Dust Jacket Setup Guide

Because dust jackets are a single sheet of paper wrapped around the hardcover case of your book, the artwork should be created as a single spread.

Before constructing the cover file, please contact your account manager to determine spine width. Spine width will be determined based on the number of sheets and stock type used.

The “Page Height” and “Page Width” measurements in the guide below should be the dimensions of your inside pages plus adding 8mm to the height and 13mm to the width, e.g. if your inside pages are A4 portrait (210 x 297mm) then your front cover dimensions will be 223 x 305mm. Make sure to keep all important text and graphics at least 10mm away from the page edges.

The size of your flaps is a matter of taste, although most dust jacket flaps are approximately 1/3 to 1/2 the width of the cover.

As with your inside pages, you must include 3mm of bleed around the edge of your dust jacket that will be trimmed off.