Lesson 2 of 3 · Publishing on Amazon KDP
Build a KDP Interior and Cover to the Right Specifications
Choose trim size, page count and ink deliberately, look up the margins your page count actually requires, decide about bleed, and build both files to spec.
- 16 min
- Beginner
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By the end you will be able to
- Choose trim size, page count and ink as economic decisions rather than defaults
- Look up the margin and bleed requirements that apply to your specific book
- Build interior and cover as separate files to KDP's specification, then verify them
How this lesson runs
- Choose trim and page count
- Choose the ink
- Decide about bleed
- Look up your margins
- Build the interior
- Generate the cover template
Why this matters
Interior specifications are where beginner books get rejected on upload or arrive printed wrong. Almost none of the numbers are universal: margins depend on your page count, bleed changes your page size, and the ink you pick can make a viable price impossible. The habit that works is the same one from the print-on-demand module — look the specification up for your exact book, then configure your design tool to match it.
Decide the format before you design
Four decisions come before any design work, and each one has a price attached: trim size, page count, ink type and paper. Together they set your printing cost, and from the previous lesson you know printing cost comes straight out of your royalty. Getting them in the wrong order is what forces expensive redesigns. Choose the specification, then build to it.
Trim size and page count
Amazon states that the most common trim size for books in the US is 6 × 9 inches, and that it's a regular trim size. Books more than 6.12 inches wide or more than 9 inches tall count as large trim and have different printing costs. Note what Amazon says and doesn't say. Most common is a fact about what exists, not a recommendation. It isn't described as the most cost-effective or the most profitable size, and choosing it because a tutorial called it "the best KDP size" is choosing on someone else's unsourced opinion. Pick the size that suits your content — a planner with weekly spreads wants different proportions from a pocket notebook — then check its specification.
The ink decision is a pricing decision
This is the choice with the largest effect on your economics, and it's often made casually because a colourful design looks better on screen. On Amazon.com, regular trim: black ink is $1.00 plus $0.012 per page for a 110–828 page book. Standard colour is $1.00 plus $0.0255 per page, available from 72 pages. Premium colour is $1.00 plus $0.065 per page. At 120 pages that's $2.44, $4.06 and $8.80 respectively — for the same book.
The bleed decision
Bleed is the printing allowance that lets ink reach the edge of a page. When a KDP book is printed, pages are trimmed by cutting 0.125 inches from the top, bottom and outside edges — so anything meant to reach the edge has to extend past the trim line by that much.
How to decide
- 1
Ask whether anything reaches the edge
Include bleed if any image, background or illustration in your interior should run to the edge of the page. A plain lined journal on white pages generally doesn't need it.
- 2
Understand that it's all or nothing
Amazon states that even if just one page in your interior requires bleed, the entire file should be set up with bleed. You can't mix bleed and non-bleed pages in one interior, which is why this is a decision to make before designing rather than after.
- 3
Resize the page if you're using bleed
Page height with bleed = trim height + (0.125 in × 2). Page width with bleed = trim width + 0.125 in. A 6 × 9 in trim becomes a 6.125 × 9.25 in page. Height gains bleed twice because both top and bottom are trimmed; width gains it once because the inside edge is bound, not cut.
- 4
Note that covers always bleed
All KDP book covers require bleed regardless of what your interior does. Interior bleed is the only part that's your choice — and bleed is only supported for fixed-format files such as print-ready PDFs.
Margins depend on your page count
Minimum margins by page count
| Page count | Inside (gutter) | Outside, no bleed | Outside, with bleed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24–150 | 0.375 in (9.6 mm) | at least 0.25 in | at least 0.375 in |
| 151–300 | 0.5 in (12.7 mm) | at least 0.25 in | at least 0.375 in |
| 301–500 | 0.625 in (15.9 mm) | at least 0.25 in | at least 0.375 in |
| 501–700 | 0.75 in (19.1 mm) | at least 0.25 in | at least 0.375 in |
| 701–828 | 0.875 in (22.3 mm) | at least 0.25 in | at least 0.375 in |
Building the interior
From specification to file
- 1
Set the page size to your trim, plus bleed if you're using it
Create a custom-size document at the trim size you chose — or the bleed-adjusted size if any content reaches the edge. Set it at creation rather than resizing later.
- 2
Place guides for your margins
Add guides at your required inside margin and at your outside minimums, using the page-count row that matches your book. Do this before laying anything out.
- 3
Design one page properly, then duplicate it
Most of a journal or planner is one page repeated. Perfecting a single page and duplicating it is faster and produces a more consistent book than designing pages individually — the same reuse argument that applies to printables.
- 4
Check image quality against KDP's guidance
If your interior contains images, read KDP's Format Images in Your Book guidance for the current requirements rather than applying a remembered DPI number. As the print-on-demand module covered, a resolution label on an upscaled image proves nothing about how it will print.
- 5
Export as a print-ready PDF, cover separate
In Canva that means PDF Print, which exports at 300 dpi — PDF Standard is 96 dpi and will look soft. Leave crop marks off. Export the interior and the cover as two separate files; KDP needs them separately.
The cover is one file, and its size is calculated
A print cover isn't just the front. It's a single full-cover file spanning back cover, spine and front cover, and its dimensions depend on your trim size, page count, paper type and bleed — because those determine how thick the spine is. This is why there is no universal cover dimension to memorise. A 120-page book and a 300-page book at the same trim size need different cover files.
Generate the cover to spec
- 1
Use KDP's own cover template generator
KDP provides a template tool that produces the exact full-cover dimensions for your trim size, page count and paper type. Generate it after your page count is final — if the page count changes, the cover dimensions change with it.
- 2
Build the design onto the template
Bring the template into your design tool and lay out back cover, spine and front within its guides. Covers always require bleed, so keep important content away from the trim edges.
- 3
Leave the barcode area clear
See the callout below — this is a specific, verified area with exact dimensions.
- 4
Check the cover at thumbnail size
Most buyers first see your cover as a small image in search results. Shrink it right down and check the title is still readable. This is judgement rather than a rule, but it costs nothing to test.
Rows: Pages, Gutter. 24–150, 0.375 in; 151–300, 0.5 in; 301–500, 0.625 in; 501–700, 0.75 in; 701–828, 0.875 in Outside: 0.25 in without bleed, 0.375 in with bleed
Rows
| Pages | Gutter |
|---|---|
| 24–150 | 0.375 in |
| 151–300 | 0.5 in |
| 301–500 | 0.625 in |
| 501–700 | 0.75 in |
| 701–828 | 0.875 in |
Left: Label: No bleed Size: 6 × 9 in Note: Page equals trim size Right: Label: With bleed Size: 6.125 × 9.25 in Note: +0.125 in on top, bottom and outside edge Rule: If one page needs bleed, the whole file is set up with bleed.
Left
Right
Worked example
What the ink choice costs on the same 120-page book
The same 120-page book, 6 × 9 in regular trim, sold on Amazon.com at a $9.99 list price — which puts it in the 60% royalty band. Only the ink choice changes.
| Line | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Black ink — printing | $2.44 | $1.00 + (120 × $0.012) |
| Black ink — royalty at $9.99 | $3.55 | (0.60 × $9.99) − $2.44 |
| Standard colour — printing | $4.06 | $1.00 + (120 × $0.0255) |
| Standard colour — royalty at $9.99 | $1.93 | |
| Premium colour — printing | $8.80 | $1.00 + (120 × $0.065) |
| Premium colour — royalty at $9.99 | not possible | Printing exceeds the 60% share, so $9.99 is below the minimum list price |
| Premium colour — minimum list price | ≈ $14.67 | $8.80 ÷ 0.60, and that price earns approximately nothing |
At the same price and page count, black ink returns $3.55 a copy, standard colour $1.93, and premium colour can't be listed at $9.99 at all.
The ink dropdown is one of the biggest pricing decisions in the book, and it's usually made on how the pages look on a screen. If your content genuinely needs colour, price for it deliberately — and check whether standard colour is available for your page count, since it needs at least 72 pages.
Assumptions: Illustrative figures for Amazon.com, regular trim, printing costs as published on 2026-08-27. Amazon reviews printing costs periodically, so recalculate for a real book. Excludes taxes and Expanded Distribution.
Illustrative figures for teaching only — not a benchmark, average or guarantee.
Do it with your own numbers
Cost your specification before you build it
Before you start, have ready
- Your chosen trim size, and whether it counts as regular or large
- Your planned page count
- Ink type — black, standard colour or premium colour
- Paper type, and whether you're publishing paperback or hardcover
Open the Book Printing Cost Calculator
You will produce: Print cost per copy for your exact specification, and how it changes as page count and format change.
Then ask yourself: Model your page count at plus and minus twenty pages. If cost moves sharply, the page count is worth designing to rather than letting it land wherever the content ends. Then take the cost back to the royalty arithmetic from lesson 1 — a specification that forces a price above what comparable books charge is a specification to change now, not after the design is finished.
Common mistakes
Using a 0.75 inch gutter on a short book
That figure is the requirement for 501–700 page books. On a 120-page book the requirement is 0.375 inches, so you're wasting a wide strip of every page.
Instead: Look up the inside margin for your page count band, and set the same value in both the inside margin and gutter fields if your software has both.
Designing at trim size and adding bleed afterwards
Bleed changes the page dimensions, so retrofitting it either crops your layout or leaves a white border after trimming.
Instead: Decide about bleed first, then create the document at the bleed-adjusted size if you need it.
Mixing bleed and non-bleed pages
Amazon states that if even one page requires bleed, the entire file should be set up with bleed. A mixed file is not a supported configuration.
Instead: Make it an all-or-nothing decision for the whole interior before you start.
Choosing colour without checking what it does to the price
Premium colour can more than triple the printing cost, which raises the minimum list price and can make your intended price impossible.
Instead: Cost the ink choice at your intended page count before designing, and check whether standard colour's 72-page minimum applies.
Designing the cover before the page count is final
Cover dimensions depend on spine width, which depends on page count and paper. Change the page count and the cover file is wrong.
Instead: Finalise the interior page count, then generate the cover template from KDP for that exact specification.
Putting artwork in the barcode area
Amazon places a barcode in a 2 × 1.2 inch white box in the lower right of the back cover, and states content there will be covered — which could get the file rejected.
Instead: Keep that area completely clear when laying out the back cover.
Exporting one combined PDF
KDP takes the interior and the cover as separate uploads.
Instead: Export two files, and check each opens and looks right before uploading.
Illustrative Beginner Scenario
Marcus, a 6 × 9 planner
- Situation
- Marcus set up a 6 × 9 inch Canva document, applied 0.5 inch margins with a 0.75 inch gutter as a tutorial had instructed, designed a soft coloured background running to the page edge, and duplicated it to 120 pages.
- What went wrong
- Three problems compounded. The 0.75 inch gutter was the requirement for a 501–700 page book, so every page lost a wide strip unnecessarily. The full-bleed background meant the file needed to be built at 6.125 × 9.25 in, which it wasn't. And the coloured background pushed him into a colour ink option he hadn't costed.
- What changed
- He looked up the margin table for his page count and reset the inside margin to 0.375 in, which gave him noticeably more usable width. He rebuilt the document at the bleed-adjusted page size since the background genuinely reached the edge. Then he costed the ink and found premium colour at 120 pages forced a minimum list price near $15, so he redesigned the background as a narrow black-ink border instead.
- Result
- A file built to the actual specification, at a printing cost that supported the price he wanted. Whether the planner sells is a separate question — what he avoided was a rejected upload, a wasted proof copy, and a price he couldn't defend.
- Lesson
- Every specification in this lesson is a lookup, not a memory test. The three numbers Marcus got wrong were all published by Amazon and all took under a minute to check.
This is a composite teaching example, not a guaranteed result.
Try it yourself
Specify it, then build it
- Choose a trim size and check its minimum and maximum page count for your intended ink and paper.
- Choose your ink type and calculate the printing cost at your planned page count, then check the royalty it leaves at your intended price.
- Decide whether any interior content reaches the edge of the page. If yes, calculate your bleed-adjusted page size; if no, use trim size.
- Look up your required inside margin for your page count band, and your outside minimums for your bleed decision.
- Create the document at the correct page size, place guides at your margins, design one page and duplicate it.
- Generate a cover template from KDP for your exact trim size, page count and paper, and build the full cover onto it — keeping the 2 × 1.2 inch barcode area clear.
- Export interior and cover as two separate print-ready PDFs with crop marks off, then open both and check every page.
You end up with: An interior file and a full-cover file, both built to the specification for your exact book, and both checked before upload.
Confidence check
Before publishing, check you can answer these:
- Do you know the required inside margin for your page count, and where you looked it up?
- Can you explain what bleed does to your page dimensions, and why width and height differ?
- Do you know why you can't have some pages with bleed and some without?
- Can you say what your ink choice does to your printing cost and minimum list price?
- Do you know why the cover file can't be sized until the page count is final?
- Have you kept the barcode area clear, and exported interior and cover separately?
Your next small step · 12 minutes
Look up the required inside margin for your page count, and calculate your printing cost for two different ink choices.
These are the two specifications beginners most often carry over from a tutorial instead of looking up, and both change what your book can be priced at.
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Questions people ask
What gutter margin does a KDP book need?
It depends on page count. Amazon's minimum inside margins are 0.375 in for 24–150 pages, 0.5 in for 151–300, 0.625 in for 301–500, 0.75 in for 501–700, and 0.875 in for 701–828. The widely repeated 0.75 in applies only to books of 501–700 pages, so a typical 120-page journal needs 0.375 in.
Does my KDP interior need bleed?
Only if images, backgrounds or illustrations should reach the edge of the page. A plain lined journal generally doesn't. If any page does need it, Amazon states the entire file should be set up with bleed — you can't mix. All covers require bleed regardless, and bleed is only supported for fixed-format files such as print-ready PDFs.
What page size do I use for a 6 × 9 book with bleed?
6.125 × 9.25 inches. Pages are trimmed by 0.125 in from the top, bottom and outside edges, so height gains 0.125 in twice and width gains it once — the inside edge is bound rather than trimmed.
Is 6 × 9 the best trim size for KDP?
Amazon says 6 × 9 inches is the most common trim size for books in the US, which is a statement about what exists rather than a recommendation. It isn't described as the most cost-effective or most profitable. Choose the size that suits your content, then check its page-count limits and printing cost for your ink and paper.
How much does a colour interior cost on KDP?
Considerably more than black ink, and there are two options. On Amazon.com regular trim, standard colour is $1.00 plus $0.0255 per page from 72 pages, and premium colour is $1.00 plus $0.065 per page. At 120 pages that's about $4.06 and $8.80 against $2.44 for black ink — and because KDP sets a minimum list price of printing cost divided by royalty rate, premium colour at that page count needs a list price near $15 before you earn anything.
What size should my KDP cover be?
There's no fixed answer — cover dimensions depend on trim size, page count, paper type and bleed, because those determine spine width. Generate the template from KDP's own cover template tool once your page count is final, and regenerate it if the page count changes.