IngramSpark Cover Template: How to Use It Without Getting Rejected
IngramSpark gives you a free cover template for your exact book. Most cover rejections still come from small mistakes using it. Here's how to get it right the first time.
Step 1: Get your template
Use IngramSpark's free cover template generator (see IngramSpark's help article Cover File Creation). You'll need:
- Your ISBN (the template is tied to it)
- Trim size, interior color and paper
- Binding (paperback, case laminate hardcover or dust jacket) and laminate finish
- Your exact page count from your final interior PDF
The template comes back as a PDF (or InDesign file) with the trim lines, bleed, spine and barcode area already marked for your book.
Step 2: Know the measurements that matter
| What | IngramSpark paperback |
|---|---|
| Bleed | 0.125" past the trim on every outside edge |
| Barcode area | Leave 1.75" wide × 1" high free of text and graphics |
| Spine text | Not available on paperbacks under 48 pages |
| Spine width | Set by your page count and paper — the template has it |
Planning your design before you have the template? Use the spine width calculator (choose IngramSpark) for a close estimate.
Step 3: Avoid the 4 template mistakes that cause rejections
1. Leaving template guides in the final file
The template's pink and blue boxes and labels are only guides. If any of them are still in your exported cover, it gets rejected. Put your artwork on its own layer and hide or delete the template layer before exporting.
2. Using the wrong document size
Your cover PDF must be the template's full size, bleed included. Cropping to the trim line, or exporting just the front cover, gets rejected.
3. A spine that doesn't match the page count
If your page count changes after you make the cover, your spine changes too. Get a new template for the new page count. On hardcovers this matters even more: we've seen a dust jacket rejected with "incorrect spine width — spine should be 0.313" for 78 pages".
4. Spine text that's too big
Spine lettering wider than the spine itself, or sitting on the fold lines, gets rejected as "reduce spine text to fit".
Hardcover and dust jacket templates
Hardcovers need different templates: a case laminate cover wraps around the boards (much larger bleed), and a dust jacket adds front and back flaps. A hardcover-with-jacket book needs three files: interior, case cover and jacket. Never adapt a paperback template for a hardcover.
Let SparkPrep check your cover against the template rules
SparkPrep finds leftover template marks you can't see, wrong document size, spine width and spine text problems, and text too close to the edges or folds. Then it fixes them, before IngramSpark ever sees your file. It was built by an author whose IngramSpark files were rejected 18 times.
Check my IngramSpark cover IngramSpark rejection messages explainedMore free tools
- Book spine width calculator (KDP & IngramSpark)
- KDP cover size calculator & template generator
- Book cover dimensions for every common book size
SparkPrep is an independent tool and is not affiliated with IngramSpark or Ingram Content Group.