Top-quality spot UV coated cover school softcover or paperback book printer.

Softcover / Perfect Bound Cover Artwork Setup Guide

Because we take a single sheet and wrap it around the rest of your pages to create your cover, perfect bound / softcover book covers should be created as a single spread.

The "Page Height" and "Page Width" measurements in the guide below should be the same as the inside pages of your book.

Next, you'll have to accommodate for your book's spine.

Finally, as with your inside pages, you should include 0.125 inches of bleed around the edge of your design that will be trimmed off.

Important Note:

Because the book block is glued into the cover, perfect bound books have 10 millimeters of area on their inside covers that will be glued to the first (and last) inside page.

This means that all artwork on the inside covers, the first inside page, and the last inside page should be kept at least 10 millimeters away from the spine.

Cover:

Spine:

Inside pages:

Spot UV coating:

FAQ:

1. What is perfect binding?

In perfect binding (also known as softcover binding), pages are folded, gathered, sewn, and glued into a cover to form a squared-off spine.  Perfect binding is the preferred binding method for graphic novels, trade paperbacks, softcover children's books, catalogs, literary journals, and quarterly magazines.

2. How is it made?

In traditional perfect binding, sheets are printed, folded, and assembled into their proper page order.  From there, the side of the book block is cut off, and the pages are glued into a cover to form a squared-off spine.

However, this methodology leads to perfect bound books that don't open flat, and with pages that can fall out over time.

We use a more sophisticated method, where instead of cutting the book block, the pages are smyth sewn together before being glued into the cover.  This methodology provides a far more durable finished product, since the pages are both sewn and glued, and the books can open much flatter, so much less content is lost in the gutter between pages.

3. What are its design considerations?

It's important to note that because the book block is glued into the cover, perfect bound books have 10 millimeters of area on their inside covers that will be glued to the first (and last) inside page.

This means that all artwork on the inside covers, as well as the first and last inside page, should be kept at least 10mm away from the spine.

Cover Design: Because perfect bound projects have a spine width that varies based on number of pages and paper weight, every perfect bound cover has different size requirements.  You can use our perfect binding cover layout guide to design your cover.

4. How long does their production time need?

After being sent to press, perfect bound projects take 7-10 days to manufacture, after which they are shipped out to you via your chosen shipping method. The final delivery time is determined by your proofing and shipping options