kdp · crossword books
Crossword puzzle books for KDP, ready to upload
Each puzzle is a crossword on one theme, from birds to board games: a grid of numbered squares and its clues across and down, every answer from the theme printed above the grid. Pick the level, the number of puzzles and the trim size. You get the interior PDF with every answer, 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 crossword book: 500 credits, from $3.30 in the big pack.
The sample book, as delivered
How every crossword is checked
- The grid holds its answers and nothing else. A separate program reads every run of letters back from the finished grid, across and down, and checks that the runs are exactly the puzzle’s answers, numbered in reading order, that the grid is one piece and that letters touch only where two answers cross.
- Clues read three times. Each clue was written for its answer in its theme’s sense (a crane among birds is a bird, not a machine). Rules then check every clue: never the answer or a word that shares its root, two to eight words, American spelling. A second, separate review read each clue again for wrong facts and for other words of the same length that fit as well, and every clue it changed was read once more.
- No giveaways. No clue names another answer of its own grid, and two words no clue can tell apart, such as sequoia and redwood, never share a grid.
- No answer twice in a book. Once a word has been an answer, no later puzzle in the book uses it, so a theme comes back only with new words.
- Full answers at the back: every grid filled in, four to a page on the bigger trims.
What you choose
| Level | Easy (up to 14 answers of 3 to 7 letters, plain clues), medium (up to 18 answers of up to 10 letters, about a third of the clues harder) or hard (up to 22 answers of up to 12 letters, every clue a harder one: a use, a setting or a well known phrase) |
|---|---|
| Themes | 103 themes, a puzzle each, from birds and gardens to card games and castles; name your own, or leave it to the book. The Christmas and winter themes go in only when you pick them |
| Puzzles | 9 to 100 on 8.5 × 11 in large print, 16 to 100 in regular print; the form shows the range for each size and level |
| Large print | On by default: a spread a puzzle, the clues at 18 pt on the left-hand page and the grid on the facing page, its numbers at 16 pt. 7 × 10 in and larger |
| Regular print | One page a puzzle, the grid above its clues at 11 pt; every trim |
| Trim size | 6 × 9, 7 × 10, 8 × 10, 8.5 × 11 in or A4; white, cream or groundwood 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 fourteen others, so a series of yours looks like no one else’s |
| Cover layout | The grid above the title, the title above the grid, or the title on a card under the grid |
| Seed | The same seed and settings make exactly the same book again; left empty, every book is new |
Questions
What kind of crossword is it?
A themed crossword with a free shape: the answers cross one another like the words of a criss-cross puzzle, with no black squares to fill the gaps, and each one has a numbered clue. That makes them friendlier than a newspaper grid, where every square belongs to two answers, and still a real crossword: you read a clue, write the answer, and the crossings help with the rest.
Who wrote the clues?
The clues were drafted with an AI writing tool for this book maker, three for each theme word: two plain ones and a harder one. Every clue then passed the rules and a second, separate AI review, as above; which clues each puzzle gets is chosen by the program. listing.txt says this in the words KDP’s AI question needs, so you can answer it.
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, blank pages, 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 Christmas crossword book?
Yes. Tick the Christmas and winter themes on the form (one button ticks them all); the listing then gets Christmas keyword ideas. See also Christmas puzzle books.
Can crosswords go in a variety book?
Yes. Pick them with any of the other kinds on the form; they get their own page of rules and their own answers section, and in large print each one still opens as a spread.
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: how to make a crossword puzzle book · fill in books · word search books · word scramble books · logic grid books · variety books · large print puzzle books · KDP cover sizes