French flaps book for a softcover
French flaps book for a softcover.
French flaps book for softcover books are the extension of the front and / or back covers of a soft cover book. There can be one or two French flaps and they are functional as well as decorative. The cover will print on heavier stock than the text block.
What to put on the flaps
Place a biography of the author and a summary on the flaps, just as on the dust jacket of a hardcover book.
Some self-publishers prefer to leave flaps blank. Another treatment is to add a logo. If an emboss type or foil stamp will also go on the cover, then foiling, or embossing the logo on the flaps is usually no extra cost.
The width of a flap can be nearly as wide as the book. This also depends on the book dimensions, therefore, the sheet size on press. Adding flaps is a custom option that you can’t find at most print-on-demand services.
Hop on over to Star Print Brokers to learn more about printing a French flaps book title.
Set-up
Open a new document. For now, let us assume the book is 7″ wide x 10″tall, and there are 5″ flaps on the front and back covers. The spine width is 0.5 inch, and the cover image will bleed. To bleed means that 0.125″ will trim off on all sides of the image that is printing.
- Go to File > New > Document.
- Number of Pages: 1
Here is how we get to the width:
5 in back flap + 7 in back cover + 0.5 in spine + 7 in front cover + 5 in + front flap = 24.5 in
- Width: 24.5 in Height: 10 in.
- Click the bleed and slug down arrow. Set Top, Bottom, Inside, and Outside Bleed to 0.125 in or 3 mm. If there is no bleed, set Top, Bottom, Inside, and Outside Bleed to 0 in or 0 mm.
Also, see soft cover set-up, Chapter 6, Book Cover Design & Binding.
