Book Printing Margins and Bleed

Book Printing

Margins are very important for cheap book printing. They are nothing but empty spaces. It is a prerequisite for printing which makes sure that the document does not have any edges that have been cut out on the outside and words are not lost on the inside of the page where the pages are bound together. Self-published authors often make a very common mistake of not keeping enough space for margins when editing their books. The margins should be set in such a way that it incorporates the space that should be allowed for binding and still have enough margins on either side of the page to make it readable. All the text and images included in the manuscript must have a .25" of outside margin. However, it is recommended to use outside margins as 0.5". The inside margins of the book vary according to the number of pages of the book. The inside margin is also known as gutter and the author should be very careful and make sure that the gutter is requirement is fully correct in order to not loose words inside the binding of the book.

CreateSpace requires that all live text and graphic elements be at least .25" inside the trim and recommend an outside margin of .5". Inside margin requirements are as follows:

Any image in the interior of the book or on the front page that touches the edge of the page is known as bleed. The image extends beyond the edge of the page, which makes sure there is no white space beyond the image that will be visible after the book is trimmed. The final size of the book is seen after it is trimmed, so the image that needs to extend to the edge should bleed beyond the trim edge of the book.

If you want the images to extend to the edge of your book, make sure that they are at least .125" beyond the trim size from all sides(top, bottom, left and right) and submit your PDF manuscript .25" higher and .125" wider to cover the full bleed area. Make sure that all live elements are at least .25" away from the trim lines.