Using the Cover Template
The template is your whole cover at its exact size: back cover, spine, and front cover side by side, with 0.125" of bleed on every edge. There is no press sheet in the file anymore. You design the cover, and we place it on the press sheet and add the trim marks ourselves.
The page size is unique to your book, because the spine width comes from your page count and paper type. A 6" x 9" book with 220 pages on white paper, for example, gets a page 12.68" wide: two 6" covers, a 0.43" spine, and 0.125" of bleed on each side.
Downloading the Template
Go to the Print Files tab of your book. In the "Cover Template" section, click Download Template.
The template is generated specifically for your book. If you change the page count, paper type, or trim size, download a new one, because the page size itself changes with the spine.
The Three Layers
Everything in the file that is not your artwork sits on one of three layers:
- Barcode Area – an empty box on the back cover showing where the ISBN barcode goes. We don't print one for you, so put your own there.
- Instructions – a short how-to on the front cover panel.
- Guides – the pink bleed zone, green safe area, dashed trim line, and spine lines.
You don't have to delete these. Any of three things works: delete them, hide them, or leave them underneath your cover artwork. What matters is that none of them sit above your artwork, because they are printed ink rather than markup that disappears on its own. Anything still visible above your cover art is printed on the finished book.
On a duplex cover, page 2's white strip down the middle has to stay blank, because the spine and side glue needs bare paper to hold.
Your ISBN Barcode
We don't print a barcode on your cover for you, so it has to be in the file you send us. On the Print Files tab, click Download Barcode next to Download Template. You get a PNG of your book's ISBN barcode at 600 DPI, black on white, already the size of the box on the template. Place it in that box.
The button stays disabled until the book has an ISBN. If you are only ordering your own copies you don't need one, and your artwork can simply cover the box.
Designing Your Cover
- 1. Open the template PDF in your design software (InDesign, Photoshop, Affinity, Canva Pro)
- 2. Design your artwork on top of it, covering the page edge to edge – the outer 0.125" is bleed that gets trimmed off
- 3. Keep text and anything important inside the green safe area
- 4. Put your barcode in the box on the back cover, and make sure the three layers are deleted, hidden, or underneath your artwork
- 5. Export as a print-ready PDF at the same page size, with fonts and CMYK profiles embedded
- 6. Upload that PDF on the Print Files tab
Don't scale the page, crop it, or place it on a larger page. The exported PDF should be exactly the size the template came as.
Importing into Photoshop
Photoshop flattens the template's layers into one image on import, so you can't delete them there. Cover every inch of the page with your artwork instead, and they go away. Note the spot the Barcode Area box marks before you paint over it, so you know where to drop your barcode.
On the "Import PDF" window, "Crop to" can stay on either Bounding Box or Media Box. The template's pink bleed runs right to the page edge, so both give you the same size. If your page does come in smaller than it should, choose Media Box.
Exporting from Canva
In Canva, download your cover file as a Print PDF and select the CMYK color profile in the download options. The exported PDF should stay at the template's page size.
Important Tips
- A cover built on another printer's template (Ingram, KDP) can be uploaded as-is. Check the spine on your proof, since our paper thickness can differ slightly and that shifts where the spine falls.
- Use CMYK color profile, not RGB
- Use images at 600 DPI minimum, 1200 DPI preferred for best print quality
- Embed all fonts in the exported PDF
Cover File Examples
The Print Files tab includes visual examples showing what a correctly formatted cover file looks like versus an incorrectly formatted one. A correct upload is nothing but your artwork, edge to edge.