Designing the Soft Cover

First print the book block. Adding ink or toner and air in-between sheets of paper increases the book thickness. Once you know the exact thickness, you can design your cover so that the spine text and graphics are properly centered. Purchase short-grain cover stock in long widths. The longer covers will give you flexibility in binding a variety of book thicknesses. If the wrap around cover has over 1.5" of overhang, consider designing a book marker section on the front cover. After the book is bound and trimmed, you can use it as a book marker.

Designing Hard Covers

Measure your book block in order to properly size the binder’s board. The hard case should overhang the book block. The formula for sizing the binder’s board is to add 1/4" to the book block height and leave the width the same as the book block. For example, if you need to make a hard cover case for an 8" x 10" book block, your binder board should be 8 1/4" x 10"

To determine the proper spine width, place a piece of binder’s board on each side of your printed book block and then measure the width. This will allow the spine and gullet to indent to form a keyhole. As a general rule, if you use .098 gauge board, the spine width should be at least 1/8" wider than the book block.