Self-publishing Tip-of-the-month
There’s more than just printing your work that you need to consider before
you get your book on a store shelf. For example, have you considered the detail
of your book cover?
This month we detail the 8 easy steps for you to follow to prepare your cover
before you go to print.
Step 1: Designing your cover
You know that old saying “you can’t judge a book by its cover”?
Well, whilst there may be some truth in it, you really must consider the
importance of your cover as a marketing tool.
The cover is the first thing a prospective buyer looks at. Usually a quick
glance at the front and back covers is what the purchase decision is made
on. Studies show that on average a cover is looked at for 3 to 4 seconds
before the consumer moves on, so it really needs to grab attention!
So put some considerable time and thought into your cover. An interesting
cover isn’t a guarantee of success but it helps attract attention!
Unless you have a design background and are confident and competent in
cover design it is probably well worth having a graphic designer work with
you. This is a decision you will need to make depending upon the market
your book is destined for!
Step 2: The back cover
Although the front cover helps to grab the attention of a prospective buyer,
the blurb on the back needs to be succinct yet descriptive enough to appeal
to your target readers.
A testimonial or review from a respected critic on your topic can also add
to the marketing of your book by adding credibility to your work.
Step 3: The spine
Most books spend their lives with their spines facing outward, so it is important
that the spine carries sufficient information to make it easily identifiable
from other titles on the bookshelf. Typically, a spine will have the title,
author and publisher’s logo.
Images on spines are usually reserved for a book of reasonable thickness, so
that the detail can be read.
The spines that work the best use a background colour (or image) to wrap around
the entire book, or at least a few millimetres beyond the fold of the spine
(or scores).
The calculation of the spine width is based on the thickness of the paper (not
the weight) and the number of pages in your book. Even then, a slight allowance
must be made for minor variations in the thickness of the stock, regardless
of weight and type. Therefore, be aware that a spine with a solid colour or
image designed to fit exactly to the spine measurement is more likely to end
up with some spine wrap on the front or back cover.
Always check your spine width with your sales executive or customer service
representative before submitting final cover files and make sure you are
using the final page extent, as any change to the extent could have a flow
on effect to the positioning of the spine.
Of course if your book is to be saddle stitched it won’t have a spine.
We do not perfect bind a book with a spine of 4mm or less.
Step 4: Print options
For low print runs (under 500 copies), your best option is to print using
our digital colour press. This is a four-colour process machine and means
that in your design you are restricted to using the four process colours – CMYK
(Cyan (C), Magenta (M), Yellow (Y), Black (K)) – instead of solid
PMS colours. Digital printing does not allow for additional embellishment
processes
such as foiling and embossing.
If a solid PMS colour or the use of embellishments is an important feature
of your book, you will need to have your covers printed offset. Keep in mind
that this process will add significantly to the print cost and it will also
delay the delivery of your books by a few extra days.
Step 5: Cover formats
To assist you in setting up your cover we have provided format examples
for you to use as a guide (see the pdf’s below).
Any images that are important to the design and do not bleed, or are important
information (such as a barcode), should be kept 3-5mm from the trim and
the fold of the book’s spine.
To get an idea of the space you have to work with, you can print the following
format examples to actual size by setting the page scaling to ‘none’ and
print on A3 landscape, preferably in colour.
A Format book cover – 181
x 111mm
B Format book cover – 198 x 128mm
B+ Format book cover – 210
x 135mm
A5 Format book cover – 210
x 148.5mm
C Format book cover – 234
x 153mm
Step 6: Bleeds on the cover
A bleed allows an image (or colour) to run off the cover
(or printed page). This is created because the sheet used to print on is
bigger
than the final trim size of the book.
Using this extra space on covers to bleed your images means that you
don’t end up with unwanted white edges which may result, given
that a small margin of tolerance is needed for the manufacturing process.
You need to make an allowance for this bleed, and if you refer to the
templates we’ve provided, you will see that this bleed allowance
is indicated.
Let’s assume you have a background colour that you want to bleed
off. Make sure you increase the size of that background (or image)
by 5mm beyond the trim marks in your cover file (see templates). This
way you’ll end up with a great looking cover, with no white space
(unless of course you want white space), that provides allowance for
that little bit of movement through the binding and trimming process.
Do not confuse the bleed of your background colour or image with text
or images that are a key requirement to your cover. To ensure any key
element does not get trimmed off, we recommend you do not place any
text within 5mm of the trim.
Step 7: Image file sizes
Images should be between 150 to 300 DPI for the best effect.
Step 8: Finding the book
If you are planning on printing more than a few copies of your book,
you will need to setup an ISBN and a barcode to help your target readers
locate your book.
An ISBN is an International Standard Book Number and is a unique 10-digit
number which ensures that your book can be identified throughout the
world. In 2006 the ISBN starts its migration to a 13 digit number.
The ISBN is necessary for selling your book through booksellers and
distributors. Without this number, it will be extremely difficult for
consumers to locate your title.
In Australia THORPE-Bowker manages the allocation of ISBN’s in
Australia. To apply for your ISBN contact:
THORPE-Bowker
Locked Bag 20, Port Melbourne VIC 3207
Tel (03) 9245-7385, Fax (03) 9245-7393
E-mail isbn.agency@thorpe.com.au
Web site www.thorpe.com.au
To make the ISBN easy for the book trade to use, you must convert it
to a barcode – it will make life easy for the bookseller when
they need to stock (and hopefully re-stock) your book!
The ISBN and the barcode need to be positioned on the cover and are
typically on the bottom right-hand side of the back cover, near the
spine. Make sure the ISBN sits above the barcode and that you leave
a “quiet zone” of 2mm around the barcode where no image
interferes with the scanning.
It is advisable to set the barcode up in black on white only, and not
out of process colours, as any slight print imperfection may mean that
the barcode cannot be read.
Cover checklist
So these are all the things that you need to consider when you print
your book. Here is a checklist to run through.
1) Do you have the correct trim size in your cover file?
2) Is your cover set up as CMYK?
3) Have you checked the spine width is correct?
4) Have you allowed the correct amount of bleed?
5) Have you setup an ISBN and Barcode? Check that the ISBN is the same
as that in the imprint page?
6) Have you used the correct settings to create a PDF? Talk to your
sales executive or customer service representative and make sure you
get a copy of our requirements for creating a PDF!
If you have any questions feel free to contact one of our Griffin
sales executives.
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