Post by terrym on Jul 25, 2020 17:51:21 GMT
Now that the one-page cover template has moved from the xpress.lulu.com side (which I use) to the main lulu.com side, I thought I would add my 2 cents since I have been using it for a while.
NOTE: I am specifically not addressing any Lulu cover wizards. This post is only for people who want to build their cover from scratch using the requirements of Lulu’s one-page cover template.
The information in this post is no doubt already well-known by most of the regulars here. But it could be useful for new visitors to this site looking for information on Lulu’s new cover template. Please let me know of any inaccuracies.
The template provided by Lulu can be a bit confusing, particularly with their use of book publishing jargon that is not familiar to all of us. I have attached my version of a template and will reference it throughout this post. I am using the example of a 6-inch by 9-inch book (so-called US Trade size), which is one of about 14 sizes offered by Lulu. The information below applies equally to the other sizes.
Green and Orange. The “trim size” of a 6-inch by 9-inch book is (of course) 6 inches by 9 inches. That means, if you tore a page out of the interior of the book, it would measure 6 inches wide by 9 inches high. Looking at my template, the front cover (green) and back cover (orange) of our one-page cover must each be 6 x 9. Note that the front cover (green) is on the right, which makes sense if you think about wrapping this one-page cover over your book.
Blue. Next consider the spine (blue) area of our one-page cover. The Lulu Book Creation Guide allows you to compute the width of your spine based on your book page count. For example, a paperback cover has a spine width (in inches) of 0.06 inches PLUS (number of interior pages divided by 444). So, a 188-page book would have a spine width in inches of 0.06 + 188/444 = 0.06 + 0.4234 = 0.4834 inches. In my example template, to keep calculations easier, I assume the book calls for a spine width of 0.4 inches.
IMPORTANT NOTE: After you upload your interior PDF to Lulu, you will receive a Lulu cover template that tells you the exact width of your spine. Your cover may be rejected if you do not use that width, which may be slightly different than the above calculation (maybe Lulu’s final calculation uses other variables – is 80 lb paper thicker than 60 lb paper?).
Yellow. The yellow area in my template is the “bleed area” and has a dimension of 0.125 inches beyond the green, orange and blue areas. Although actual printing technologies vary widely, think of it like this. The printer first prints the whole one-page cover PDF. Then they trim off that outer 0.125 inches – the yellow area.
So, why do we need the yellow bleed area in the first place? Industry standards allow printers to be “off by a little” in both printing and trimming. If you only gave them the green, orange and blue area, their printer might print it shifted left 1/16th of an inch and leave you with a white (no printed color) strip on the right edge. Now getting back to our template, your actual final template will (most likely) consist of only one background color – let’s say brown. As long as you make all of the green, orange, blue and yellow areas with a brown background, a slight printing or trimming error won’t be noticed.
Dashed Lines. The dashed lines represent the “safety margin”. Lulu does not want you to print any text or include any critical parts of an image past the safety margin. The idea is that a printer shift may cause some of your text/image to be either lost or appear too close to the edge.
ISBN. The ISBN should be on the lower-right of the back page, but within the safety margin. Lulu’s template describes an ISBN area of 3.625 inches by 1.25 inches. That seems awfully large to me. I couldn’t find any books in my collection with ISBNs that large. I think they just want to make sure any text or images on your back cover are well-away from the ISBN area.
Overall Size. Let’s calculate the width and height of our one-page cover PDF. Define
TW = “trim width” (the width of our trim size)
TH = “trim height” (the height of our trim size)
SW = “spine width” (the final spine width number given to you by Lulu)
In our example, TW = 6 inches, TH = 9 inches and SW = 0.4 inches. So, our one-page cover PDF will have a width of: 0.125” (left yellow bleed area) + 6” (orange back cover) + 0.4” (spine width) + 6” (green front cover) + 0.125” (right yellow bleed area) = 12.65 inches. More generally, the formula for the width is 0.25” PLUS 2 times TW PLUS SW. So, for a 6 x 9 book it is always 12.25” PLUS the spine width.
The height of a one-page cover PDF is easier to calculate. It is 0.25” (for the top and bottom yellow bleed areas) PLUS TH (trim height). In our example, it is 0.25” + 9” = 9.25”.
I think the regulars here will (correctly) say that the above is the easy part. The harder question is what software do you use to build your one-page cover PDF? I’ve seen mention here of:
Adobe InDesign
Adobe Photoshop
Paint Shop Pro
Inkscape
PageMaker
MS Word
And there are probably others I have missed. Almost all of them have tradeoffs. Some are expensive, some have steep learning curves, some are difficult to use and some have limited functionality. I happen to use LaTex, which is free but has a pretty steep learning curve so probably not best for most people.
NOTE: I am specifically not addressing any Lulu cover wizards. This post is only for people who want to build their cover from scratch using the requirements of Lulu’s one-page cover template.
The information in this post is no doubt already well-known by most of the regulars here. But it could be useful for new visitors to this site looking for information on Lulu’s new cover template. Please let me know of any inaccuracies.
The template provided by Lulu can be a bit confusing, particularly with their use of book publishing jargon that is not familiar to all of us. I have attached my version of a template and will reference it throughout this post. I am using the example of a 6-inch by 9-inch book (so-called US Trade size), which is one of about 14 sizes offered by Lulu. The information below applies equally to the other sizes.
Green and Orange. The “trim size” of a 6-inch by 9-inch book is (of course) 6 inches by 9 inches. That means, if you tore a page out of the interior of the book, it would measure 6 inches wide by 9 inches high. Looking at my template, the front cover (green) and back cover (orange) of our one-page cover must each be 6 x 9. Note that the front cover (green) is on the right, which makes sense if you think about wrapping this one-page cover over your book.
Blue. Next consider the spine (blue) area of our one-page cover. The Lulu Book Creation Guide allows you to compute the width of your spine based on your book page count. For example, a paperback cover has a spine width (in inches) of 0.06 inches PLUS (number of interior pages divided by 444). So, a 188-page book would have a spine width in inches of 0.06 + 188/444 = 0.06 + 0.4234 = 0.4834 inches. In my example template, to keep calculations easier, I assume the book calls for a spine width of 0.4 inches.
IMPORTANT NOTE: After you upload your interior PDF to Lulu, you will receive a Lulu cover template that tells you the exact width of your spine. Your cover may be rejected if you do not use that width, which may be slightly different than the above calculation (maybe Lulu’s final calculation uses other variables – is 80 lb paper thicker than 60 lb paper?).
Yellow. The yellow area in my template is the “bleed area” and has a dimension of 0.125 inches beyond the green, orange and blue areas. Although actual printing technologies vary widely, think of it like this. The printer first prints the whole one-page cover PDF. Then they trim off that outer 0.125 inches – the yellow area.
So, why do we need the yellow bleed area in the first place? Industry standards allow printers to be “off by a little” in both printing and trimming. If you only gave them the green, orange and blue area, their printer might print it shifted left 1/16th of an inch and leave you with a white (no printed color) strip on the right edge. Now getting back to our template, your actual final template will (most likely) consist of only one background color – let’s say brown. As long as you make all of the green, orange, blue and yellow areas with a brown background, a slight printing or trimming error won’t be noticed.
Dashed Lines. The dashed lines represent the “safety margin”. Lulu does not want you to print any text or include any critical parts of an image past the safety margin. The idea is that a printer shift may cause some of your text/image to be either lost or appear too close to the edge.
ISBN. The ISBN should be on the lower-right of the back page, but within the safety margin. Lulu’s template describes an ISBN area of 3.625 inches by 1.25 inches. That seems awfully large to me. I couldn’t find any books in my collection with ISBNs that large. I think they just want to make sure any text or images on your back cover are well-away from the ISBN area.
Overall Size. Let’s calculate the width and height of our one-page cover PDF. Define
TW = “trim width” (the width of our trim size)
TH = “trim height” (the height of our trim size)
SW = “spine width” (the final spine width number given to you by Lulu)
In our example, TW = 6 inches, TH = 9 inches and SW = 0.4 inches. So, our one-page cover PDF will have a width of: 0.125” (left yellow bleed area) + 6” (orange back cover) + 0.4” (spine width) + 6” (green front cover) + 0.125” (right yellow bleed area) = 12.65 inches. More generally, the formula for the width is 0.25” PLUS 2 times TW PLUS SW. So, for a 6 x 9 book it is always 12.25” PLUS the spine width.
The height of a one-page cover PDF is easier to calculate. It is 0.25” (for the top and bottom yellow bleed areas) PLUS TH (trim height). In our example, it is 0.25” + 9” = 9.25”.
I think the regulars here will (correctly) say that the above is the easy part. The harder question is what software do you use to build your one-page cover PDF? I’ve seen mention here of:
Adobe InDesign
Adobe Photoshop
Paint Shop Pro
Inkscape
PageMaker
MS Word
And there are probably others I have missed. Almost all of them have tradeoffs. Some are expensive, some have steep learning curves, some are difficult to use and some have limited functionality. I happen to use LaTex, which is free but has a pretty steep learning curve so probably not best for most people.
