Creating Custom Covers is slightly different than creating a page within a project. The cover sheet is printed larger than a page as it has to be wrapped around the cover boards, prior to the binding process. What this means is that more of the material may be lost to wrapping and trimming.

If you're using an image where too much of your subject is around the outer edges, you certainly don’t have to place the image as a background, where it is stretched to the outside corners of the cover. You can remove the image as a background (Click on the background, then hit the Delete key on your keyboard), then change the page layout to a single image page by selecting the cover page and clicking on the Layouts option in the Editing Toolbar. Once you have the desired layout, you can drag your image from the Media Tray and drop it into the photo well. Resize the image as needed, using the handles on the edges of the image to size it as desired on the page. If you drag it until it's 1/2 way inside the white wrap zone, but without putting important elements beyond the dashed lines, you’ve minimized your chances of your content being cropped, or conversely, being left with a white border visible after the book is printed. This is an especially valuable tip for those who like to create their content in another program and then import it into Picaboo.

A NOTE ABOUT THE SPINE

The cover has dashed lines to show approximately where the spine will be on your book. The actual spine width will vary. A photo placed at the exact edge of the dashed line may show up a with an edge of the photo on the spine itself or the entire photo may appear on the front (or back) cover. Where the edge falls will depend on the thickness of your book and the type of book being ordered. For books with only 20 pages, we would recommend font sizes of 12 or 14. Thicker books with lots of pages, you may be able to go up to size 16, but if it's too large, your text may wrap around to the front or back covers.

To add one line of Spine text to your book, click the Spine text option (at the far left) and select the desired Spine options. Only one line of text on the spine is able to be printed. We recommend using 12pt or 14pt font size for spine text so that your text doesn't end going over the edge of the spine area.

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