Hard Cover Layout
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

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Center all the text and other objects from the inside 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.
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Cover file with bleeds, hinges, and the spine |
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The finished book. Notice the bleed is wrapped around to the inside of the cover and the hinge is part of the cover |




