[scribus] Cover Design

[John Culleton]

On Friday 24 April 2009 10:09:03 am D. R. Evans wrote:
> wingsgroup said the following at 04/24/2009 06:26 AM :
> > These seems like it should be simple...but, how do I go
> > about designing a book cover? How do I get the layout
> > for the back and the spine?
>
> This is a lulu question, right?
>
> Assuming that the answer is Yes, then the lulu one-piece
> cover manager will tell you the exact dimensions they
> want for the cover, including the spine details.
>
> The one tricky part is that they require 0.25" of extra
> size in both dimensions (presumably because of possible
> errors when cutting the cover), which means that when you
> design the cover you have to be prepared for that much
> slop in where things are going to appear in the final
> printed cover. In particular this means you have to be a
> bit careful about text on the spine, and not let it be
> too close to the edge.
>
> (FWIW, this slop is the one part of the entire lulu
> process that I find very annoying and I wish there was
> some way they could provide a way so you could submit a
> cover and know *exactly* where everything was going to
> appear.)
>
> If you have other lulu questions (again, assuming this is
> a lulu question), it might be better to ask privately,
> since it's a bit OT here.
>
>   Doc

The "slop" is called bleed and is standard industry practice 
for all printers. Book trimming is not an exact science. 
The usual bleed, and the one I use/recommend is 1/8" 
(0.125) on all sides.  This makes the book pdf 1/4" longer 
and higher in all dimensions, just as Lulu specifies.  My 
template adds this bleed factor in automatically.  Also, it 
makes sense to keep any text or graphic 1/4" away from the 
nominal boundaries of the cover.  0.125 +0.250 = 0.375 for 
margins (using 1.3.3.x or earlier.) Scribus will round this 
off to 0.380.  There are lots of other hints which will be 
covered in my e-book. I hope to finish it by Monday. 



-- 
John Culleton
Able Indexers and Typesetters
http://wexfordpress.com