Book Cover Size
The book’s cover is a separate file from the book block. The book’s cover should not be the first and last pages of the book block. The cover will print in its entirety (back, spine, front) on a single sheet of landscape-oriented 17" x 11" paper. This paper will then wrap around the book block, and the excess will be trimmed off. Ultimately, the components of your cover include:
- Front Cover: The front cover should be the same size as your trim size plus bleed room.
- Back Cover: The back cover should be the same size as your trim size plus bleed room.
- Spine: The spine should be the same height as your trim height plus bleed room. The spine width depends on the number of pages in your book. To calculate your spine width use the following formula: # of pages ÷ 434 = spine width in inches
- Bleed: During the printing/binding process, covers can shift slightly. To allow for this shifting, we recommend that you extend your cover image by .13" to .25" on all sides of the combined cover.
- Page Background: All covers should be centered on a landscape 17" x 11" page.
This is an example of the cover layout for a 6" X 9", 200 page book:
