Book cover settings using Affinity

[mdesigns]

I am creating a photobook and I am now working on the book covers. I am a complete beginner.

(1) Do you recommend Publisher or Designer to create the book cover (front, back, spine)?

(2) From the tutorials I am watching, they recommended downloading the Amazon KDP book cover template from here: https://kdp.amazon.com/cover-calculator. I am stuck with the Interior Trim Size measurements.

Please see my Affinity Publisher V2 document settings screenshots and the KDP output as well. Have I done everything correctly - the book layout on Publisher and entering the right info into the KDP calculator?

I have a total of 160 pages of which 155 pages are photos and 4 pages are written content. The Dimensions of the book use a Page Preset of Letter with Dimensions of 8.5 in x 11 in. I am looking at soft cover book at the moment.

(3) What dimensions should I have for the book cover document?

Thanks for your help!

[Twolane]

I use Photo for my covers, but I have all three programs. I think Designer would be a better choice if you only have Publisher and Designer. (I would add that I have never published a book with photos. I prepare POD books with text-only interiors, and the occasional B&W image prior to the main body of text.)

1) Page-turn direction should be set to Left to Right, as evidenced by the positioning of the barcode on your reference image. The barcode should show on the back page of the cover. Change that setting and you will get a correct reference image. As it stands now, you will end up with a barcode on the front cover, and all the work you do on the image and title will appear on the back.

2) Color format for a cover should be set to CMYK. This setting is for both Amazon and Ingram Spark.

3) Your Interior trim size of 8.5x11 for the Amazon cover guide is correct.

The remainder of your settings for Amazon cover output are correct.

As to your Publisher setting for Margin/Inner, you might think about a slightly larger inner margin setting. 0.5 is rather small, considering that is where the page binding occurs. Try 0.75. I will add, as mentioned earlier, I have never done a photo book. I publish text-only POD books, which is another way of saying that 0.5 might work perfectly for your product.

Once you have uploaded your cover and book interior, you get a chance to review your efforts before hitting the publish button on Amazon. Since this is your first, I suggest you review your 160-page prepub document on the Amazon site carefully before hitting publish. If there are errors, Amazon will notify you.

You will get an opportunity to order author copies. I suggest picking up at least one to review your final published product. If you are satisfied, order more for family and friends, or make changes and re-upload.

 

[mdesigns]

Thank you so much Twolane! Your detailed explanation has helped me so much. Much appreciated.

1) It was my first time using the Calculator and I completely ignored the preview which shows where the barcode is! I see what you mean and have changed accordingly.

2) I chose RGB because a YouTube tutorial recommended it, else Amazon has issues when it is uploaded in CMYK, but they change it to CMYK anyway at their end it seems. Hmmm.

3) That's great. So, the trim size is always the document dimensions?

4) Margins - Will change to 0.75. But how do you calculate/visualize what is the right margin and bleed?

Will do everything else as you say and see how it goes. I will report back here.

[mdesigns]

Question: For the book cover setting - do I choose the below to get the front cover, back cover, and the spine?

 

 

[mdesigns]

I think my last message with the book cover settings is wrong. 

Looking at the KDP template downloaded, I should be either using dimensions 17.616" x 11.250" or 8.5" x 11". Which one would it be? 

Also, I would just use 1 page and no Facing Pages.

Basically, I am importing the KDP download into my Publisher project as a layer, and then starting another layer over it where I will place my content. That way, everything is aligned.  I am using this YouTube tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGx6P9FmBeA

[thomaso]

16 minutes ago, mventures said:

For the book cover setting - do I choose the below to get the front cover, back cover, and the spine?

Since Affinity allows in a spread 2 pages only (and identical dimensions for all pages in a spread) it isn't helpful to use facing pages for the cover.

Instead create a single page with the total dimensions (left + right page + spine width) and set the bleed as required. Use guides (ruler) or simple rectangle shapes as layers (locked) to mark the three areas during the layout process.

[mdesigns]

Hi @thomaso, Do I use the "Overall Dimensions" seen in the KDP template above or the exact dimensions of the book? 

Choosing Overall didn't look correct. My photobook is a portrait, so I assume I go with 8.5x11. But then what does the Overall Dimensions stand for?

[Twolane]

She's over-analyzing. Place or open your Amazon template in Publisher, if that is what you are going to use to lay out your cover. There is no need to futz with or make any manual measurements as to what your document will size out to. The cover template you loaded is all you need. It is the correct document size already.

"I am importing the KDP download into my Publisher project as a layer" - Yes. You place your photos, text, &c. overtop as additional layers.

Rather than turning your template on and off, you can change the opacity of your Amazon cover template to better view what you are working on and how your final product will align with the template. That will work if your Amazon template is at the very top of your layer stack. Don't forget to Toggle Visibility before flattening the .jpg output.

I don't work with bleed. I leave those settings as is. However, if you want your images outside of your page margins, it may be a concern.

With an inner margin setting of 0.75, the other three stay at 0.5. It sounds as though you have set up/imported your document in Publisher for .5/.5/.5/.5 already. If that is the case, it is a major hassle to change to a 0.75 inner margin given how that will affect your document display. Leave it at 0.5 and see how that works.

[mdesigns]

Thanks for watching the video!

I think I have it sorted - I went with the Overall Dimensions seen in the KDP Template, chose 1 page, no facing and imported the PNG KDP template. It fitted perfectly.

Regarding margins - I have it all as 0.75 because I started a new project.

Bleed - The image I am using takes over the full front cover and for the back, I may use a block color or another image. Should I not use bleed in this case? I was planning to place the image and just drag fully over the page.

[Twolane]

No bleed concerns required for the cover. The template does it all for you. Just open or place your image and size it accordingly. Quite often I am able to re-size/drag an oversize image to cover both front and back covers accordingly. That makes it a lot simpler and better-looking, although I have also done as you suggest with a suitable color for the back cover.

Refer back to your original post of your cover. Bleed is explained there, and you have no need to do anything other than to match the image with your photos and text inside the appropriate boxes. The outside pink color boundary is what you must align your image to. The black solid line is what they will trim your cover image to after Amazon prints it.

I struggled with Publisher for a bit with the learning curve. I'm glad I persevered. Carry on!

Don't forget you can save your project as a template for future work.

[Twolane]

I went with the Overall Dimensions seen in the KDP Template, chose 1 page, no facing and imported the PNG KDP template. It fitted perfectly

You don't have to do that. Load the KDP cover template in directly. It is the only thing you need to begin work on your cover. It is of the correct dimensions already. Loading another page to put it on or place isn't necessary.

[thomaso]

30 minutes ago, mventures said:

Choosing Overall didn't look correct. My photobook is a portrait, so I assume I go with 8.5x11. But then what does the Overall Dimensions stand for?

Apart from the dashed line that indicates Facing Pages (which wouldn't be useful for the cover): Don't trust the preview. Just confirm the dialog + check the created document with the rulers or extra rectangles created on the page with the Transform Panel.

There are known issues (logged bug?) for V2 in a dialog window of document properties that confuses the user with wrong or unclear dimensions and page orientation.

[mdesigns]

My photos in my 2 projects ( photobook and book cover) are on my external drive. After I disconnected the USB drive last night and reopened the Publisher this morning, a pop-up message appeared about locating the missed resource, namely the images.

So, Affinity Publisher doesn't import the image into the document after it's placed on it? Is this because of the Linked image setting?

I think this could be a problem if the photos in the drive are ever damaged in the future. Should I be saving my work as "Save as package"?

[R C-R]

7 minutes ago, mventures said:

So, Affinity Publisher doesn't import the image into the document after it's placed on it? Is this because of the Linked image setting?

Yes. The alternative is to embed the images in the document.

[mdesigns]

Just now, R C-R said:

Yes. The alternative is to embed the images in the document.

How is this done? Is it another selection instead of Place?

[thomaso]

12 minutes ago, mventures said:

Is this because of the Linked image setting?

Yes. – You have various options to create copies of your data, "embedding" and "package" are just two Affinity options. (If wanted you can embed all resources with 1 click via the Resource Manager). Other options are 'local copy' or 'external backup'. Note that a package in the same folder / on the same volume may also get affected from data loss in case of issues with the volume or drive. So it is wise to use another hardware for safety copies, while a common file format may be more compatible in the future than a special file type like embedded in / packed as Affinity file.

[R C-R]

See for example the Embedding vs. Linking help topic for more about this.

[mdesigns]

2 minutes ago, R C-R said:

See for example the Embedding vs. Linking help topic for more about this.

Thanks for the link!
One of the sentences on it says:

"It's good practice to keep your linked files in a subfolder within your documents folder. Not only does it keep your images in one place for easier management, but if you move your project to a new location, the links to your files will always be maintained."

> Is that referring to a subfolder externally (drive, computer)?

[mdesigns]

9 minutes ago, thomaso said:

Yes. – You have various options to create copies of your data, "embedding" and "package" are just two Affinity options. (If wanted you can embed all resources with 1 click via the Resource Manager). Other options are 'local copy' or 'external backup'. Note that a package in the same folder / on the same volume may also get affected from data loss in case of issues with the volume or drive. So it is wise to use another hardware for safety copies, while a common file format may be more compatible in the future than a special file type like embedded in / packed as Affinity file.

So, images can be imported into the Resource Manager? Is that done via File > Import Content?

[thomaso]

2 minutes ago, mventures said:

So, images can be imported into the Resource Manager?

If I understand right you already have imported the images – that's why they now can be reported as 'missing'.

As soon you place an image (or PDF or Affinity document etc) resource it gets either embedded or linked, according to your document setting. Once it got placed it appears as an entry in the Resource Manager. There you can toggle between 'linked' and 'embedded', can relink to another resource folder or replace a selected resource with another of same file type. The Affinity Help probably lists more details.

[R C-R]

11 minutes ago, mventures said:

> Is that referring to a subfolder externally (drive, computer)?

Well, it might be possible to use an external source but it is good practice not to, at least unless you can absolutely guarantee that those sources will always be available to the computer you are using for your work 100% of the time.

So in short, don't do that!

[mdesigns]

13 hours ago, mventures said:

2) I chose RGB because a YouTube tutorial recommended it, else Amazon has issues when it is uploaded in CMYK, but they change it to CMYK anyway at their end it seems. Hmmm.

On this point I made yesterday, is it OK to leave that as it is for export (as PDF) and upload to KDP?
If changing to RGB is better, is it OK to change it now once the project is complete and before export?

[mdesigns]

14 minutes ago, mventures said:

On this point I made yesterday, is it OK to leave that as it is for export (as PDF) and upload to KDP?
If changing to RGB is better, is it OK to change it now once the project is complete and before export?

A Google search led me to the KDP community where this is said:
"CMYK is best for print. If the file you uploaded was RGB, then KDP converted it to CMYK to print it. Although CMYK is "best" for printing, many digital presses are set up to accept RGB"

But in the same post, someone else has explained in detail why RGB is better for his coffee table book. Mine is similar to his also.

https://www.kdpcommunity.com/s/question/0D52T000059sGqrSAE/picture-book-colour-quality?language=en_US