The front and back cover hold the pages that make up the book together. Because print books come in many shapes and trim sizes we need a way to communicate with the printer. Otherwise all pages could come out different sizes. Let’s say a publisher needs a book trim size to be 10 inches in height by 10 inches in width. The book will be printed and cut to be exactly that by the printshop. But it is the publisher’s job to give printer art in the same trim sizes as what their asking for. It is very important the cover is not bigger or smaller than the trim size. in this case 10 in by 10 in (10″ x 10″). Otherwise the beautiful cover art will cut off at the paper’s edges.
Today we have print-on-demand. a POD book can be ordered a customer online at Barnes & Noble. A printshop can print that one book for customer. It is a very precise job. If you have ever worked with a printshop before, then you know remembering all the specific measurements in a graphics software, setting them just right, then saving it in the correct file extensions to send to the printer can be a lot to handle. Especially for someone not familiar with it. A book cover template is designed to make it easier for artists. That is because you just open it up in your graphics app then stretch the book cover art to the edges of the of the template. There is no need to be a professional printer to know how.
Ingrampsark and some other online resources provides a free book cover template. IngramSpark’s comes with a bar code- a scan-able version of the ISBN printed on the back of books. They offer bar codes when you use their free Book Cover Template Generator. You need to fill in the ISBN, trim size, page count, and price (optional) metadata information and have it emailed to your inbox.
My new title, the book cover I designed for print: front, back, and spine to be a trim size of 6×9 in. I set up book cover in the IngramSpark Book Cover Template within bleed. I insured that no important information gets cut off when printed.
Working With Your Freelance Artist?
You will send all the trim size information to place on the front, back and spine. They will set it all up for you and send back the files, including the layered source file from Photoshop.
Files from the design artist:
Print book files: 1 exterior (book cover) PDF
The original layered files: Photoshop PSD (depends which graphic software used)
Reminder: print book color mode in CMYK mode
In conclusion always refer to the file creation guide from the website of the specific self-publishing company or platform you are having distribute your book.