KDP Cover Creator – free paperback cover template & spine width calculator
KDP Cover Creator makes the full-wrap cover for an Amazon KDP paperback – back cover, spine and front cover in one PDF at the exact size KDP expects. Pick your trim size, page count and paper, and it calculates the spine width and full cover size, draws the bleed, trim, safe-area, spine and barcode guides, and lets you place your front artwork, title, back-cover text and spine text. It is made for coloring books, activity books and picture books, but works for any paperback.
🔒 Your images never leave your computer. Everything runs locally in your browser – no upload, no account, no trackers.
How to make a KDP paperback cover in 5 steps
- Enter your book: trim size (all KDP paperback sizes or custom), page count and ink/paper. The calculator shows the full cover size, spine width and safe areas – the same numbers as KDP’s Cover Calculator.
- Pick a layout – e.g. “Front artwork + dark back” if your front cover is already finished as one image.
- Add images: “Front image” fills the front including bleed; you can also add a back image, a spine image or one full-wrap image, then move, scale and crop.
- Add text: title, subtitle, author, back-cover blurb and (from 79 pages) spine text, with self-hosted open-licence fonts, outline and shadow.
- Check and export: the Checks panel warns about text outside the safe area, anything in the barcode area, low-resolution images and spine text on thin books. “Export cover PDF” saves one print-ready PDF – upload it in KDP under “Upload a cover you already have”.
KDP cover size formula
Full cover width = 0.125 in bleed + back width + spine width + front width + 0.125 in bleed; height = trim height + 0.25 in. Spine width = pages × 0.002252 in (white paper and standard color), × 0.0025 in (cream) or × 0.002347 in (premium color). Example: 8.5 × 8.5 in, 30 pages, white paper → spine 0.068 in, full cover 17.318 × 8.75 in. More examples in the KDP spine width guide.
Frequently asked questions
What size should my KDP paperback cover PDF be?
Bleed + back + spine + front + bleed wide and trim height + 0.25 in tall. For an 8.5 × 8.5 in book with 30 white pages that is 17.318 × 8.75 in; for 6 × 9 in with 300 cream pages it is 13 × 9.25 in. KDP Cover Creator calculates it for any trim, page count and paper and exports the PDF at exactly that size.
Can I put text on the spine of a thin book?
No. KDP allows spine text only for books with at least 79 pages (KDP’s own Cover Creator asks for 80). A 30-page coloring book has a spine of about 0.07 in, so leave it plain. The tool warns you if you add spine text to a thinner book.
Where does the barcode go?
KDP prints the ISBN barcode in a 2 × 1.2 in box in the bottom-right corner of the back cover, 0.25 in from the bottom trim and 0.25 in from the spine. Keep text and important artwork out of that area – it is shown in gray on the cover.
What resolution should my cover images be?
300 DPI. A front image for an 8.5 × 8.5 in book with bleed should be about 2588 × 2625 pixels. The tool shows the effective DPI of every image and warns below 300 DPI.
Are the fonts embedded in the PDF?
Yes. In the vector export text stays as vector text with the fonts fully embedded, and images are placed at their full resolution. You can also export a flattened 300 DPI PDF if KDP reports a problem with transparency or fonts.
Can I use emoji on my cover?
Avoid them. The cover fonts do not contain emoji, so they are left out of the vector PDF, and emoji often fail KDP’s checks. The editor warns you when text contains emoji.
Is this an official Amazon tool?
No. KDP Cover Creator is part of KDP Editor, an independent free tool not affiliated with or endorsed by Amazon. Always check your cover in KDP’s previewer. Kindle Direct Publishing and KDP are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.
Sources: KDP Help – Create a Paperback Cover, KDP Help – Barcodes, KDP Cover Calculator (read 22 Oct 2026). Fonts: Fredoka, Baloo 2, Nunito, Playfair Display, Pacifico – SIL Open Font License, served from this site.