How to Ensure Your Bleed and Cover Width Are Set Correctly for Print

[ali_4619]

Hi, I have nearly finished designing my first book and have had so much help in this community, I am very grateful. I am so close to getting this to the printers, which is very exciting. I would really appreciate if you could help me with what I think are my last steps to be sure it prints correctly. 

Firstly, could you please confirm I have set the cover width correctly. (I googled how to, so hopefully I have got it right). It has 40 inside pages and I plan to use 80gsm and a 250 to 300 gsm cover. Based on google, I have calculated 4mm width for the spine but would really appreciate your real life experience. 

Also, I am wondering if you can tell from looking at the screenshot below if I have set bleed up correctly. I set bleed to 3mm all round in the settings, as per what the printer asked for. But I did some dragging in the document itself. 

I want the whole document to have the green background but I’ve changed the colour of the back cover on left and spine for the screenshot below, just to show you where I’ve dragged past the bleed lines.  Do I have it right or do I need to do some more dragging. 

(Please note: I have no plans to sell this book at this stage - it's my Dad's childhood biography for the family - so I'm not trying to get free advertising here)!

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[Willi Adelberger]

The bleed frame is set up with the extended dialogue of File > Document Set up… or New Document.…

Thereiable wiidth of the required spine width you will get from your printer, not from a google calculator. With the same paper weight you might get different results as the thickness of the paper is not only influenced by the weight. 

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@ali_4619

Where exactly is your 4mm spine? 

[ali_4619]

Hi there - you're always so helpful. Thank you. Below is an updated view of the design (first without bleed visible then second with). I had set the spine to 4mm but when someone here mentioned it looked huge, I went back in and checked and it had reset itself to larger. So I made it 4mm again - see screenshots below. In the first screenshot below I've used page select to show you where the spine is. By doing this, I can see the spine won't be big enough to have the book title on it as someone mentioned, which is fine - I'll take it off. It will be perfect bound. Also, after posting here, I did what I should have thought of before - I removed the 2x separate backgrounds that I had (one on front cover and one across both back cover and spine). Then I put one frame across all three pages and applied the green background. I had done the backgrounds separately before as I designed the front cover first with the green background. So I think I'm all set now if I remove the title from the spine and ask the printer how many mm to make the spine. 

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Sd @Peter Spier suggested, be sure to check with your printer. It can be a costly mistake if the cover layout is not accurate. 

[Eugene Tyson · Accepted solution]

If it's threadsewn it's 4mm

If it's not then it's 3mm 

Check with your printers

Bleed - as long as it goes up to or outside the bleed area - then it's fine.

When you export your PDF choose your bleed setting of 3mm - and it should be ok. 

  

[Mike Witherell]

Hi Ali,

Did you know the Preflight panel can check on these things and inform you?

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/preflighting-files-handoff.html

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

From your screen capture, it looks as if your spine is huge. A spine would only be needed for a perfect-bound book, but with only 40 pages, are you sure it is not going to be saddle-stitch?

Also, I don't see your bleed guides. Are you in Preview mode? If so, which one?

[Peter Spier]

Calculating the spine yourself is a HUGE MISTAKE.

Ask the printer for the correct dimensions.

[Eugene Tyson]

Absolutely,  you might of course ask for 80gsm but they might only stock 90gsm and that changes everything. They'll hardly order in something specially for you as it would cost more. 

As I said - talk to the printers to confirm the spine width, my basic calculator I've used for years in Excel has never steered me wrong, but of course, it's always with the go ahead from the Printers. 

It's only a starting point, then microadjustment of 1mm or 2mm is not a big deal when it comes to production.