Your Custom Cover — what to send us

Four things, none of them scary.

Resolution: 300 DPI at print size — for a typical trade paperback, that means an image at least ~2,500 pixels on its short side; bigger is always safe, upscaled-small is never.

Format: JPG, PNG, or TIFF — raster images only. (Art living inside a PDF? Export it as a PNG or JPG first — every design tool does this in one Save-As.)

Color: RGB is perfect — we handle print conversion.

Composition: if your art is meant for the front only, send the front; we'll build spine and back to match (solid, textured, or pulled from your art's palette — your call at review). If you've painted a full wraparound scene, even better — send it whole and tell us where the front should sit.

Trim size, bleed (0.125" beyond every edge — we extend or crop with care), spine width (computed from your final page count and paper — it changes if your book changes, which is exactly why it's ours), barcode zone, title/author typography if you want ours, and Amazon's full print validation.

So you can skip them.

1. The screenshot.

Web images are 72 DPI — beautiful on screens, mud on paper. Go back to the original file.

2. Text near the edges.

Anything within a third of an inch of an edge risks the trimmer. Keep words and faces centered; we'll show you the safe zones on your proof.

3. The vertical crop.

Books are taller than wide; a square or landscape image will lose its edges to fit. If your art is precious to the last inch, tell us and we'll compose around it rather than crop it.

It must be yours.

Your own work, or art you hold print rights to. The form asks you to warrant exactly that, and production stops if it isn't true. (Commissioned a painting? Get the artist's okay for print use in writing — a text message counts.)

What happens next: upload the art with your order. We build the wrap, you get a proof, nothing prints without your yes. Most covers are ready within a day.

Your custom cover:
what to send us.