PDF Submission Guidelines

PDF SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Publishers submitting PDF files for paperback books with black & white and color interiors and full-color covers should observe the following guidelines. The more closely your files match the BookSurge 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.

Optimization
PDFs should be optimized. Optimization 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 color, 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 color 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. provides high-quality digital printing and paperback binding services for publishers. We currently can accept any paperback book within the following specifications:

See more specifics on submitting your book files:

 - Cover Specifications

 - Book Block (Text) Specifications 

Contact Publisher Services for more information or to get started.