To create a cover you need the right measurements first. With the cover creator below you put together a print-ready cover at gross format in a few steps: you enter your book specification, we add the spine width and bleed, and you see straight away how the whole thing looks.
Want to create a cover for your book without opening a layout program? This tool calculates the complete gross format and lets you compose your cover directly.
Cover creator: gross format
Book specification
Spine settings (advanced)
Design
Preview at gross format
Create a cover: what you need to know
A cover always consists of one continuous surface: back cover, spine and front cover, in that order. The spine depends on the number of pages and the interior paper, and its width has to be calculated before you design anything. Then add 3 mm of bleed all round, and for a hardcover a turn-in of about 15 mm that folds behind the boards.
Position the spine title with its real width in mind. Below about 6 mm, vertical text becomes hard to read and is often better left out. Also keep any important element at least 5 mm away from the spine folds, so it does not tip onto the spine after finishing.
Tips for a cover that works
A good cover stays readable at small size, because most readers will first see it as a thumbnail. Test your design by shrinking it to the size of a stamp: if the title is still identifiable, the contrast is right. Work in CMYK rather than RGB, and use images of at least 300 dpi at actual print size.
Finally, think about the back cover, which is often neglected. It usually carries a short blurb, perhaps a quote, the publisher logo and a white space at the bottom right for the ISBN barcode if you are selling the book through bookshops.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to know the spine width in advance?
No, the tool calculates it for you from the number of pages and the interior paper. You can also enter it manually if we have already given it to you.
What does «gross format» mean?
It is the complete format of your cover file, including bleed and turn-in, so larger than the finished book. That is the format you should supply.
Can I use this tool for a hardcover?
Yes. Select «Hardcover» and the calculation automatically includes the board thickness, the hinge and the turn-in.
How the cover creator works
You start with your book specification: format, page count, paper and binding. The spine width follows from those, because a 200-page book on heavy paper gets a thicker spine than the same book on thin paper. The creator adds the bleed and shows the gross format: the area your cover actually has to fill. You then place your design and see in the preview where the folds will fall.
Why the gross format matters
A cover is always printed larger than the finished book and trimmed afterwards. That extra edge is the bleed, 3 mm all round here. If your background or photograph does not run into that edge, a white strip can remain after trimming. Keep important elements such as the title, your name and a logo at least 5 mm away from the trim line, and let backgrounds run right out to the edge of the gross format.
Create a cover for hardcover or softcover
The binding decides how your cover is built. On a softcover the cover is a single sheet folded around the inner block and glued at the spine. On a hardcover the printed sheet is folded around board, which adds a turn-in that disappears on the inside. If you only need the spine width, use the spine width calculator.
Supplying your cover
Work in a program that handles bleed and CMYK, such as InDesign, Affinity Publisher or Scribus. Export your cover as a PDF with embedded fonts and images of at least 300 dpi; Adobe explains how in its guide to PDF export. The full specifications are under supplying files.