KDP Margins and Trim Sizes for Puzzle Books

Amazon warns that, without proper sizing, a manuscript may be rejected on upload or show print quality issues. (source: KDP Help, Set Trim Size, Bleed, and Margins) This article gathers Amazon KDP's requirements on trim size, bleed and margins, and applies them to puzzle books. Every number comes from the official KDP Help and is followed by its source.

Trim size, bleed and margins: the three terms

• Trim size. The width and height of the printed book. (source: KDP Help, Set Trim Size, Bleed, and Margins)
• Bleed. A printing term for printed objects, such as images, background colors or graphics, that extend past where the page will be trimmed, so that they reach the edge of the page. (source: KDP Help, Set Trim Size, Bleed, and Margins)
• Margins. Every page has three outside margins (top, bottom and side) and one inside margin, also called the gutter. Margins ensure your content is not cut off during manufacturing. (source: KDP Help, Set Trim Size, Bleed, and Margins)

Amazon's advice on the order: set your trim size before you set your margins, because the margin size depends on the page count and on whether the book has elements that bleed. (source: KDP Help, Set Trim Size, Bleed, and Margins)

Trim sizes KDP accepts

KDP lists 16 paperback trim sizes on kdp.amazon.com. The table below shows nine of them, with the page counts allowed for black ink on white paper. The limits are different for cream paper, groundwood paper and color ink: see the official page for the complete table. (source: KDP Help, Set Trim Size, Bleed, and Margins)

• A book wider than 6.12 inches (155.5 mm) or taller than 9 inches (228.6 mm) is a large trim size, with different printing costs than a regular trim size. (source: KDP Help, Set Trim Size, Bleed, and Margins)
• The most common trim size for paperbacks in the US is 6 x 9 inches. It is the default in the print options when you set up a book. (source: KDP Help, Print Options)
• For paperbacks you can also enter a custom trim size: the width must be within 4 to 8.5 inches and the height within 6 to 11.69 inches. (source: KDP Help, Print Options)
• The minimum page count is 24 pages, and KDP rounds the page count up to an even number if necessary. (source: KDP Help, Paperback Submission Guidelines)

Which size for which puzzle

• 8.5 x 11 inches gives the most room: large grids, large print editions, crosswords with their clues on the same page, or several Sudoku grids per page.
• 6 x 9 inches gives a smaller book that is easier to carry, with fewer or smaller puzzles on each page.

LogikLand generates books in these two sizes. Keep in mind that 8.5 x 11 is a large trim size for Amazon, and that its page limit with black ink and white paper is 590 pages, against 828 for 6 x 9. (source: KDP Help, Set Trim Size, Bleed, and Margins)

Minimum margins by page count: the official table

The top, bottom and outside margins must be at least 0.25 inch for books without bleed and 0.375 inch (9.6 mm) for books with bleed. The inside margin depends on the page count: the more pages, the thicker the book, and the wider the inside margin must be. (source: KDP Help, Set Trim Size, Bleed, and Margins)

Official page: kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/GVBQ3CMEQW3W2VL6. The same table appears in the Paperback Submission Guidelines. (source: KDP Help, Paperback Submission Guidelines)

• The top, bottom and outside margins do not have to be the same, as long as each one meets the minimum. (source: KDP Help, Set Trim Size, Bleed, and Margins)
• Some programs have separate fields for the inside margin and the gutter. Amazon's instruction is to enter the same value in both. (source: KDP Help, Set Trim Size, Bleed, and Margins)
• The last rows only apply to trim sizes and papers that allow that many pages: an 8.5 x 11 inch book with black ink and white paper stops at 590 pages. (source: KDP Help, Set Trim Size, Bleed, and Margins)

Do puzzle books need bleed?

Amazon's rule is that you include bleed in the interior file if you have images, backgrounds or illustrations that you want to reach the edge of the page. (source: KDP Help, Set Trim Size, Bleed, and Margins) By that rule, a puzzle book whose grids, text and page numbers all stay inside the margins does not need bleed. A book with a background color or a decorative border running to the edge of the page does.

• Even if a single page requires bleed, the entire file must be set up with bleed. (source: KDP Help, Set Trim Size, Bleed, and Margins)
• Bleed is only supported for fixed-format files such as print-ready PDFs. (source: KDP Help, Set Trim Size, Bleed, and Margins)
• With bleed, the page size grows: add 0.125 inch (3.2 mm) to the width and 0.25 inch (6.4 mm) to the height. A 6 x 9 inch book becomes 6.125 x 9.25 inches, and an 8.5 x 11 inch book becomes 8.625 x 11.25 inches. (source: KDP Help, Set Trim Size, Bleed, and Margins)
• Objects that bleed must extend 0.125 inch (3.2 mm) beyond the trim line. (source: KDP Help, Set Trim Size, Bleed, and Margins)
• Text may not bleed off the page: all text should appear within the margins. (source: KDP Help, Fix Paperback and Hardcover Formatting Issues)
• The cover is a separate matter: all book covers on KDP require bleed. (source: KDP Help, Set Trim Size, Bleed, and Margins)

Grid lines, gray cells and images

Three requirements of the submission guidelines apply directly to puzzle pages: (source: KDP Help, Paperback Submission Guidelines)

• Line width. Lines in a chart, table or graphic element need a minimum thickness of 0.75 point, or 0.01 inch (0.3 mm). This covers the lines of a Sudoku, crossword or maze grid.
• Grayscale fill. For gray backgrounds printed with black ink on white or cream paper, Amazon recommends a minimum fill of 10%. This is worth checking for shaded cells.
• Image resolution. Images need a minimum resolution of 300 DPI.

Common margin problems and how KDP reports them

KDP's Print Previewer checks margins, cover size and fonts, and it may try to fix some issues by scaling content down to fit inside the required margins. (source: KDP Help, Fix Paperback and Hardcover Formatting Issues)

• Content outside the margins or in the gutter. Reposition the content or reset the margins for your page count. (source: KDP Help, Fix Paperback and Hardcover Formatting Issues)
• A margin error on pages with a background. Amazon's first suggestion is to change the bleed setting to "Bleed" and to review the page size. (source: KDP Help, Fix Paperback and Hardcover Formatting Issues)
• A new page size. After you change the page size, the content shifts and the page count changes, so check that your margins still match the new page count. (source: KDP Help, Fix Paperback and Hardcover Formatting Issues)
• Invisible content. Empty text boxes, spaces or hidden characters outside the margins can trigger a margin error even when nothing is visible there. (source: KDP Help, Fix Paperback and Hardcover Formatting Issues)

Setting page size and margins in LogikLand

In a LogikLand wizard you select the page size, 8.5 x 11 inches or 6 x 9 inches, and you set the top, bottom, left and right margins yourself. A page counter shows the estimated length of your book compared with the page limit of your plan. The steps for each puzzle type are in the puzzle book guides.

LogikLand lets you set the margins, but the requirements depend on your trim size and page count: always preview your file in KDP's previewer before you publish.

Two worked examples

A 120-page Sudoku book, 8.5 x 11 inches, no bleed

• Page size of the interior file: 8.5 x 11 inches.
• 120 pages is in the "24 to 150 pages" row: inside margin of at least 0.375 inch.
• Top, bottom and outside margins: at least 0.25 inch.

A 200-page word search book, 6 x 9 inches, no bleed

• Page size of the interior file: 6 x 9 inches.
• 200 pages is in the "151 to 300 pages" row: inside margin of at least 0.5 inch.
• Top, bottom and outside margins: at least 0.25 inch.

These values are minimums taken from the official table above. (source: KDP Help, Set Trim Size, Bleed, and Margins) Wider margins are allowed and often make a puzzle page more comfortable to use.