Derick Venter is catching book errors before Amazon KDP does

Derick Venter builds from Plettenberg Bay, and his tool manu2print does one job well. In his words: "manu2print checks your book before Amazon KDP does." A self-publisher uploads their PDF, and within a few minutes it shows what's wrong: text too close to the edge, the wrong page size, missing bleed, or fonts that won't print. Amazon rejects books for these small mistakes, and as Derick puts it, "you usually only find out after uploading and waiting."

Twelve tries at one journal

Derick has published 8 books on Amazon KDP himself. The first was a simple journal, and it didn't go through on the first try. "Every time I'd upload the PDF, wait, get it back with another layout error, fix it and try again." Each book got easier, but he saw that every self-publisher hits the same wall, and nobody was catching the errors before the upload.

So he built the tool he wished he'd had. It took 7 months, on an old 8 GB laptop, building with AI tools like Cursor. "I'm not a trained programmer. I'm someone who failed that upload enough times to know exactly what to check."

He's honest about how it started. "Honestly, the first version was a mess." He had a clear picture of what he wanted, but knew nothing about coding and was still learning how to ask AI for it. He had used ChatGPT to help with his books, then kept seeing videos of people building things and thought: let's give this a shot. His first user was himself, running his own books through it. That was over two years ago, and he has been building ever since.

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"I'm someone who failed that upload enough times to know exactly what to check."

Derick picked the Ubuntu ring, and he explains it simply: "I build things to make people's lives easier and simpler." Plenty of people want to see their book published but give up because of the rejections and the technical side. manu2print is there so other writers don't have to go through that, "and don't quit."

The harder part

Since launch, the hardest thing has been getting found. "Writers don't search for 'PDF checker'. They search for answers after Amazon rejects their book." So he is rebuilding the site around the questions writers actually ask, with free tools on each page. "Building I've learnt. Marketing I'm learning now."

It's a solo road from Plett. "At 66 there are no jobs for me here," he says, and after losing everything during COVID he has been rebuilding ever since. He puts in 12 to 18 hours a day learning, building and researching. "There are days of real frustration when I want to quit, but I don't."

Derick thinks most builders get stuck at the same place he did: they aren't marketers. His answer is small teams, "almost like a military unit: a front-end builder, a back-end builder and a good marketer, sharing the vision and the profits." He'd love to see a pool of South African builders who can form teams like that, which is partly why he's on the co-founder board.

What he needs now:

• Indie authors and self-publishers to run a book through manu2print and say honestly what's missing
• Someone who knows marketing to self-publishers
• A team to join, or paid build work, because he can take an idea to a working website or tool fast

"I'd rather build something real with good people than keep going alone."