---
title: "Create a full wrap cover"
description: "Create a print-ready full wrap in BeYourCover: build and export a paperback or hardcover front, spine, back, and bleed layout sized for KDP upload."
lastReviewed: "July 14, 2026"
---

## 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, select **Export & Print → Full wrap cover**. From an uploaded cover, open the External Cover Studio and select **Create full wrap**.

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.

![Desktop print-cover setup with binding, trim, page count, paper, and back-cover style](/docs/screenshots/full-wrap-setup-desktop.webp)

### 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**

| Binding | Trim sizes |
|---|---|
| Paperback | 5 × 8 in, 5.06 × 7.81 in, 5.25 × 8 in, 5.5 × 8.5 in, 6 × 9 in, 6.14 × 9.21 in, 6.69 × 9.61 in, 7 × 10 in, 7.44 × 9.69 in, 7.5 × 9.25 in, 8 × 10 in, 8.25 × 6 in, 8.25 × 8.25 in, 8.27 × 11.69 in, 8.5 × 8.5 in, 8.5 × 11 in |
| Hardcover | 5.5 × 8.5 in, 6 × 9 in, 6.14 × 9.21 in, 7 × 10 in, 8.25 × 11 in |

**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)

| Binding | Accepted range |
|---|---|
| Paperback | 24–830 pages |
| Hardcover | 76–550 pages |

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](https://origin-press.barnesandnoble.com/book-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

| Style | Result | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Solid color | A clean color selected from the front cover's palette | 1 generation credit |
| Complementary | New AI artwork designed to match the front | 2 generation credits |
| Pattern / texture | A subtle generated texture inspired by the front | 2 generation credits |
| Continuation | A panoramic extension of the front-cover scene | 2 generation credits |

The setup screen shows the required balance before generation.

## 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.
- 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.

## 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.

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.
- Edit title and author independently.
- Choose separate fonts, sizes, styles, and colors.
- Flip text direction between top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top.
- Drag title and author along the spine.
- Hide either spine text layer.

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

## 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.

Use **Back overlay** 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, and spine text without deleting them.

## Regenerate the back artwork

Open **Regenerate** to 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 uses two generation credits and preserves the rest of the current editor state.

## Guides, barcode area, and zoom

The toolbar below the canvas can show or hide:

- Bleed or hardcover wrap guides
- Spine
- Hardcover hinge
- Safe area
- 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 or switch designs with unsaved work, BeYourCover asks whether to save, discard, or go back.

## 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. Confirm the proofing acknowledgement the first time.
6. 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.