Are the book templates really free?

Yes — every template and tool on this page is free with no email gate, and the files are yours to use whoever prints your book. They exist because clean files make better books; the business case takes care of itself.

What size should my book template be?

Whatever your trim size is, plus 3mm bleed on the outside edges — and for covers, plus the spine. UK standards: A-format (178×111mm) and B-format (198×129mm) for fiction, Royal (234×156mm) for non-fiction, A4 for manuals and catalogues. The book sizes guide covers the full range; the cover generator sizes the template for you once you pick.

Do you have templates for Word?

For interiors, yes in effect — the Word formatting guide gives you the exact page setup (size, mirrored margins, gutter) to build your own, which beats fighting someone else’s styles. Covers are better built in a design tool; the generator’s PDF template places into anything, and Photoshop/InDesign natives are one click away.

How do I work out my spine width?

Pages × paper thickness — but paper thickness varies by stock, and hardbacks add board and round-back allowances, so use the spine calculator rather than a rule of thumb. The cover template generator runs the same maths automatically from your spec.

What is bleed and do I need it?

Bleed is 3mm of artwork extending past the trim edge, so a whisker of cutting variance never leaves a white sliver. Covers always need it; interiors only where images run to the page edge. Our bleed guide shows the setup in each design tool.

Will these templates work with other printers?

Yes — trim, spine and bleed maths is universal, so a template generated here is a valid print-ready canvas anywhere. A few printers use different hinge or turn-in allowances on hardback cases, so if you’re printing elsewhere, check their spec sheet against the labelled zones.

Book Templates

A book template is only useful if it’s the right size — and the right size depends on your trim, your page count and your paper, because those three things set the spine width. That’s why most downloadable book templates disappoint: they’re generic rectangles that leave the hard measurement to you.

Ours are generated. Tell the tool your book’s spec and it draws the template around it — spine calculated from your actual pages and paper, bleed and hinge zones marked, delivered as a print-ready PDF or a native Photoshop / InDesign file. Free, no email gate, and they match our presses exactly — though they’ll serve you fine whoever prints your book.

Cover templates — generated to your exact spec

The cover template generator builds correctly-sized artwork templates for all four cover constructions:

Paperback — front, spine and back as one wraparound canvas with 3mm bleed
Gatefold (French flap) paperback — wraparound plus fold-in flaps, fold lines marked
PPC hardback — printed paper case with board overhang, hinge zones and turn-in allowance
Dustjacket — jacket panels and flaps sized to the cased book beneath

Enter trim size, page count and paper stock; the generator computes the spine width and hands you a template with every zone labelled. Download as PDF, Photoshop (.psd) or InDesign-ready — drop your artwork straight in.

Interior templates — setting up the pages

Interior setup is less about a template file and more about four numbers: trim size, margins, gutter and bleed. Two resources cover it:

Writing in Word? Our guide to formatting a book in Microsoft Word walks through page size, mirrored margins, section breaks and export settings — it’s the page thousands of self-publishers use to turn a manuscript into a print-ready interior.
Not sure what trim to set up in the first place? The UK book sizes guide lists every standard trim — A-format to Royal to A4 — with what each is used for.

Full-bleed interiors (images running off the page) need 3mm added on every outside edge — our bleed explainer shows exactly what that means in practice.

Spine width — the number every template depends on

Spine width = pages × paper thickness (plus board allowances on a hardback) — get it wrong and your cover text creeps onto the front panel. The spine width calculator gives you the measurement in millimetres from your page count, paper stock and binding. If you use the cover generator above, this is done for you.

Ruling templates — notebooks, journals and diaries

Printing a notebook, journal or diary? We supply lined, dotted and grid ruling templates sized to your trim on request — ask when you order, or mention it in your quote, and drop your branding straight into the ruling artwork.

ISBN barcodes

Retail books need an ISBN barcode on the back cover. The free ISBN barcode generator produces a correctly-formatted EAN-13 barcode from your ISBN, ready to place on your cover template — or we’ll place it for you at no cost when we print the book.

Before you send anything to press

Whatever templates you use, three checks catch almost every file problem: export as PDF/X with fonts embedded, keep live text and page numbers at least 12mm inside the trim, and confirm your page count with the words-to-pages calculator before ordering. And if you print with us, every order gets a free file check — margins, bleed, resolution and spine fit flagged by a person before anything reaches a press.