On Friday 24 April 2009 10:09:03 am D. R. Evans wrote: > wingsgroup said the following at 04/24/2009 06:26 AM : > > These seems like it should be simple...but, how do I go > > about designing a book cover? How do I get the layout > > for the back and the spine? > > This is a lulu question, right? > > Assuming that the answer is Yes, then the lulu one-piece > cover manager will tell you the exact dimensions they > want for the cover, including the spine details. > > The one tricky part is that they require 0.25" of extra > size in both dimensions (presumably because of possible > errors when cutting the cover), which means that when you > design the cover you have to be prepared for that much > slop in where things are going to appear in the final > printed cover. In particular this means you have to be a > bit careful about text on the spine, and not let it be > too close to the edge. > > (FWIW, this slop is the one part of the entire lulu > process that I find very annoying and I wish there was > some way they could provide a way so you could submit a > cover and know *exactly* where everything was going to > appear.) > > If you have other lulu questions (again, assuming this is > a lulu question), it might be better to ask privately, > since it's a bit OT here. > > Doc
The "slop" is called bleed and is standard industry practice for all printers. Book trimming is not an exact science. The usual bleed, and the one I use/recommend is 1/8" (0.125) on all sides. This makes the book pdf 1/4" longer and higher in all dimensions, just as Lulu specifies. My template adds this bleed factor in automatically. Also, it makes sense to keep any text or graphic 1/4" away from the nominal boundaries of the cover. 0.125 +0.250 = 0.375 for margins (using 1.3.3.x or earlier.) Scribus will round this off to 0.380. There are lots of other hints which will be covered in my e-book. I hope to finish it by Monday. -- John Culleton Able Indexers and Typesetters http://wexfordpress.com
