Book Cover

6 x 9 in CMYK 2:3 portrait

A 6 by 9 in book cover canvas. The most common US trade paperback cover size, and the default for self-published print-on-demand books.

about the size of a small magazine

About this size

A book cover is three surfaces: front, spine, and back. Each one has its own role: the front sells the book on a shelf, the spine sells the book on a bookshelf at home, and the back convinces the reader to open it. Designing the front in isolation and then adding the spine and back as afterthoughts is the most common mistake in self-published cover design.

The spine width is the variable. It changes with page count and paper weight, so the wrap file has to be assembled once the final page count is fixed. Designing the cover before that is committing to a guess.

Book covers
Publishing mockups
Trade paperback art

Pro tips

1 Design front and back separately, then assemble with the spine into a wrap file once the page count is fixed.
2 Add 0.125 in bleed on every outside edge. Print-on-demand trim varies; full-bleed designs need the safety margin.
3 For e-book covers, design the front at the same proportions. Some retailers prefer 1600 by 2560 px for digital catalogue thumbnails.

Export notes

For print, export the full wrap (back + spine + front, in that order, left to right) as a single CMYK PDF at 300 DPI with 0.125 in bleed on all four outer edges. Spine width depends on page count and paper weight; use the printer's cover calculator before finalising the file. For e-book, export the front only as sRGB JPEG quality 90 at 1600 by 2560 px to match Amazon KDP and Apple Books recommendations.