Heads Up! - This post is based on using a Mac, however the software mentioned is available for Windows so I'd guess it will work but haven't tested it. Now, I am not yet an expert in either printing, or the use of CMYK colour spaces in general; I am simply describing what worked for me. I'd guess that someone with more technical knowledge will know a better way but I thought that sharing this could be helpful to someone out there.
A big thanks for the steer from Davies Media Design.com, whose video on CMYK colour spaces in GIMP 2.99 (development release) gave me the tool which started me on what I hope is the right road. Their video is on Youtube, here.
So here we go. I had a week of torture trying to produce a working cover for Ingram Spark without paying for an Adobe product! I have nothing against Adobe, just an inbuilt horror of subscription software. I found lots of apparently contradictory advice on the web but gleaned just enough of an idea to develop a plan, which I'm happy to say worked and my book is now on Ingram Spark.
So here's what I know. CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key (black) and is the standardised colour scheme needed by professional print companies. Ingram Spark (IS) uses this as you'd expect, and as I understand it, the files submitted need to:
- Use their template (the IS website has a template generator which is really easy to use),
- Be an even number of pages with last page blank,
- Have fonts embedded in the pdf, and
- Use a CMYK colour space but not have colour space files embedded in the pdf.
So before we go on, a brief note about the book's text pdf. I use Atticus to format my manuscript and output the pdf which will be uploaded to KDP and/or IS (or others I suppose, depending how wide you publish). Atticus b/w text for a novel was compatible with IS submission guidelines out of the box, I just added a blank page to meet IS requirements for an even number of pages and last page blank. The trim sizes accepted by Amazon and IS are colour coded within the Atticus software and the rest is just automatic. A big thanks to Dave Chesson and his team! More info here.
Get on with it man! I hear you say! Fair enough. The first step was to go to GIMP.org here and select 'download' from the menu bar. Scroll down and find the link to their development downloads page (mine was 2.99.14 revision 1)
I was then able to open the Photoshop file supplied by my cover designer (Andrew Rainnie: he's on Fiverr and I recommend him). Once open, I turned off all the layers so I was looking at the background transparency, then turned the lowest one (the cover image I think) back on.
The next step was to go to the Adobe website here and download some ICC colour profiles to my Mac. Again Davies Media Design.com was useful, here. In GIMP 2.99 I selected image> colour management> softproof profile and 'select colour profile from disk' in the 'new colour profile' dialogue dropdown. I was then able to apply 'US web uncoated v2'.
Finally, I exported a png to retain transparency, and stored it in my IS folder. I repeated this for every layer so that I had all the elements of my book cover as images.
Stay with me guys, we're on the last leg!
I installed and opened Scribus (here) and loaded in the pdf emailed from the IS template generator, then created layers above it for image, front, spine, back, and ISBN. It was simple to drop the images of each part I'd exported from GIMP into the relevant layer. I made sure the cover image was fitted to the template bleed limits (outer edge of the pink box).
Next step was to turn off the 'image' layer containing the cover image so I could see the template beneath and make sure all the other elements were within the safe areas (inside the pink boxes). Selecting the original template layer, I clicked the white ISBN box and right clicked, >send to layer> 'ISBN' (i.e. moving it from the template to my ISBN layer which overlays the cover image layer). Be careful to leave the ISBN in the same position as the template. I repeated this last step for the ISBN barcode image and turned the cover image layer back on. All looked good!
I hit > file > export > save to pdf and in the dialogue I set compatibility to PDF/X-1a, resolution for eps graphics as 300dpi, and maximum image resolution to 300dpi because IS flagged up an error for the original 600ppi setting when I submitted.
I had an issue with blurry txt on my back cover so I re-created the blurb in a Scribus text frame. Because it was text I had to ensure I selected 'Embed or Subset' in the fonts tab of the output dialogue (IS requirement). As I recall, Scribus then automatically selected the fonts present.
All that remained was to hit Save and then rename the cover and text files per the IS file creation guide. In my case it was ISBN_txt.pdf and ISBN_cov.pdf (obviously replace 'ISBN' with your actual ISBN).
So I uploaded these two files to IS, got an error flag for the 600dpi resolution of my images which I corrected by setting the maximum image resolution (see above). I then re-submitted and the IS website software accepted the files. The following morning I had an email from Lightning Source saying the file was accepted and an e-proof awaited my approval. Once I checked it I approved and then when the book was on their system I ordered a hard copy as a 'real life' proof.
As I say, there may be easier ways and those of you who understand the technicalities might be able to add more detail, but I thought it worthwhile sharing this for other independent authors who may be struggling as I was.
Feel free to comment, and keep on reading!
Mark
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