Cover Dimensions and Spine Size Calculator can be found here.
A Few things to keep in mind when building your hard cover:
- The cover bleed is 5/8", much bigger the interior pages
- The safe zone does not exist. Everything on the cover will be there
- The front and back covers will be slightly bigger than your page size (If the book is 8.5x11, the cover will be 8 5/8"x11 1/4")
- Feel free to place anything on the spine you wish, it will print just fine
- There is a hinge. It allows the hard cover to open and close without ripping the casewrap (printed cover) and it is part of the front & back covers.
Basic Layout for Hard Covers:
Centering the Front and Back Covers
Bleed the background across the
enter cover including the 5/8"
bleed and hinge
Center all the text and other objects from
the insde of the bleed and the inside
of the hinge
The Finished Hard Cover
Its very easy to get "lost" in all this design jargon about bleeds and safe zones so let's take a minute to visualize what your file will look like when it's a finished cover.
Cover file with bleeds, hinges, and the spine
The finished book. Notice the bleed is wrapped around to the inside of the cover and the hinge is part of the cover
