Print Book Design Step


Interior File Upload

In this section, you can upload a PDF file that you created outside of Lulu’s platform to be your project’s interior file. Our system will put the file through a normalization process as we create a print-ready file of the publication that is formatted for use by our print partners or for use in our Global Distribution Network. If our system detects anything in the file that may cause issues in the printing process, our system will generate one or more Warning (Appear in Orange Boxes) or Error (Appear in Red Boxes) messages related to the issue.


Below are the requirements that we provide in our Creation Wizard:

  • Requirements:

    File Type: PDF

  • Page Count: 2-800

  • Fonts: Embedded

  • Layers: Flattened



Book Specifications

Certain options will be made unavailable to select if Global Distribution is chosen as a goal. If an option is grayed out, this is likely the reason. Options that are available will have a green book with a globe icon on the option.



Book Size and Page Count


In this section, you will find the Book Size and Page Count that are associated with the Interior File that was uploaded in the “Interior File” section of the Design step. Our system will automatically fill in this information and you will not have the ability to change this information. If you  wish to change this information, you will need to edit your original file and upload that edited PDF to replace your Interior File. Below is a list of all of the Book Sizes that are available:

  • Pocket Book (4.25 x 6.875 in | 108 x 175 mm)
  • Digest (5.5 x 8.5 in | 140 x 216 mm)
  • A5 (5.83 x 8.27 in | 148 x 210 mm)
  • US Trade (6 x 9 in | 152 x 229 mm)
  • Royal (6.14 x 9.21 in | 156 x 234 mm)
  • Comic Book (6.63 x 10.25 in | 168 x 260 mm)
  • Executive (7 x 10 in | 178 x 254 mm)
  • Crown Quarto (7.44 x 9.68 in | 189 x 246 mm)
  • A4 (8.27 x 11.69 in | 210 x 297 mm)
  • US Letter (8.5 x 11 in | 216 x 279 mm
  • Small Square (7.5 x 7.5 in | 190 x 190 mm)
  • Square (8.5 x 8.5 in | 216 x 216 mm)
  • Small Landscape (9 x 7 in | 229 x 178 mm)
  • US Letter Landscape (11 x 8.5 in | 279 x 216 mm)
  • A4 Landscape (11.69 x 8.27 in | 297 x 210 mm)
  • Calendar (Only used for Calendar Projects) (11 x 8.5 in | 279 x 216 mm)



Interior Color

Below is a brief description of each Interior Color option:

  • Standard Black & White: Standard black & white printing for novels, memoirs, and other text-heavy books.
  • Premium Black & White: Heavy ink coverage, great for books with black & white images, graphs, or other graphics.
  • Standard Color: If your book is predominantly text but has a few color images, standard color is the right option for you.
  • Premium Color: The best color printing on every page with rich colors and heavy ink coverage.



Paper Type

Below is a brief description of each Paper Type option:


  • 60# Cream Uncoated: Traditional cream paper is most frequently used for black & white novels and workbooks.
  • 60# White Uncoated: Versatile and economical white paper commonly found in a wide range of books.
  • 80# White Coated: Ultra-smooth, high-opacity bright white paper used in photo books, magazines, and comic books.



Book Binding


Choose from the following Binding options when creating your publication: Coil Bound, Hardcover, Paperback, Saddle Stitch, or Linen Wrap. Coil Bound and Saddle Stitch are not eligible for Global Distribution. Also, each option has a minimum and maximum page count limit. These limits can be found on the Products page of our website. For reference, the page limits and a description of each binding type are listed below:


  • Paperback Perfect Bound - 32-800 pages
  • The industry term for traditional paperback binding, perfect bound is the most cost-efficient and popular way to bind on-demand products. Suitable for most projects.
  • Paperback Coil Bound - 2–470 pages
  • A flexible, black plastic coil allows the book to lie flat when open. Coil bound is great for music books, notebooks, agendas, and any other project meant for display.
  • Paperback Saddle Stitch - 4-48 pages
  • Interior pages are folded and inserted between the cover, then stapled along the “spine” edge. Saddle stitch binding is designed for supplementary materials, coloring books, magazines, comic books, and other smaller projects.
  • Hardcover Casewrap - 24-800 pages
  • Traditional hardcover binding with the cover image printed on the cover. Case wrap binding is most often used for textbooks and hardcover portfolios.
  • Hardcover Linen Wrap (Dust Jacket) - 24-800 pages
  • Hardcover book with linen wrap on the cover, foil stamping on the spine, and a glossy or matte finished printed dust jacket with flaps. Commonly used for first-edition fiction, memoirs, and gift books.


Cover Finish


  • Glossy Stiff cover stock with a glossy coating finish. Glossy covers withstand wear and tear well while emphasizing the cover imagery. The glossy finish is commonly used for gifts, textbooks, and art books, but is appropriate for a variety of projects.
  • Matte Featuring a velvety, tactile finish with a more subdued appearance, a matte finish gives your cover a natural look. Used most often with novels and notebooks, the matte finish withstands scratches and wears better than any other cover finish.


Once all of the specifications are selected, you will be able to see the Print cost of your publication.



Design Your Cover

We offer four different ways to upload or create a cover file for your project. These options are uploading a PDF cover file of your own creation using software outside of Lulu, utilizing one of Lulu’s quick template covers, or creating a cover using the cover creator tool powered by Canva. Below is a list of each option and a brief description of these options:


Upload Cover File  - Upload a Cover for your Book.

With this option, you will design and create a cover file using software outside of Lulu’s platform. Once you’ve uploaded an Interior file to your project and selected its book specifications, you will be able to download a template designed for your Book Size for your Cover File. Below are the requirements listed in the Upload Cover File section:


  • Requirements:
  • File Type: PDF
  • Page Count: 1
  • Fonts: Embedded
  • Layers: Flattened


Lulu Quick Template Cover - Use our cover templates to design a Cover for your Book.

You are free to use the Lulu Quick Template Covers that we offer. You will have to fill out the Title, Subtitle (Optional), Contributor 1 (located on the spine and cover), Contributor 2 (located on the front cover), and the Description (located on the back cover) fields. Then you will select the template you wish to use and upload an image if you have designed one. Next, you will choose the color theme for the template. Once you have completed this selection, you will hit the blue “Use this Cover” button located in the bottom right corner of this section. The Cover file will then normalize and you can move forward with the publishing process.


Cover Creator Powered by Canva - Beta - Use Canva to create a Cover for your Book.

With this option, creators can utilize Canva, a free online graphic design software that is integrated with our creation wizard. If the Interior File is uploaded to the project and the Book Size has been selected by our system, Canva will allow you to download a cover template to use in the Canva software. You will have the ability to save and use designs you’ve created previously in Canva. Once they have designed and completed the cover, they can select to use this cover and proceed with the creation process.


Lulu Cover Creator - Use our cover creator to build your own cover from scratch.

We are excited to announce that Lulu is offering our own Cover Creation Tool. This tool will allow you to create your own cover from within the Book Creation Tool. You will be able to add images, text, and shapes as well as an ISBN barcode to the cover.


Currently, the new cover tool is only available for specific paperback trim sizes (6x9 and 8.5x11).

 


Preview

The Preview section allows you to review how the final product will look in a digital format. Any anomalies that appear in the preview will likely appear in the printed version of the publication a majority of the time. To verify issues with the files, you can download the print-ready files to have a better understanding of what the files will look like that we send to the printer.