Paperback Book Cover Size

Paper books need a very high image resolution since they must be sharp when printed. Ebooks don't need quite as sharp an image but it makes sense to use a cropped version of the paper book cover.

Here's the cover images I produced for my book Imortality gene, paperback and ebook.

When you submit a book to a print-on-demand service they will provide a template file for the book cover based on the size you have chosen and the number of pages required. Here's the one provided for 'Immortality Gene'. It's 5,700 by 3,900 pixels in size.

Notice that the image area is surrounded by a large empty space and that nothing in the red outer area is likely to be printed. You should also take care not to put any text in the red area marking the book spine

Here's that red area with my cover image added. The actual image I used was 3,755 by 2,475 pixels in size. The blue lines are guidelines showing the red areas of the template.

Making an ebook cover image

Amazon say "Ideal dimensions for cover files are 2,560 pixels in height x 1,600 pixels in width. For best quality, particularly on high definition devices, your image should be 2500 pixels in height." The image produced for a paperback cover can be cropped to produce this.

This results in a 1631 by 2578 pixel size image. It's OK to make the image bigger than Amazon's 'ideal'.

Hardback Book Covers

There are two types:

1. Laminated covers - This is where the cover design is printed directly on the hard cover. In essence it uses exactly the same process as paperback covers although the dimensions alter slightly. The print-on-demand service will provide a template for this cover to be designed.
2. Dust jacket covers - a paper cover which wraps loosely around the hardback book. The dustjacket is larger than the book signature since it has front and end flaps which usually contain further details of content and author.

A dustjacket has 'gutters' next to the front and back flaps where the jacket wraps around the hard covers. Text in these areas wouldn't be readable. Again the print-on-demand service you use will provide a template to help design the dustjacket.