Alright, so, I need help getting this cover to match Ingramsparks specifications. I’ve resized it in pixlr, in GIMP, in Canva. I’ve remade the entire thing from scratch TWICE using the EXACT template and sizing ingram sent me and it’s still coming back as “not built to the specifications”.
So, I need someone to show me what the fuck I’m doing wrong with the sizing.
the book is 5x7 with a .827 spine
or in mm it’s 178x127 with a 21.01 spine
i’ve been sizing it to 4500px X 3600px
everything should be within the “safety area” since i shrank all the text and moved it all closer to the center of its respective section.
if it helps, I can show you the cover file. I’m just on mobile right now so I don’t have it with me for this post.
update: I emailed ingramspark and asked them to tell me the specific problem area, or to send a jpg cover template since the template they gave me was a pdf with a shit ton of random extra white space all around it.
If you used their specific template, it shouldn’t be coming back as saying it’s not built to the specifications. It might be a glitch on their end rather than you doing anything wrong. I’d reach out to them and ask for help with it first. Find out what’s causing it to say it’s not right, then work from there.
that could be it, but I think they do manual reviews. It always takes a day for them to process the files and they only respond within the company’s work hours.
So, instead of resizing it to pixels, resize it to inches. I’m half asleep but I quickly made the cover file with the measurements you need along with the bleed Ingram requests for paperback. It might be off, but I don’t really work with Ingram. This does NOT include safe area nor barcode allowance.
The template I made above doesn’t meet this pixel size - did they give you that pixel size?
I’ve never had any of my clients have issues with Ingram sizing, but I have with Amazon - they often require an additional 1.25" on all edges that isn’t on the template, but it isn’t always needed, weirdly :s
Yes, this is the correct template file. Open the template, and line your cover up with it. The “extra white” is either one of two things - your bleed allowance, or the excess you’ll see before pulling it into Photoshop (or your alternative, like GIMP or Photopea, whatever). In one instance, one of my clients needed the top white excess filled with the background colour.
this looks like it will be helpful, I resized my current cover using the pixels listed on this image, and overlaid this image to make sure everything lined up properly.
pixlr only does pixels, that’s the number of pixels that GIMP and Canva were giving me when I resized it using inches with 300dpi
No, like outside the whole template. As in they gave me the template itself with all the bleed and safe areas marked out but it was shrunken inside a blank page with the measurements down in one corner:
It stays if I open it in pixlr or GIMP. I can remove the white but I don’t trust how reliable pixlr is for leaving the template itself the right size. I’m very bad at using these programs
I submitted the newly resized cover, fingers crossed it works this time! Thanks for your help
If it still hasn’t accepted, send me the file? I’ve definitely seen this before and I can’t recall if it’s maybe being opened incorrectly by GIMP/Pixlr (because the PDFs 1000% preview like this before opening in PS for me) or if that just has to be filled. It’s been a while since I’ve worked with Ingram, most of my clients are the 'Zon only ><
