Custom Cover Upload Refused: Small dimensional error?

[WSC3]

Hey Keith,

I was referring to the crop marks that are part of the green background. They were chopping off part of my book well inside the dimensions I was given to work with. My book was stated as 18.72 x 12.50, so I assumed that those dimensions carried to the 100th decimal place were accurate. No reference was made to making an allowance for a border/gutter to keep free. The first time I realized that was when I got to the green background step. Not good.

Today, I just looked back at my cover in the wizard again. The crop marks are there again, but they're now completely outside of the cover itself entirely. They crop at exactly the edges of the book. What changed? There's no overlap onto the cover itself. Now I'm really confused. :?: Ideas?


Yep, I know that the spine text is usually at a right angle to my direction, but it seemed sorta different, so I went with it. My book is only 104 pages, so the spine will be narrow. Is the 1/8" overlap on each side or total?

[Keith Dixon]

Well when I look at one of my covers in the cover stage wizard, I see the crop-marks (little x's) indicating where the cover is likely to be cut. I uploaded a cover at the exact specification demanded by the wizard, and behind the green border I can see where my cover 'continues' outside of the crop marks. For example, the height of the book is 9 inches but the height of the cover I was asked to upload - when looked at in Adobe Reader - was 9.25 inches. So evidently cropping is being allowed for in the dimensions that are given to us for covers. And it does say in the Help pages that you have to keep text or important images more than (I think) 0.375" from the edge of the cover.

[jnisml]

If you purchase a publishing package from Lulu...I know that they handle problems with extra white space and formatting and they accept images for custom covers...But do they also allow you to upload an example book cover design for them to use when creating the cover.  I have the idea...I just don't have the time or technical resources to create it myself. 

[spiritwise]

The cover dimensions given on this KB article appear to be completely different to those supplied at the One-piece Cover step of the design wizard.

There is also a lack of clarity around what bleed/gutter size needs to be added - here's what the wizard tells me:

One-piece cover requirements:

• Your file must be a PDF, JPG, GIF, or PNG
• Spine width: 44.59 Postscript points wide (1.573 cm) (186 px)
• Spine begins 429 Postscript points (15.13 cm) (1788 px) from the left.
• Total cover width: 902.59 X 613 Postscript points (31.84 cm X 21.62 cm) (3761px X 2554px)
• If using an image, its resolution should be set to 300dpi

How much bleed do I add? Trial and error?

(Edit: probably should have put this in Covers, this thread came top in search results so thought it was the right place - will cross-post).

[Ken Anderson]

Quite often the KB gets it not quite right.

But the dimensions given in the One-Piece are always exact.

Don't try and be too clever or look for more than there is.

Just design to exact dimensions. Forget bleed or anything else, it's all taken care.

The only caveat is not to place any text within 0.5" of a cover edge.

[spiritwise]

Hi Ken,

Thanks for your reply! I see your point, but as there are assumptions (in the One-Piece cover wizard) I would still prefer if there was a bit more information on this topic in the KB.

The One-Piece cover wizard does seem to have some sort of bleed/gutter - there's a green high-lighted area on the tiny preview post-upload page.

(Most printers will insist on some amount of bleed, and so most designers with experience designing for print will be looking for it, which is another reason to have it explicitly listed)

Anyway, again, thanks for the reply, it's much appreciated!
Alastair.

[Ken Anderson]

Yes, the green border is the potential trim area.

I understand your comment regarding most printers but you have to remember that Lulu is for nunkies who have no real experience of of real printing.

For those who do I always recommend knocking up test prints to see the actual results as doing so is cheap and quick.