Picking The Right Dimensions For Your Book Cover

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when someone says ‘book cover’? It’s usually the attractive picture on the cover, typography used or the vibrant colours on the cover, right?

Book cover dimensions are rarely spoken about but are still very important in creating a book. There are various dimensions used for different types of books. In this article, you’ll get to know the standard sizes used for books and know how to pick the right cover dimensions for your book.

Standard Book Cover Sizes

Let’s look at the standard book cover sizes for the various genres and formats first, shall we?

• Novels and non-fiction : 2,560px x 1,600px (1.5:1 aspect ratio) 

• Kindle Direct Publishing recommended size:  2,560px x 1,600px (1.6:1 aspect ratio)

• Illustrated books:  2,800px x 3,920px (1.4:1 aspect ratio) or 3,000px x 3,600px (1.2:1 aspect ratio)

• Audiobooks:  3,200px x 3,200px (1:1 aspect ratio)

Don’t understand how ratio and pixels work? Don’t worry, as you keep reading you will. We’ve got your back on this.

Picking Your eBook Cover Size

The average reader’s screen of an ebook like Kindle, iPad has an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. It means that for 100 px (pixels) width, there will be a height of 133 pixels. Although this is equivalent to the shape of the old standard definition TV, some publishers prefer to create a cover that fits the Kindle perfectly.

It’s evident that the trim and all don’t make sense to care about when it comes to an ebook, but do remember that the cover has to be readable and attractive at the same time as a thumbnail.

The Amazon KDP Book Cover 

Amazon is super popular when it comes to selling ebooks. Their store is very flexible when it comes to the variety of cover sizes authors upload on their product page.

Recommendation: use the ideal ebook cover size is ratio 1.6:1 (height:width.)

For every 1,000 pixels in width, image muse be 1,600 pixels in height.

To ensure best quality for your image, particularly on high definition devices,

the height of the image must be at least 2,500 pixels and the ideal dimensions for cover files are 2,560 by 1,600 pixels.

Novels and Non-Fiction Book Covers – 1.5:1

Most writers display their book’s hardcover design on the book’s Kindle page. The majority have a ratio of 1.5:1. Despite it being a bit wider than Amazon’s recommended size, it offers more space for the design which is very crucial while displaying in a thumbnail form.

Recommendation: use the 1.5:1 ratio, setting your cover’s dimensions to 2500 x 3750 pixels

Note: use a slightly wide cover format, so that the design doesn’t become scrunched to compensate.

Illustrated Book Covers – 1.4:1 or 1.2:1

Books with many pictures are called illustrated books. Photography books, art books, textbooks, childrens book etc. come under this category. These kind of books tend to have a wider trim and have an aspect ratio of 1.4:1 or 1.2:1 for a book cover. The pictures are sprawled on the entire cover and looks attractive. The art on books like these is a massive selling point.

Recommendation: To use the 1.4:1, set your cover’s dimensions to 2800 x 3920 pixels.

To use the 1.2:1 ratio, set your cover’s dimensions to 3000 x 3600 pixels.

Wattpad Cover – 1:6

Wattpad is a reading app and a community for various kinds of stories.

Recommendation: To use the 1:6 aspect ratio, set your cover’s dimensions to 256 x 400 pixels.

Keep any text and graphic away from the bleeds which are 13 mm or 0.5” from the outer sides of your cover.

Audiobooks Cover – 1:1 

Audiobooks are now becoming more popular day by day. Just put it on while driving and you’re good. They usually have a square shaped cover and have a 1:1 aspect ratio. Many authors create the audiobook after the launch of their paperback, so the audio book’s cover is usually a cropped picture of their print book.

It’s better to create a separate cover for your audiobook, so it has a neat and finished look.

Recommendation: To use the 1:1 ratio, set your cover’s dimensions to 3200 x 3200 pixels.

Ideal Dimensions of A Printed Book Cover

If you decide to have a printed version of your book, the dimensions depend purely on the trim of your book: the size and shape of each page. It’s mainly measured in inches.

While picking your trim size, keep these in mind:

• How it affects your printing costs. Printers tend to charge more per page when the trim is substantial. Sometimes the printers might charge less if the pages are fewer. 

• Every category has its own standard book size. Before you start the procedure to print your book, you might want to look at some of the other books in the same genre so that as you can see the sizes they picked.

• Now that you have figured out the trim size of your book (exact dimensions of the pages) you need to figure out how it is related to the cover of your book. KDP Print and IngramSpark (the two most extensive Print On Demand services in the world) will require you to submit a cover design which includes the front cover, the back cover, spine and bleeds.

While setting up the cover design file, the width can be calculated by adding:

• 2 x trim width. This is for the front and back cover.

• Spine width. This needs to be calculated carefully based on your page count and paper stock. You can use KDP Print and IngramSpark’s figures for accurate and up-to-date values.

• 2 x bleed. Bleed is an extra bit of design extended on all sides to allow slight printing errors. Most printers want a bleed of 0.125” (3mm) on all sides of the design that doesn’t include the border between the covers and spine.

The height is calculated by finding the sum of:

• Trim height 

• 2 x bleed. 0.125” or 3mm, generally.

Confusing, right? Don’t worry. If you take the help of a professional designer, all this will be taken care of. But if you are making your own cover design, make sure the settings match with your printers’ specifications.

What Resolution Should You Choose?

Just like the dimensions of a book cover, the resolution is also super crucial while creating your book cover. After taking a long time to create the perfect cover for your book, you don’t want a blurry one, do you?

Good Resolution vs Bad Resolution

KDP Print and IngramSpark recommend a resolution of 300 dots per square inch (DPI) for your cover design.

With majority of printers, a CMYK (Cyan Magenta Yellow) colour profile is preferred over an RGB (Red Green Blue) one.

Now that you have so much information about the dimensions of a book cover, you can confidently go ahead and choose one that you require for your book.