’s “previewer” layout function, which shows me how it’s looking. I’ve found a good setting, but now I have to go back and adjust some images and captions that have been affected. Thanks
Hey there, I was able to check alternating pages in the compile format screen by double clicking the template, but it didn’t change the margin labels to inside and outside. would it change the labels in page setup or where? thanks in advance!
See the first screenshot in this thread… It should be in the margins pop-up.
Thanks, I see it affects the compile window but not the page setup.
if I have facing pages ie. gutters slightly larger, how can I make my editor window match so I can stylize accordingly? just getting the right line breaks etc.
@Vincent_Vincent do you have any insight?
will try a new thread on this as well, thanks!
Odd and even pages still have the exact same size of a printable area despite. Use page view (as shown above) to mimic it. (Should be enough, in my opinion.)
Well, are you saying to just set “left” or “right” in page setup and technically each page still has the same printable area? this is true…
would it not affect the page layout…
hm. I suppose not. that answer could suffice. I do have page view and two pages across on. That’s the way it really feels I’m writing a book lol.
thanks, that answer should suffice. basically saying each page still has the same printable area and even if the larger gutter moves left to right, each page layout will remain. reasonable, thanks!!
(people do say to use another, but it’s so darn close to doing everything for me. and it does have all these compile settings to be intended to publish. it’s tough to say its not a DTP but then offers such a deep compiling system. At this point I might as well avoid copying into another software. Also the issue there is, I’m bound to change some words as I finalize stylization…do I then come back to Scrivener and keep making those same changes to update the master manuscript? that’s where it gets tricky. any way, the only thing remaining for scrivener to do for me after your wonderful answer is to italicize a part of the header, but not another part. ie. italicize the chapter title, but not the page numbers in the corner. currently it italicizes or bolds the entire header or footer)