A "print-ready interior" is the inside of your physical book — every page of text and art, laid out exactly as it will appear once printed and bound. Print-on-demand services are strict about this file, so BookZeta's print PDF is built to meet the specs they expect: proper margins, a chosen trim size, embedded fonts, high-resolution images and print-accurate colour.

To create one, open Publish & Export in the editor and choose the print PDF.

Pick your trim size first

Trim size is the finished width and height of your printed book. Choose it before anything else, because it affects how your text flows, your final page count, and the width of your spine.

BookZeta supports common trim sizes used by print-on-demand printers, and it pairs your interior with a print cover whose spine width is calculated from your page count — so the cover and interior always match.

What "print-ready" actually means

The print PDF is prepared differently from a screen PDF:

• Margins and a safe area keep your text and art away from the edges, so nothing important gets cut off when the book is trimmed.
• 300 DPI images stay sharp on paper instead of looking soft or pixelated.
• CMYK colour is the ink-based colour space printers use, so what you see is closer to what comes off the press.
• Fonts are embedded so your typography prints correctly even on a machine that doesn't have your fonts installed.

Before you upload to a printer

• Lock your trim size — changing it later shifts your page count and spine width.
• Check your front matter — title page, copyright page and table of contents.
• Review the print preview — look for anything sitting too close to the trim edge, awkward page breaks, or a chapter starting on the wrong side.
• Confirm your page count so it matches the spine width on your cover.

Common pitfalls

• Designing for the screen and forgetting the trim edge — content near the border can be cut.
• Uploading the screen-optimised PDF instead of the print PDF. For physical books you always want the print version. (See the difference in Export formats explained.)
• Editing your text after exporting and uploading the old file — regenerate so the page count and layout stay accurate.

Each marketplace has its own file rules on top of these basics, so always check the store's current requirements — see Amazon KDP rules.