Amazon is not accepting my PDF.

[jtreagan]

I used TextMaker to typeset my manuscript. I used a *.tmdx file while doing the work. Then I exported the file as a standard PDF and uploaded that file to Amazon. After taking a really long time to process the file, Amazon rejects it with a message that says it ran into an error processing the manuscript. Is there a way to fix this? Has anyone else run into this problem?

[SuperTech]

Amazon rejects it with a message that says it ran into an error processing the manuscript.

Thanks for reporting this problem. Please share complete details like where exactly you uploaded the file, share the PDF and tmdx file with the screenshot of the error message which you received so that we can do a proper investigation of this problem.

[jtreagan]

Ok. Three files are attached. A fourth will follow as three is apparently the limit. This PDF was generated from the *.docx file. I had the same result when I generated from the *.tmdx file. I do the upload here:

https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/title-setu ... RJ/content

You have to have an author's account with KDP (Amazon) in order to access the upload dialog. I hope you can help.

[jtreagan]

Here is the error message:

[SuperTech]

Thanks for sharing the files and screenshot. For the privacy of your data, I have deleted the files from the post. We will check this problem and will update you about it.

[SuperTech]

Did you confirm with Amazon that the problem they mentioned in this specific PDF file and not in any other PDF, what are the specifics of the PDF document/format which they want, and did you try to upload any other PDF in which you are getting this problem?

[jtreagan]

Amazon is a little hard to work with. I haven't yet found a way to actually talk with a support person. The help I've been getting comes from the author community, not Amazon. Part of my frustration is that the error message doesn't give any specifics. I've just been guessing at what the problem is. One thing I did do is, using TextMaker and the same template I used on this book, created and formatted another book using a different text file. (I took some short stories I had written, concatenating them into one file.) I then exported it to PDF, created a new book on the Amazon site and uploaded that new file. It went fine. Then, still trying to track down the problem, I took my original text file, removed all the formatting (by pasting it into a text editor), then began formatting it and exporting to PDF after each tiny little step. Those PDF's went fine, too. I stopped that process when I realized that I had lost all my footnotes when I pasted everything into the text editor. I'm hoping you can track down the problem (or have helped someone else who is having the same problem). Rebuilding all the footnotes is a daunting task I really don't want to take on.

[jtreagan]

I heard back from Amazon's customer support and here is their reply:

Hello John,

Greetings from Kindle Direct Publishing.

Upon further review of your file, I saw that the reason for the interior error was not due to the formatting but rather due to the program used to create your PDF.

You will need to create your PDF using a different program. If you are using a word file you can convert it to PDF by using the steps below:

https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G202145060

Thank you for reaching out to KDP. If you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to get back into contact with us.

Can you fix this or should go to a different application to create my PDF?

[SuperTech]

While exporting the PDF please select PDF/A-1a in archiving on the PDF export dialog box as shown in this screenshot. Alternatively, instead of PDF Export, you can also try to print the file to PDF using any PDF printer like Windows default Microsoft print to PDF or FlexiPDF printer, etc.

[jtreagan]

I tried exporting to the PDF/A-1a format already. Didn't work. I just used TextMaker's print to file feature to create a new PDF and that was rejected as well. Clearly TextMaker is doing something to the file that makes it unacceptable. Correcting that is what I'm hoping you will be able to do.

Since I'm working on the Linux OS I don't have access to the tools you mentioned. Will do some more searching and perhaps something will come up.

I asked Amazon for more details about just what it is that is generating that error. Hopefully they will come up with something we can use to fix TextMaker, but I'm not holding my breath.

Let me know what you find out.

[SuperTech]

Thanks for trying that step but without complete information about why Amazon is rejecting the file, we also can't do much in this case. Please share further information whenever you get a response from Amazon.

[kgha]

Don't know if this might help, but:
Open your (rejected) pdf in your ordinary pdf reader (don't know which one you have - Evince, Okular, Atril...) and print to file as pdf.
Tried this with a TM-created pdf and noticed:
a) TM-created file shows pdf version 1.4 (Acrobat 5x), Atril-created file shows pdf version 1.5 (Acrobat 6x)
b) different file size: TM 487 KB, Atril 390 KB
Of course I've no idea if Amazon will accept such a file, but might be worth a try.

[SuperTech]

Please write an email to Amazon about the details of this error in the file or you can upload the *.docx format also which you can create from TextMaker ribbon command File | Save as | Select *.docx and save the document.

Without details of the error, we are also unable to investigate the problem.

[jtreagan]

Finally heard back from KDP. Here is what they said:

Our team investigated on the issue and informed us that the interior file contains corrupt data and will not successfully process as submitted. You will need to ensure that all fonts are fully embedded within the native interior file, and ensure that any layers or transparencies are fully flattened. The cover also contains unflattened transparencies that will need to be flattend in the native file.

Once both the interior and cover files have been revised, you will need to print to PDF in order to create a brand new interior PDF and cover PDF for upload.

Please see https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G202145060 for instructions on how to take this action.

Will that help you address this? I think TextMaker embedded all the fonts, so I don't see how that could be the issue and I really don't know what they are talking about with "layers" and "transparencies" and that they need to be "flattened". Oh, and I haven't even tried to upload the cover, so I have no idea what they are talking about with that one.

Thanks for your help.

[SuperTech]

Thanks for sharing the details sent by Amazon. I have forwarded all the details to our development team for further investigation of this problem.