When submitting the PDF for my newest Sudoku book, Sudoku Atlantis, Create Space rejected the document with:

The images in the interior file extend to the edge(s) of the page. Full-bleed images should extend at least 0.125" beyond the book's trim line on the top, bottom and outer edges. Additionally, all text should be at least 0.25" away from the book's trim lines.

In terms of useful messages, this one isn’t. Notice how it doesn’t tell you where they think this problem or problems are occurring? It’s sort of like going to the doctor and being told “you’re sick, take some medicine.”

After filing a support request, I was told they had to contact their “technical” people. A few days later I was told the problem was associated with my answer section where I had black tabs extending to the bleed line with the word “Answer” appearing in them. I checked. And double checked. And finally figured out what happened.

 

Here’s the section of the page they rejected on the left and the one they later accepted on the right. In both cases the actual base of the text is more than 0.25" in from the edge of the page.

 

Rejected by Create Space
Accepted by Create Space

 

 

In both cases the baseline of the text is about 5/16" away from the edge of the page. I use InDesign CS 5 and what I had done was use a baseline offset to adjust the text reading “Answer” so it would be just within the required 0.25” away from the edge of the page. Some internal tool of Create Space is not smart enough to realize how this works and so (I’m assuming at this point) it raised a red flag saying that the text was too close to the margin.

It seems clear that no human being ever looked at the pages in question since it would have been easy to determine the text was not too close.

The solution was to make a new text box, well inside the 0.25” boundary with the text and adjust it to fit. The other alternative I considered and rejected was to make the entire black bar plus text be an image. Create Space would have accepted that, however I prefer to keep text in the InDesign document - it comes out sharper that way unless I use a very high resolution image which makes the PDF significantly larger.

When this PDF was submitted it was accepted – and the warning about images extending to the bleed line simply disappeared.

Summary

When presented with an error about text too close to trim lines, look for any text that may be adjusted away from the margin but where the text container extends too far. Do not assume that Create Space has actually verified the problem.