Create a full wrap cover

What the full-wrap tool creates#

The full-wrap editor turns a finished front cover into a print layout containing:

• Back cover
• Spine
• Front cover
• Bleed or hardcover wrap area
• Safety and hinge guides where applicable
• A barcode placement guide

The final export is a PDF sized from the print specifications you enter.

The file is generated from your inputs, not from a live connection to your printer. You are responsible for comparing it with the printer's latest template and requirements.

Open the editor#

From a generated cover, open the card's More menu and select Print wrap. From an uploaded cover, reopen it from the Dashboard's External Covers tab (see Reopen an uploaded cover) and select Create full wrap in the studio. On the Enterprise plans, the Formats view of a book's marketing kit has the same Create full wrap card.

On a free account, the cover workspace shows an Example wrap of your book at sample specs (6 × 9 in, 200 pages). Select Edit back cover to change its back text in the editor. Downloading the PDF, a new back cover and your own print specifications need Pro.

No Pro access yet? The free KDP Cover Creator builds a basic wrap in your browser, with a colour-filled margin instead of AI artwork extension.

If the uploaded cover's title, author, or genre has not been confirmed, review those details first.

Step 1: enter the print specifications#

Choose the exact settings for the edition you plan to publish.

Front cover#

The top of the setup shows the front cover the wrap uses, with its version number. To use another cover of the same book, select Change front and pick it. Hidden covers are not listed. The dimensions preview and the saved designs switch to that cover.

If you chose an existing design as the base, it stays chosen when you change the front: the new wrap gets the cover you picked and that design's back, spine, and text.

Print provider#

Pick the store you're printing with. The provider determines the available trim sizes, cover formats, and how the spine is measured.

• Amazon KDP — spine width is calculated automatically from your page count and paper.
• Barnes & Noble — you enter the spine width manually (see below).

Binding#

• Amazon KDP: Paperback, Hardcover.
• Barnes & Noble: Paperback, Hardcover — Printed Case.

Supported trim sizes#

The most popular sizes are one-tap buttons; every other size for the selected provider and format is available under More….

Amazon KDP

Barnes & Noble offers its full paperback and printed-case trim ranges (4 × 6 in up to 11 × 8.5 in).

Custom trim sizes are not supported.

Page count and paper (Amazon KDP)#

KDP calculates spine width from your page count and paper (White, Cream, Premium Color, or Standard Color — the last paperback-only). Spine text is available only when the calculated spine supports it; the editor requires at least 79 pages for spine text on KDP.

Spine width (Barnes & Noble)#

Barnes & Noble Press computes the spine at upload time and doesn't publish a formula, so you enter it manually:

1. Open Barnes & Noble's cover template generator and download the full cover template PDF for your book.
2. Read the spine width shown on the template, in inches.
3. Enter that value in the Spine width field.

The tool then builds the full wrap — back cover, spine, front cover, and bleed — from your trim size and the spine you entered.

Step 2: choose the back-cover style#

A wrap costs 1 credit on every plan, whatever the back style. The setup screen shows your balance before generation. It counts only the credits this book can spend: Launch Kit credits count on the book you used the kit for, not on your other books.

For an AI style (Complementary, Pattern / texture, or Continuation), you can guide the first back cover:

• Custom instructions (optional): describe what you want, for example "warmer tones, soft floral border".
• Reference image (optional): for Complementary only, upload one image to inspire the back cover.

A solid-color back uses no AI, so it does not show these fields. You can change the back cover later with the same options in the editor's Regenerate panel.

Reuse a design from another book#

Already made a wrap for another of your books? Start this book's wrap from it, so the series looks the same in print. You do not need to put the books in a series: it works for any two of your books, including an upload and a corrected re-upload of the same cover.

1. In the print setup, enter this book's binding, trim, page count, and paper.
2. Under Or base it on an existing design, find From your other books.
3. Pick a book, then one of its designs. Books in the same series come first, then books by the same author, then the most recently edited.
4. Select Create from existing design.

What carries over from the other design:

• The text blocks, with their fonts, sizes, colors, and positions
• The spine color and the spine text styling
• The back overlay
• Your back-cover images, such as a logo or an author photo
• Your spine image, scaled to this book's spine. It shows only when this book's spine can carry one (at least 79 pages on KDP).

What comes from this book:

• The front cover, re-fitted to the new size
• The spine title, in the same letter case as the other design
• The spine author, when this book has one. Otherwise the other design's spine author stays.

What happens to the back artwork depends on the other design's back style:

Reusing a design costs 1 credit, like reusing one on the same book. The new design is named after its source, for example "Series look — from The Garden Path".

The tagline and description come from the other book. When the editor opens, it reminds you: "Check the back text before you export." Export PDF also asks you to check them while they still hold the other book's text. Edit them, or confirm that they fit this book.

Example wraps that the dashboard made for you appear in the list after you export them.

Reopen a saved design#

If the selected front cover already has wrap designs, they appear above the new-design form.

You can reopen a design with its saved:

• Binding and trim
• Page count and paper
• Back style
• Text blocks
• Image layers
• Spine styling
• Overlay, visibility, barcode-guide, and other editor settings

Saved designs can also be renamed, duplicated, switched, or deleted from the editor.

Edit the back cover#

The Back Cover inspector starts with Tagline and Description blocks. You can add additional text blocks for reviews, an author bio, a website, or other copy.

For each block you can:

• Edit its label and text.
• Show, hide, or delete it.
• Choose a font. New designs start in Arimo, a free font with the same letter widths as Arial. Designs made before October 18, 2026 that use Arial keep it, and the menu still offers Arial for those blocks.
• Apply bold or italic.
• Align left, center, right, or justify.
• Set text color and size.
• Set the text width and center it horizontally.
• Add a drop shadow.
• Add a background panel with color, opacity, padding, and blur.
• Drag the block directly on the canvas.

Keep important copy inside the safe-area guide and leave clear space for the barcode.

For a solid-color back, the Back Cover inspector also shows Back cover color. Pick a suggested swatch or a custom color, then select Apply color. Changing the color is free.

Add images to the back cover#

Use the Images inspector to place your own pictures on the back cover — an author photo, a publisher or imprint logo, award badges, or icons. This is separate from the back-cover text, so a bio and a headshot no longer interfere with each other.

To add an image:

1. Open the Images section.
2. Drop a file onto the upload area or browse for one (JPG, PNG, or WebP, up to 5 MB).
3. The image is checked automatically and then placed on the back cover.

You can add up to five images per design, spine images included.

Once an image is on the cover you can:

• Drag it to reposition it.
• Resize and rotate it with the on-canvas handles, and use Reset rotation to return it to straight.
• Adjust its opacity.
• Round the corners — set roundness to the maximum for a circular shape, which suits author headshots and round badges.
• Crop it: the image expands on the canvas, everything outside the bright frame dims, and you drag the frame or its handles to choose what to keep. Select Done to apply or Cancel to discard.
• Rename, hide, show, or delete it from the image list — image layers also appear in the Layers panel.

Images sit behind the back-cover text so your blurb and tagline stay readable on top, and they render in the exported PDF exactly as positioned. Keep them inside the safe-area guide and clear of the barcode zone.

Uploaded images must comply with the content policy. An image that violates it is rejected at upload.

Edit the spine#

The Spine inspector lets you:

• Choose a suggested or custom spine color. A new wrap starts with the darkest suggested color, and the spine text starts dark when the spine is light.
• Select Blend with the artwork to fill the spine with a blend from the back cover into the front cover instead of one color. A Continuation back starts with it on. Picking a color turns it off.
• Edit title and author independently.
• Choose separate fonts, sizes, styles, and colors.
• Flip text direction between top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top.
• Spine text stays at least 0.375 in from the top and bottom trim (more on a hardcover), so a long title does not run to the edge.
• Drag title and author along the spine.
• Hide either spine text layer.
• Add an image to the spine, such as a small motif at the top or an imprint logo at the foot.

If the page count is too low, the spine remains a solid color and the text and image controls are unavailable.

Spine text size and thin spines#

KDP needs at least 1/16 in (0.0625 in) of clear space on each side of spine text. The editor sizes spine text to keep that space:

• The Size slider stops at the largest size that fits the spine. On a thin spine the slider shows "Up to N pt on this spine".
• A design saved at a larger size prints at the largest size that fits, and the slider shows "(max for this spine)".
• The smallest spine text BeYourCover prints is 6 pt. If even 6 pt does not fit, the spine has no room for readable text. A new wrap then starts with the spine title and author hidden, and the Spine section says why. If you turn them on again, the spine section warns you, and the export leaves them off.

For example, an 8.5 x 11 in paperback with 80 pages on white paper has a 0.18 in spine. KDP allows spine text from 79 pages, but this spine leaves less than 0.06 in for the letters, which is less than 6 pt. Add pages, or keep the spine a solid color.

The fit depends on the font: script fonts such as Great Vibes need more room than Arimo. The exported PDF uses the same sizes as the editor.

Add an image to the spine#

1. Open the Spine section.
2. Under Spine image, drop a file or browse for one (JPG, PNG, or WebP, up to 5 MB). A square image works well.
3. The image is checked automatically and placed at the top of the spine.

Once the image is on the spine you can:

• Set its Size, in percent of the spine width.
• Move it with Top or Bottom, or drag it along the spine on the canvas. It always stays centered across the spine.
• Turn it 90° or -90° to run a wide logo along the spine. At 90° it reads from top to bottom, like the spine title.
• Set its opacity and roundness, and crop it. To crop a small spine image, zoom in first.
• Hide or show it in Layers, or delete it from the list.

A spine image keeps 1/16 in of clear space from each spine edge, so the fold does not cut into it. Its size follows the spine width: when you make a new version of the design for another page count, the image scales to the new spine. The exported PDF shows it where the editor shows it.

A spine image sits on top of the spine text, so keep the two apart. Spine images need the same page count as spine text: at least 79 pages on KDP. A Barnes & Noble spine of 1/8 in or less has no room for an image.

Front cover, overlays, and layers#

The original front typography is baked into the front image and is not edited in the wrap editor.

Use Regenerate wrap fit if the automatic bleed extension makes the front look stretched or adapts the edges poorly.

Select Overlay in the left rail to open the Back overlay panel. Use it to make back-cover text easier to read:

• None
• Solid darken or lighten tint
• Top or bottom gradient
• Adjustable opacity

Use Layers to show or hide back text, back images, spine text, and spine images without deleting them.

Regenerate the back artwork#

Select Regen in the left rail to open the Regenerate panel and replace the current back artwork.

1. Choose Complementary, Texture, or Continuation.
2. Add optional instructions.
3. For Complementary, optionally upload one reference image.
4. Select Generate.

Regeneration costs 1 credit and preserves the rest of the current editor state.

Guides, barcode area, and zoom#

The toolbar below the canvas has two switches:

• Guides shows or hides all the guides together: bleed or hardcover wrap, spine, hardcover hinge, and safe area. A color legend beside the switches names each guide.
• Barcode shows or hides the barcode zone.

The barcode rectangle is a placement guide. It is hidden from the normal PDF export; it is not an actual ISBN barcode. Follow your printer's workflow for supplying or reserving the real barcode.

Use the zoom controls to zoom in, zoom out, or return to Fit.

Save and manage versions#

The app bar shows Saved or Unsaved.

• Select Save before leaving.
• Rename the design from the Designs menu.
• Duplicate design to branch from the current layout.
• New version (different trim) to return to print setup for another edition.
• Switch between saved designs.
• Delete designs you no longer need.

If you close the editor with unsaved work, BeYourCover asks you to choose Go Back, Save & Close, or Discard & Close. If you switch designs with unsaved work, choose Go Back & Save or Switch Anyway.

Export the PDF#

1. Save the design.
2. Turn guides on for visual checking.
3. Inspect the safe areas, spine, hinge, bleed, and barcode space.
4. Select Export PDF.
5. If the design came from another book and its tagline or description still holds that book's text, choose Edit the text or Export with this text.
6. Confirm the proofing acknowledgement the first time.
7. The PDF saves straight to your browser's downloads — no new tab opens.

The export hides editor guides and the barcode placeholder, renders the full calculated dimensions, and downloads the print-ready PDF directly.

Before upload, compare the PDF with a fresh template from KDP, IngramSpark, or your printer. Recheck the page count after interior layout is final; even a small page-count change can alter spine width.

Export an editable PDF (layers)#

Export PDF makes one flat image at print size. On the Enterprise plans, if you or your designer finish covers in InDesign, Illustrator, or Acrobat, you can export an editable PDF instead:

1. Select the arrow next to Export PDF.
2. Select Editable PDF (layers). The editor saves the design first, then downloads the file.

The editable PDF has the same page size and layout as the flat export, but each part is a separate object:

• Background — the front artwork and back artwork as images, and the spine colour as a filled shape.
• Back overlay — the solid or gradient tint, as a shape.
• Back images — each logo or photo as its own image, with its crop, rotation, opacity, and rounded corners.
• Back text and Spine text — live text in the editor's fonts, embedded in the file, at the same sizes, colours, and positions. Each text block (tagline, description, spine title, spine author, and so on) has its own sub-layer, named after the block.
• Spine image — the spine image, clipped to the spine.

Acrobat shows these as layers in its Layers panel, and you can hide or show each text block on its own. Illustrator opens the parts as separate objects on one layer, and it can open a text block as one object per line. To change spine text, select it and type. To change the spine width after a page-count change, move the front artwork and the spine text, and resize the spine shape.

Things to know:

• The front cover stays one image, because its title and author text are part of the artwork.
• If the design uses Arial (designs made before October 18, 2026), the editable PDF sets that text in Arimo, and the editor tells you before it exports. Arimo has the same letter widths and line spacing, but its capital letters are slightly shorter, so Arial headings can look about 0.5 mm lower at the top than in the print PDF. Designs in Arimo, the default since then, look the same in both PDFs. Install Arimo (free from Google Fonts) to edit that text with the same font.
• A text background with a blur is an image, not a shape. A drop shadow is a plain offset copy of the text, without blur. Edit or delete it together with the text.
• The editable PDF is not stored with the design; export it again after you make changes. The flat PDF stays the file to upload to KDP.
• The editable PDF is part of the Enterprise plans. Pro accounts export the print PDF. It is not available in a trial workspace.
• In a trial workspace, the print PDF downloads with a "TRIAL" watermark.

Create a wrap through the API (enterprise)#

Enterprise subscribers can create the same wrap without opening the editor. POST /api/v1/wraps takes a finished cover, the print specifications, and your back-cover copy, then generates the back artwork, extends your cover art out to the full front print panel, lays the text out, and returns a preview, a full-resolution flat, and the print-ready PDF.

Because there is no canvas to drag things on, you choose a layout preset instead of positions:

You can choose the font too. fontFamily takes any of the fonts the editor offers a new design (Arimo if you leave it out) and sets the tagline, blurb, author bio, and spine lettering in it.

The spine carries the book's title and author in capitals, as the editor pre-fills them, unless you send spineTitle or spineAuthor. Send an empty string for a blank spine. A spine too thin for text gets none either way.

Text is auto-fitted to the space available in the font you chose, moved inside the safe margin, and kept clear of the barcode area. The tagline is balanced over its lines, so it does not end on a single word. The blurb and author bio are fitted together, with the bio close to the blurb's size, and centred in the space above the barcode.

The text colour is checked against the artwork across the whole block, not only its first lines. When neither light nor dark text is readable over busy artwork, the block gets a translucent dark panel behind it and a low_text_contrast warning. You can turn the panel off in the editor.

Every adjustment comes back in the response's warnings, so you can tell when a blurb was too long to fit rather than discovering it on a proof.

For a continuation wrap the spine blends from the back art into the front art. Send spineColor for a flat spine instead.

render can also turn any back into a flat colour with solidColor, free. On a wrap with AI back artwork this replaces the artwork for good: the wrap becomes a solid design, and the response says so with a back_converted_to_solid warning.

New wraps through the API are for Amazon KDP. GET /api/v1/wraps/calculate gives the spine width and canvas size for free, and it refuses the same trim sizes and page counts that creating the wrap would.

A wrap costs 1 credit, whatever the back style — the same as the editor. If the book's marketing kit is open this month, the book's first wrap costs no credits, as in the editor: the job's response then says included_format: true and credits_reserved: 0. Re-typesetting a wrap you already created is free: POST /api/v1/wraps/{wrapId}/render re-lays the text on the existing artwork, which is what you want for a typo, a shorter blurb, or another font. A wrap keeps its font unless you send a new fontFamily. If a wrap job fails before the wrap is created, the credits are returned; a wrap the marketing kit included stays used. If it fails afterwards the wrap is already in your account — it lists, opens in the editor and re-renders for free — so the credits stay spent.

The AI step that extends your cover art out to the full front panel occasionally comes back imperfect — a visible seam, or the artwork treated like a framed picture. In the editor you would click Regenerate wrap fit; through the API the same free re-run is POST /api/v1/wraps/{wrapId}/extend-front, which returns a job to poll and fresh assets when it finishes. If the extension could not fill the panel completely, the wrap job's response says so with a front_outpaint_incomplete warning, so your pipeline can re-run it without a human looking at the preview.

API wraps are real designs. They appear in the editor's saved-design list as API, so you can open one, nudge a block, and export again by hand — the front panel is the same AI-extended artwork the editor produces, so nothing has to be redone.

To find a wrap later, GET /api/v1/wraps lists the wraps of every member of your workspace, newest first: all of them, one book's, or the ones made from one cover. The list includes the designs made in the editor, and an AI assistant finds the same wraps with the get_wrap tool, called with no wrap id. Read a wrap's current text (its text field: tagline, blurb, author bio and spine) and download links with GET /api/v1/wraps/{wrapId}. Only the member who made a wrap can change it: render and extend-front refuse a teammate's wrap, as the editor does.

Barnes & Noble designs you made in the editor work through the API as well. render and extend-front draw them at their own print size, with the spine width you entered.

The round trip works in the other direction too. On a wrap you laid out yourself in the editor, render keeps your own text blocks, your images and your overlay exactly where you put them, and rewrites only the fields you send — so an automated text or colour update will not undo work you did by hand. A new fontFamily changes the tagline, description, author bio, and spine; text blocks you added yourself keep the fonts you chose for them. A preset sent for such a design is not re-run, because that would replace the layout wholesale; the response tells you so with a preset_not_applied warning, and you can send a full layoutState if re-typesetting is what you actually want.

Re-typesetting only ever happens when you ask for it. render and the update_wrap_text tool leave your layout in place unless the call names a preset, so changing a colour or fixing a typo moves nothing — including on a design whose blocks are still the two the editor starts you with, and on a wrap you created with blurb-only or minimal. Send preset when you do want the text laid out afresh.

Back-cover images come through the API as well. A wrap rendered through render draws your image layers with the crop, rotation, opacity, and rounded corners you set in the editor, so the PDF the API returns matches the one you would have exported by hand. If a layer cannot be loaded it is reported as an image_block_not_rendered warning naming the layer, rather than quietly leaving a gap on the cover. Spine images render too, inside the spine, as in the editor. If the spine cannot carry an image (under 79 pages on KDP, or too thin for the clear space on each side), the layer is left off and reported as a spine_image_not_allowed warning.

A full layoutState follows the editor's image rules. A design holds at most 5 image layers, back cover and spine together; a layout with more is refused with too_many_image_layers. Each image the stored design does not already have is checked by the same content moderation as an upload in the editor, and a refused image stops the render with content_policy_violation. Moving or restyling an image the design already has does not check it again. An AI assistant sends the same layout with the layout_state field of update_wrap_text, after it reads the current one with get_wrap.

The PDF link in every API and AI assistant response downloads the file, with the same name as Export PDF in the editor, instead of opening it in a browser tab.

Endpoint details, field limits, and the full response shape are in the API documentation.