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Text on the spine

KDP will not print text on a spine below 79 pages, and what you do print has to fit between the two folds.

What to do

  1. Below 79 pages, leave the spine blank; a thin spine cannot be cut accurately enough for text to stay centred.
  2. Spine width is page count times paper thickness, so cream paper gives a wider spine than white at the same page count.
  3. Text that crosses the edge of the spine is folded around onto the front or back cover. KDP prints this rather than rejecting it, so nothing warns you before the proof copy arrives — the pre-flight checker measures it on an uploaded cover.
  4. Binding tolerance shifts the fold slightly either way, so leave a little clearance inside the spine rather than filling it edge to edge.

Calculate spine width, free — no account needed, no upload, the answer in the page.Or calculate spine width in the workspace to save it against a book.

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