KDP help page for paperback covers (captured 2026-11-03): one PDF, bleed, safe area, spine width formula by paper, spine text page-count wording, and no stated AI rule

This record reads the Amazon KDP help page titled "Create a Paperback Cover" (https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G201953020) as captured on 2026-11-03 at 18:05 UTC (HTTP 200, 194,851 bytes of HTML; no Last-Modified or ETag header). It reports what the page states about print cover files. Nothing was run, no template or calculator was opened, and no cover was made. The text was extracted from the HTML, so the layout diagram the page shows after "a layout like this" and the video and webinar links were not read. Most of the extracted text is site navigation and footer; the cover requirements are one article of roughly 170 lines. Which AI rules this page has. None. The page contains no statement about AI-generated images, text or covers, disclosure or labelling. Whether KDP has an AI policy elsewhere is not established here; this page cannot be cited for or against AI-made covers. Everything below is a print-file specification that applies whoever or whatever made the artwork. File (documented). The cover must be a single PDF that includes the back cover, spine and front cover as one image. Cover files larger than 650MB will not convert, and a size of 40MB or less is recommended because large files can slow printing. The page offers a cover calculator and template generator, and a Cover Creator tool for simple designs. The page notes that the minimum page count for spine text in Cover Creator is 80 pages. Size and bleed (documented). The cover is sized with bleed, defined on the page as printed items such as images or backgrounds reaching the edge of the page. The page says to add 0.125 inch (3.2 mm) to the top, bottom and outside edges of the cover; the spine side is not named as a bleed edge. Backgrounds and images are told to extend 0.125 inch past the final trim line so no white border shows after trimming. The calculator output is described as having these parts: full cover, front cover, safe area, bleed, margin, spine, spine safe area, spine margin and barcode margin. The page says to place all text and images inside the safe area so they do not shift to the front or back cover, and to keep the margin free unless something is meant to wrap to the inside cover. Cover size formulas (documented). Cover Width = Bleed + Back Cover Width + Spine Width + Front Cover Width + Bleed, and Cover Height = Bleed + Trim Height + Bleed, with the bleed 0.125 inch. Spine width is page count times a factor that depends on the paper: for black and white books, white paper 0.002252 inch (0.0572 mm) and cream paper 0.0025 inch (0.0635 mm) per page; for colour books, Premium Color 0.002347 inch (0.0596 mm) and Standard Color 0.002252 inch (0.0572 mm) per page. These are the page's formulas and factors; no spine or cover size was computed or checked against the calculator here. The page gives no trim sizes. Spine text (documented, with an inconsistency). The page states the minimum page count for spine text in more than one wording. A note near the top, the spine definition and the spine text paragraph under Adding text say a book must have at least 79 pages, and the note says a cover with spine text on a manuscript under 79 pages will be rejected. The Spine text section near the middle says spine text is printed only on books with more than 79 pages. At least 79 and more than 79 differ at exactly 79 pages, and the page does not reconcile them. Spine text must leave at least 0.0625 inch (1.6 mm) between the text and the spine edge, and the page says to allow 0.0625 inch of variance on either side of the fold lines. Variance figures (documented, with an inconsistency). The page calls a spine shift of up to 0.0125 inch in either direction acceptable print variance and the copy defective if the shift is greater; it writes that amount as 3.2mm, but 0.0125 inch is about 0.3 mm, and 3.2 mm is the bleed figure 0.125 inch. The Borders paragraph separately mentions a 0.125 inch (3.2 mm) production variance and says borders, if used, should be at least 0.25 inch (6.4 mm) inside the trim line; a white border below the page's minimum may be rejected. The page does not say which figure is intended, so an agent should not rely on either for a tolerance without checking the live page and the calculator. Text (documented). Front and back cover text must be at least 0.125 inch (3.2 mm) inside the trim lines and must not extend into the spine area. Text must exactly match the title, author name, edition and ISBN entered at title setup; a low-content book published without an ISBN needs no ISBN on the cover. Text should be at least 7-point, and must not blend into the background; the page names too-similar text and background colours as the cause. Images and colour (documented). Images should be CMYK, sized at 100 percent, flattened to one layer and placed at a minimum 300 DPI. Colour profiles are not recommended and the page says they are removed before publishing. Spot colours such as Pantone are listed as incompatible with the print-on-demand model; the page asks not to include them and recommends converting to CMYK. Multiple colour spaces in one file are not recommended. The page says colour variance within a stated tolerance is expected from the process and not from the file. Barcode (documented). A cover can be uploaded with or without a barcode; if none is supplied the service places one on the back cover. For right-to-left content the calculator layout puts the front cover to the left of the spine and the back cover to the right, with the barcode at the lower left of the back cover. Pre-publication checklist (documented). Save as one PDF; flatten all transparencies; embed fonts; remove crop marks, colour bars, template text, PDF creation guides and software references; confirm 300 DPI; optimize the PDF; remove file security, since locked or encrypted files fail review; check for missing or blank pages. A proof copy can be ordered to preview. Cover finish options are glossy and matte, with the details on a linked page that was not read. An agent sketch (our reading, not tested). An agent producing a cover for a human to finish could (1) take trim size, page count and paper from the book's setup, (2) compute spine width as page count times the factor above, then full width and height from the formulas, (3) refuse spine text under 79 pages and treat exactly 79 as unresolved, (4) place art at full bleed on the top, bottom and outer edges and text inside the safe area, (5) export one flattened CMYK PDF, and (6) hand the file to a person to run through the calculator template and the checklist. The page documents the rules only; whether any such file passes review is not established, and a person should confirm every figure against the live calculator. Not established here. Whether the page matches the current service page; the layout diagram, calculator, templates, print options page and videos; trim sizes and paper options; whether the figures differ by marketplace; AI-content rules; and the behaviour of any file or tool, since nothing was run.

{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G201953020",
      "note": "Exact captured page text (TEXT.txt extracted from the HTML capture in the verified archive) with line, byte and excerpt hashes in the source pins."
    }
  ]
}