How to Build a Book Cover in InDesign

There are several ways to build a book cover in InDesign. I’ll show you my tried and true methods, honed from years of experience working at an educational publishing company (Houghton Mifflin, now Cengage Learning). While there, first as a book cover designer and then cover design manager, I was involved in more than 500 books! We had to assemble and use accurate and flexible templates with all of the specifications required by various book printers.

Specifications

For each of my examples, I use the following specifications:

• Front & Back Covers = 8″ wide x 10″ high each
• Spine = 1″ wide x 10″ high
• 1/8″ bleed on all sides
• Flaps (for hard-cover jacket) = 2.5″ wide x 10″ high each

Single Page Template

Add all of the widths together to calculate the page size. We’ll use guides to delineate the different parts. For this example, we’ll assemble a paperback cover.

Note: Jackets are external covers that wrap around the book to protect it. They are usually designed for casebound books (hard-covers), occasionally for paperbacks. But, not all casebound books have jackets.

Paperback

two covers and a spine =
8″ + 8″ + 1″ = 17″ wide x 10″ high

Hard-cover Jacket

two covers, a spine, and two flaps =
8″ + 8″ + 1″ + 2.5″ + 2.5″ = 22″ wide x 10″ high

1. Launch InDesign. Before doing anything else, go directly to
   Preferences > Units & Increments.
   Change the Horizontal and Vertical Ruler Units to Inches.
2. Create the new document (File > New > Document).
3. Choose “Print” in the preset menu at the top of the window.
4. Name the file.
5. Using inches for the measurement units,
   • change the width to 17″ and height to 10″ (Paperback);
   • change the width to 22″ and height to 10″ (Hard-cover).
   The orientation will automatically change to landscape when the width is larger than the height.
6. You’ll only need 1 page per book cover. But, if you’re creating more than 1 design, insert 2 or more in the pages field.
7. De-select (uncheck) the Facing Pages option.
8. Start # field should be 1.
9. Columns = 1. Column Gutter = 0 (since there won’t be any columns, it really doesn’t matter what number you place in the gutter field).
10. Margins = .25″ for Top, Bottom, Inside, and Outside.
11. Bleed = .125″. This is the standard. Your print vendor may require a different measurement.
12. Slug = 0 (this is not used much anymore).

Constructing the separate areas

I use color blocks for each area to help me visualize everything. Since I generally present 2 or more designs to my clients, I use Parent Pages for constructing the separate areas. Anything done on a Parent Page will be displayed on their associated document pages.

1. Navigate to the “A-Parent” in the parent page area of the Pages Panel.
   Windows > Pages
2. Select the Rectangle Frame tool. Click anywhere on the Parent Page. Place 8 in the width field and 10 in the height field.
   *Make sure the measurements are in inches! If you changed your ruler unit preferences to inches, you’ll be all set.
3. With the Selection Tool (empty arrow at the top of the tool bar), click on the rectangle and move it so that it’s upper-left corner aligns perfectly with the upper-left corner of the document. The “X” and “Y” coordinates should both be 0.
4. With the rectangle frame still selected, fill it with a color. It can be any color, but it’s probably a good idea to make it a light hue. This is your Back Cover area.
5. Keep the rectangle frame selected and duplicate it:
   Edit > Copy > Paste OR CMMD-click-and-drag
6. Drag the duplicated frame to align with the upper right corner. This is your Front Cover area.
7. Using the Rectangle Frame tool, create the spine with a 1″ width and 10″ height.
8. Drag the spine frame to align with the top of the document, between the two covers.
9. Fill the spine frame with a color.

NOTE: As a precaution, I group all of my colored frames into 1 layer and suppress the printing of that layer.

Building the grid

The easiest way to build a grid with a single-page template is to drag horizontal and vertical guides to align with the edges of the colored frames you’ve created. Then, divide the front and back cover areas into thirds or fourths with more guides. Whatever divisions you make, be sure they are super accurate.

Once the color frames and guides are in place, drag the Parent page to the document page area. Do this as many times as you need to, for each design you want to create. You design the book cover on the regular document pages.

Multi-Page Template

Another approach is to use different page sizes for each section of the book cover. For this example, we’ll build a hard-cover book jacket.

1. Launch InDesign and create the new document (File > New > Document).
2. Choose “Print” in the preset menu at the top of the window.
3. Name the file.
4. Using inches for the measurement units, change the width to 8″ and height to 10″ (the dimensions for both the back and front cover).
5. You’ll need 2 page to start with. We’ll add more later.
6. Select (check) the Facing Pages option.
7. Start # field should be 2.
   This is so the first page in the document will be positioned on the left. In books and magazines, even-numbered pages are always on the left and odd-numbered pages are on the right.
8. Columns = 1. Column Gutter = 0 (since there won’t be any columns, it really doesn’t matter what number you place in the gutter field).
9. Margins = .25″ for Top, Bottom, Inside, and Outside.
10. Bleed = .125″. This is the standard. Your print vendor may require a different measurement.
11. Slug = 0 (this is not used much anymore).

Adding the other areas

Now that we’ve got the two covers (back and front), we need to add the spine and the two flaps. Even though their widths are different, you can position all of the pages next to one another (“facing pages”). They will be printed as one unit on the same sheet of paper to become the book cover jacket. I’ll show you two ways to create differently sized pages in InDesign.

METHOD #1: Use the Pages Panel

1. I recommend creating the various page sizes in the Parent Pages area of the Pages panel so that you can easily apply the settings to new document pages. Create a new Parent Page.
2. (a) Name = Spine
   Based on Parent: [None]
   Number of Pages: 1
   Insert the spine dimensions into the width and height fields: 1″ x 10″.
   (b) Name = Flaps
   Based on Parent: [None]
   Number of Pages: 1
   Insert the flap dimensions into the width and height fields: 2.5″ x 10″.
3. In the Pages panel, click on the drop-down menu. De-select both of these options:
   (a) Allow Document Pages to Shuffle
   (b) Allow Selected Spread to Shuffle
   This will make the next two steps much easier.
4. Select the Spine Parent Page. Drag its icon to the document page section, placing it between the two cover pages. You don’t want to drag it on top of a cover page, since that will be changing its size. It may take some practice.
5. Select the Flap Parent Page. Drag its icon to the left of the back cover page. When you see a bracket, let go of the mouse. Do the same thing for the right flap, dragging the icon to the right of the front cover page.

METHOD #2: Use the Page Tool

This technique is fun and cool. You might find it easier than the first method. Rather than creating new Parent pages for the spine and flaps, we’ll use the existing default Parent and resize it.

1. In the Pages panel, click on the drop-down menu. De-select both of these options:
   (a) Allow Document Pages to Shuffle
   (b) Allow Selected Spread to Shuffle
   This will make the following steps much easier.
2. Select one of the A-Parent pages that is 8″ x 10″.
3. Drag its icon to the document page section, placing it between the two cover pages. This will become the Spine.
   Do the same thing for what will become the flaps: position the left Flap on the left side of the back cover and the right Flap on the right side of the front cover.
   You should now have 5 pages in a spread, all of them 8″ x 10″.
4. Use the Page tool to select the left Flap.
5. Go to the top of the document window to the Control Panel and find the measurement fields. Type in the the flap measurements: 2.5″ x 10″.
6. Select the right Flap with the Page tool.
7. Change its measurements in the Control Panel to 2.5″ x 10″.
8. Select the Spine with the Page tool.
9. Change its measurements in the Control Panel to 1″ x 10″.
   Alternative – click on the drop-down menu and choose one of the existing sizes.

Building the grid

With multiple page widths, the simplest way to build a grid is to use InDesign’s Layout > Create Guides feature. This gives you rows and columns as well as gutters (space between the rows and columns), so it’s very powerful. I prefer to “Fit Guides to: Margins” (rather than the Page), since it constructs the grid inside the margins. If you’re adventurous, you can build multiple grids. Just don’t get too overzealous!

Once the pages and guides are in place, you can begin the book design on the regular document pages. You don’t have to go through all of the steps for each new cover template. You can simply duplicate the spread you’ve already created. Select all of the pages in the spread, then go to Layout > Duplicate Spread.

Video Tutorial

If you prefer, you can watch the video tutorial I made that shows you how to build a book cover in Adobe InDesign:
VIEW VIDEO!

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