Setting Up Covers

[lynda Stevens]

I need to design a cover for 6 ,x 9 inch book. So, in the  cover document set-up, I put in 6 x9 inches for the dimension with Bleed of 0.125 on all sides. The Master showed the bleed but the size of the whole document is 6 X 9 inches including the bleed. Does this mean that, when doing covers the dimension needs to be set at 6.25 X 9.25 inches? Thanks.

[Alfred]

4 hours ago, lynda Stevens said:

The Master showed the bleed but the size of the whole document is 6 X 9 inches including the bleed.

To check whether the displayed document size includes the bleed (which it shouldn’t do) draw a 6″ × 9″ rectangle and try to position it on the page without having it spill over the edges.

[Bad_Wolf]

I agree with Alfred; it is a bad idea to include the bleed in your page dimensions. A better way is to in Document Setup, put the actual page dimensions and in the Bleed section, set the bleed for all sides.

Chris

[KarinC]

Usually you have the front cover, back cover and spine all in one document. It will be larger than the actual size because it will be trimmed. You should be able to get a template from the publisher which will have the width and height and the depth of the spine depending on the number of pages.

[lynda Stevens]

Thanks for your replies. For this book, it is coil bound , so there is no spine. In Document Set Up I did enter 6 X 9 and then entered Bleed of 0.125 on each side. But the master showed a size of 6 X 9 including the bleed-I measured it with a ruler. I will try doing the set up again today and see if I get the same result. I assumed that the bleed should be added onto the 6 X 9 but that is not what happened.

[Atticus]

I'd also like to know this!

First time self-publishing on KDP (my father's book). Thought I would try and play around with cover designs in AffPub. Total word count not yet available so cannot set an accurate spine measurement. He wants a 6 x 9" book, but obv need to include bleed around the edge.

Any help appreciated!

[KarinC]

When you know the page count you can get the template from KDP with all the measurements for bleed, margin, spine, etc. You can play around with the design in the meantime. You will need to make some adjustments when you are ready to create the final version. It ends up being pretty easy.