Interior Margins for Standard Book Sizes

If you are designing the interior of the book yourself you need to know the dimensions and margins for Standard Book Sizes.

Standard Margins for inside pages

Side Margins: minimum margins are 3/4" on spine side - 1/2" on the outside (create the PDF with .75 on both sides to allow for printing and finishing).

Top/Bottom Margins: allow 1/2" top or bottom margins including the folio. We place the folio (title, page info) on top for most books, but on the bottom for poetry or where chapters are very short.

If you have full bleed pictures or color, ensure they extend at least 0.125" past the trim line.

Standard sizes:

5.25"  x  8" final size; half-letter/5.5x8.5 print size, bleed allowance of 1/4" trim on top and bottom and outside.

6" x 9" final size; 6.25x9.5 print size, bleed allowance of 1/4" for trim on top, bottom and outside.

For 8x10 or other larger books we increase margins proportionately.

Page numbers are on the outside or centred on the bottom. Page 1 always starts on the right. For information on the front matter pages see https://pagemaster.ca/front-matter-pages/

We can do all this for you so don't hesitate to ask us for a book estimate.

 

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