Softcover books: File set up guideline

To ensure a great print product, it's important to prepare your document properly. Here are some important guidelines and tips to help you achieve high-quality prints:

File set up and sizes

Your content should be the same size as the book size.

For example, if creating an A4 book, your content should measure 210 x 297 mm.

Softcover book sizes* and specs

• Use a resolution of 300dpi.
• Set the color profile to RGB.
• Embed all fonts in your document and flatten any transparencies.
  
  * For more information about all our available products and sizes, please visit our website: peecho.com/products

Spine 

The Spine feature is only available to users with a Peecho Merchant account. Upload & Order does not support this feature.

We use an automated system to calculate the spine size of our softcover books.
The calculation is based on: 

• The number of pages in your PDF 
• The type of paper used 
• The destination country of your order (depending on the destination, different facilities can be selected)

Due to this automated process, specific spine size information is not available in this article.
For more information, please access How do I add the spine?

Cover and content 

• Our softcover books range from 20-300 pages. Your book has to contain an even number of pages.  If you submit an odd number of pages, the back cover will be white.
• Save your print file as one PDF document containing front cover, content, and back cover, as single pages and in this order.
  
• Do not add bleed or cut marks, as our system will automatically generate these.
• Please leave a minimum margin of 10 mm on all sides of both the cover and content pages.

Layout

The following diagram illustrates how your content will appear on your softcover book once printed. The numbered text below corresponds to the numbers displayed on the image. Please note that this diagram is for illustrative purposes only.

1. Front cover: The first page of your PDF.

2. The inside cover will be blank, cannot be printed on.
3. Page two of your PDF: It will appear on the right-hand side of the book.

4. This is page three of your PDF.
5. This is page four of your PDF.

6. The second-to-last page of your PDF.

7. Inside of back cover: A blank (white) page cannot be printed on.

8. Back cover: The last page of your PDF will become the back cover of your book.

Saving your PDF

We recommend exporting your file with a PDF / X-4 Profile (coated  FOGRA 39) check on your file. Please ensure that all fonts are embedded and any transparencies are flattened.