PUR binding saving artwork for print

[Chanson]

I am due to send artwork over to the printers tomorrow for a PUR bound book, following spec:

40 page A5 booklet (landscape)

4 pp page cover - 350 gsm silk

42 pp inners - 170 gsm silk

PUR bound

I am not from a print background so this is my first book I have printed. I have a few questions:

- How do I work out how much extra i need for the spine for the cover?

- When the printer has said 4pp cover, do i supply this as 2 single pages ( first page is combined front and back with added spine, second page is reverse sides of the cover combined back and front with spine)?

- Do i supply the pdf as single pages or spreads? If it is spreads how to do i save this for PUR binding so the pages are in the right order when put together?

I will of course check everything with him in the morning but would just like some advice so I roughly know what is going on.

Thanks for your help,

Caroline

[BobLevine]

These are all questions for the printer. Anything we could tell you would be a guess.

[Peter Spier]

While I agree with Bob as far as asking the printer, I will confirm that you are going to want to send two files, one for cover and one for the body of the book, and both should be single pages, not spreads.

If you are going to need bleed anywhere on the inside pages, see InDesignSecrets » Blog Archive » Breaking Pages Apart to Bleed Off a Spine. You only need to do this when the item to bleed does not cross the spine.  As for how much to allow for binding, my gut is about 15 mm in addition to what you want for an inside margin, but the printer should be able to tell you. You'll want to set up the body as facing pages, but the cover may be easier as non-facing. For two pages it really won't matter much.