kdp · skyscrapers books
Skyscrapers puzzle 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 skyscrapers book: 500 credits, from $3.30 in the big pack.
The sample book, as delivered
How every skyscrapers puzzle is checked
- Exactly one solution. A separate search, apart from the steps that make the puzzles, keeps for every row and column only the orders of its heights that its edge numbers allow, fills the grid square by square, 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 its edge numbers and starting heights, after it is made and again before it is printed. Easy puzzles need only the edge rules (a 1 puts the tallest building next to it, the highest number puts its line in order, a high number keeps tall buildings away from its end), the heights already placed in a row or column, and the heights with one place left. Medium ones may also test a whole row or column against its edge numbers, and use pairs: two squares of a line that share the same two heights. Every hard one needs more than the easy steps. A hard puzzle the easy steps can finish is never printed.
- The edge numbers carry it. Every edge number counts the buildings the solution shows from its side. Easy grids show all 20 of them; medium grids keep at least 18 of 24 and hard ones at least 21 of 28. A grid starts with at most 5 heights (4 at medium, 6 at hard).
- Full solutions at the back, with the grids and edge numbers drawn in grey so a solver can check each line at a glance.
What you choose
| Level | Easy (5 × 5 grids, every edge number shown), medium (6 × 6) or hard (7 × 7, every puzzle needs more than the easy steps) |
|---|---|
| Puzzles | 25 to 200 on 8.5 × 11 in large print; the form shows the range for each size and level |
| Large print | On by default: two puzzles to a page 8 in wide or more, one on smaller trims, edge numbers and starting heights of 16 pt or more. Regular print puts four on a page 8 in wide or more, two on smaller ones |
| 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 twelve others, so a series of yours looks like no one else’s |
| Cover layout | The puzzle above the title, the title above the puzzle, or the title on a card over the puzzle |
| Seed | The same seed and settings make exactly the same book again; left empty, every book is new |
Questions
What is a skyscrapers puzzle?
A number grid read as a city seen from above. Every row and column holds the heights 1 to 5 once (1 to 6 at medium, 1 to 7 at hard), one building in each square. A number outside the grid says how many buildings you see from there, looking along its row or column: a taller building hides every shorter one behind it. Most grids also start with a few heights in place. The book’s how-to page explains the rules with an example.
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 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 and layout for the series on the form, so its covers stand apart from other people’s.
Can skyscrapers 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.
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