Exporting book cover with white border

[Miryam37356628k6av]

It's my first time using Indesign. I have exported the content pages and it shows crop marks and everything as I wanted it to. When I export the cover, it doesn't have a white border. What could the problem be? 

[BobLevine]

You need to add bleed to the document and export with the bleeds. You'll find that in the marks and bleeds section of the PDF export dialog.

[Miryam37356628k6av]

Thank you but I  already think I did that.. didn't I? 

[rob day]

Hi @Miryam37356628k6av , In order to get a white border you would have to add and include a Slug area—something like this:

[BobLevine]

I didn't see the crop marks in there. You should only need .125" of bleed and if you use that along with an offset of .2" or so, you'll see a white border but you don't need it.

[Peter Spier]

Is this a hard-cover or or paperback? What is the finished size of the book?

From the attached PDF it isn't clear whether you intend the cover to be cropped off at the marks, in which case ther is no problem, or if  the cover should be as large as the attached art and the marks are misplaced.

Your cover art extends to the edge all around -- full bleed -- and there would not be a white border on the art itself, only outside the crop marks, and some of the art would be trimmed off when the books are cut to final size, along with the marks and any white area. The extra artwork extending beyond the finished size is a safety measure to insure there is no white edge left if there is some misalignment in assembly or cutting.

Normally your cover document would be set up with a page size matching the finsihed size, and a bleed of 1/8 to 1/4 inch all around would be added in the document setup dialog when you clcik the More Options button. For a hard cover book you need quite a bit more bleed to allow wrapping around the cover boards, and the printer/bindery should be able to give you a precise amount.

It is important, when exporting your PDFs to change InDesign's default offset for marks to a value that is at least as large as the bleed allowance to be sure no part of the marks is left after cutting if there is a misalignment.

[Miryam37356628k6av]

Thank you for your help. Its a hardback, and the printer did send me those measures for the book. 

[rob day · Accepted solution]

Are they asking you to include Bleed Marks? If you do they will print inside of the print area. They are referring to the 19mm wrap around the board as a bleed, but the sheet isn’t going to be trimmed at 19mm, it will be folded.

[Miryam37356628k6av]

Thank you so much, yes that was what were confusing me even more. 

Do you know if the docuement settings, should be 476 x 253 mm (or 438 x 215 mm?)

[Peter Spier · Accepted solution]

I've looked at their website page and the directions are a little murky, but I think I would set up at 438 x 215 (and specify some margin you are comfortable with, say 3mm to act as a "safe zone" where anything outside the margin may be invisble in the finished book) then add a bleed of 19mm and extend all art to the bleed line.

Though they say to set the offset for bleed marks to 5 mm I would check with them about that.  5 mm will leave the marks visible in the area that is folded over inside the cover and may be covered by the endpapers.

[rob day]

I’m guessing they don’t want you to include marks, but you could include the Bleed marks—Crop marks are going to get printed and show on the wrap. Here I’ve manually drawn fold marks outside of the bleed, and checked Bleed Marks:

The PDF

[HARSHIKA_VERMA]

Hi @Miryam37356628k6av,

Hope you're doing well!

We would like to follow up on your issue. Are you able to resolve the issue by following our expert's suggestion? Please feel free to update the discussion if you need further assistance from us.

We would be happy to help.

Thanks,

Harshika

[Miryam37356628k6av]

Hi Harshika 

Yes than you, I did. 

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

I strongly recommend that you download a precise template for your cover from whoever your print service is, and lay it into the ID document as a guide for all size, margins, crops, bleed etc.

Unless you're very experienced at layout in general and in interpreting all the myriad dimensions, guidelines and safe areas of book printing, that visual guide is essential and will help you spot errors and fix them correctly.

[rob day]

Also, are they really crop marks or are you using the crops to indicate where the cover wraps on to the boards? If they are fold marks and not trim marks you wouldn’t want them inside of the print area.

[Scott Falkner]

It looks like your PDF includes bleed, which is good. But you have lots of bleed, which is probably not a problem but it is obviously confusing to you. THere are no units of the spc sheet from your pritner but I assume the units used are mosly millimeters. The requested bleed is 19 mm, which is, actually quite hign. Commonly I am asked for a bleed of 0.125˝, which is about 3 mm. I don't know why the bleed requirements are so high, but if that is what the printer has requested you sjould provide it.

TL;DR: Nothing wrong.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

It's probably a laminated-cover wrap, not a print trim bleed for a jacket. A half inch or more of wrap is typical; look at any laminated hardcover you might have at hand. KDP in particular does only laminated hardcovers.