I am at the point of going to the publisher (KDP) to begin the actual publishing process but I have a problem that I just don’t understand. I have set margins according to my best knowledge but I’m so afraid that they are off. From everything I read they might be. I understand the concept of gutters but I don’t understand why you wouldn’t just make the inside space larger why there’s two factors inside and gutters. What I have done to help myself is I took a book that was published by someone through KDP and I actually measured the space between the inside-most text and the edge of the paper which is glued inside the gutter. It was .875 in. The outside margin was .625. I used the .875 as my inside margin and .625 as my outside margin. Should I add even more by adding gutter or just leave the gutter at zero. It would seem to me that because of my measurements I’ve already included the gutter in that .875 figure. I hope I’m making this clear I really need help and this is so important to me. According to my physical measures and calculations this worked for this author beautifully in terms of what I can see visually in the presentation. But I have no idea as to what his numbers were in the custom margins. I tried to reach the author, but to no avail. Please help if you can. I enjoyed your videos --keep them coming.
Thank you for watching! I can certainly understand your concern about calculating accurate gutter margins. KDP is outside my wheelhouse, so I hesitate to offer any suggestions other than to contact a professional book formatter who can provide advice for physical books. I wish you all the best with your manuscript!
Is this only for the downloaded version of the application? I'm using the free version of Microsoft Word 365 in my browser rather than the app itself and there is no window that pops up under margins with an option to select Mirror Margins. I also can't find an option to view my writing as a book with pages side by side. Could anybody help me or redirect me to a video that uses the free online application rather than the downloaded desktop app?
