Most people actually use Canva, which is a wonderful idea. I am really familiar with Word and probably old school – but I find even thinking about it this way has really helped me understand what all the terms are, what they are for, and why it is important to know this kind of stuff if you want it to turn out the way you envision.
I can’t stress enough the importance of actually hiring a cover designer if you want something professional looking. But even if you are working with a cover designer, it might be helpful for you to know what type of canvas THEY are working on (ie what is usable and not usable space, and why.
First thing is to decide the size of the finished book you want. There are two important resources for this decision (1) your local bookstore/library and (2) Amazon pricing. I started by going to the bookstore and finding out what is “normal” for the type of book. You don’t want to do an 8.5×11 romance novel if you hope to have it on the shelves of the local bookstore, because it won’t fit – romance novels aren’t that big. The other factor is cost to have it printed. Amazon charges a specific amount (which changes often), and you want to take your printing costs into account.
The other thing you need is how many pages total (actual pages of paper, not page count). This means that you have to have your completed manuscript, with the front matter, back matter all in one electronic file and have the page size set to the selected size (as above) with the margins at the correct setting. The manuscript has to be print-ready; headers, footers finalized, page numbers in as required, blank pages inserted if you want chapters to start on a specific side of the book, hard returns where needed, new sections as needed, table of contents, everything. It should look like a digital version of what your book is like (in fact, it should be the exact file you are going to upload to KDP. See how many total pages that is.
Then plug that into Amazon cover calculator, along with other info – https://kdp.amazon.com/cover-calculator
I selected: paperback, black and white, white paper, left to right, inches, 5.5×8.5, 290 pages and got the following.
Then I create a word document with the full dimensions, 11.903 x 8.75 (file, page set up, paper size, manage custom sizes, then click the + sign)
Then we create our working space.
- The trim margins are 0.25 smaller (#4 in the picture, x 2). I create a box that size ((11.903-0.25=11.653)x(8.75-.25=8.5)) and then position it center top to bottom and center it right to left. (measurement #2 in the picture). This is to handle bleed.
- Then I create the safe areas: I create a box to match safe area #3, in this case 5.375×8.25, center it top to bottom and set it 0.25 from the right edge. This is the front cover. Duplicate the box and set it center top to bottom and 0.25 from the left edge, this is the back cover. Finally the spine is #7, 0.528x 8.25 and center it top to bottom and center right to left. This should look like the picture, if not you have done something wrong., lol.
- Finally, add the space for the bar code, #9, 0.25 from inside the safe zone of the back cover, and the box is 2×1.2
It should look like this:
The front cover is everything inside the smallest rectangle on the right – you can’t go beyond that because they can’t print on those edges perfectly.
The back cover is everything inside the same size rectangle on the left, but you can’t put anything under where the bar code goes, because that’s where the bar code goes, lol.