kdp · calcudoku books
Calcudoku books for KDP, ready to upload
Pick the level, the number of puzzles and the trim size. You get the interior PDF with every solution, the full wrap cover with the spine sized to the page count, and a signed check of both files against KDP’s paperback specs. One price for any calcudoku book: 500 credits, from $3.30 in the big pack.
The sample book, as delivered
How every calcudoku is checked
- Exactly one solution. A second program, written apart from the one that makes the puzzles, tries every way to fill every cage from its clue and finds exactly one finished grid: the one printed in the answers.
- Logic alone, no guessing. Each puzzle is solved again step by step from the cage clues alone, with no starting digits. Easy puzzles need only what each cage allows, in its own squares and along its rows and columns, and the digits that have one place left. Medium ones may also use pairs: two squares of a row or column that share the same two digits. Every hard one needs more than the basics, such as triples or two digits with only two places in a line. A hard puzzle the basic steps can finish is never printed.
- Clean cages. Every cage is one connected group of up to 4 squares. Products stay at three digits or fewer, so every clue fits its corner at full size. A puzzle has at most two one-square cages (one at medium and hard), the only clues that give a digit away.
- Full solutions at the back, each cage outlined in grey so a solver can check one cage at a glance.
What you choose
| Level | Easy (6 × 6 grids, mostly cages of 2 and 3 squares), medium (7 × 7, cages of 2 to 4) or hard (8 × 8, more cages of 4; every puzzle needs more than the basic steps) |
|---|---|
| Puzzles | 16 to 150 on 8.5 × 11 in large print; the form shows the range for each size and level |
| Large print | On by default: one puzzle to a page, cage clues of 16 pt. Regular print puts two on a page 8 in wide or more |
| Trim size | 6 × 9, 7 × 10, 8 × 10, 8.5 × 11 in or A4; white or cream paper |
| Title and author | Your title, subtitle and name or imprint, printed on the cover, the spine and the title page |
| Cover color | The kind’s own color, or one of ten others, so a series of yours looks like no one else’s |
| Seed | The same seed and settings make exactly the same book again; left empty, every book is new |
Questions
What is calcudoku?
A number grid with no starting digits. Every row and column holds the digits 1 to 6 once (1 to 7 at medium, 1 to 8 at hard). Bold lines cut the grid into cages, and each cage shows a number and a sign: its digits added (+) or multiplied (×) give that number; in a two-square cage, the larger digit minus (−) or divided by (÷) the smaller one. A digit may repeat inside a cage, but never in a row or column. The book’s how-to page explains the rules.
Will KDP accept the files?
Each book passes our check against KDP’s published paperback specs before you can download it: page size, page count, embedded fonts, margins and gutter for the page count, line weight, cover size and spine. If KDP still rejects the files within 30 days, the book’s 500 credits go back to your key.
Can I make a series?
Yes. One book per level with your series name in the title, or the same level with new puzzles in each volume: every book without a seed gets new puzzles. Pick a cover color for the series on the form, so its covers stand apart from other people’s.
Can calcudoku go in a variety book?
Yes. Pick it with any of the other kinds on the form; it gets its own page of rules and its own answers section.
What goes in the listing?
listing.txt in the ZIP has a title, subtitle, description, seven keyword ideas and the print options to pick on KDP. The preview folder has six images of real pages for your listing.
Also: sudoku books · killer sudoku books · kakuro books · variety books · large print puzzle books · KDP cover sizes