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What is bleed in book printing?

Bleed is artwork or color that runs past the line where a printed page will be cut, so nothing white shows at the edge after trimming. KDP cuts 0.125 in from the top, bottom and outside edges, so a page that bleeds has to be that much larger.

What it means in practice

A page with bleed is wider than the trim by 0.125 in, for the outside edge, and taller by 0.25 in, for the top and bottom. A 6 × 9 in book with bleed is a 6.125 × 9.25 in PDF. The inside edge has no bleed, since it disappears into the binding.

Bleed also moves KDP’s minimum margins: the top, bottom and outside must be at least 0.375 in with bleed, against 0.25 in without. KDP supports bleed only in fixed-format files such as a print-ready PDF.

How Chapbook uses it

The Paperback interior row has a Bleed switch, for a look whose page art should run off the edge. Turn it on and Chapbook makes the larger page and runs the corner art into the bleed. The running head and page number move with the trim, so they stay clear of the margins.

The paperback cover always has bleed. The brief on this page is for an illustrated guide, one of the kinds of book that has a paperback interior.

In a real book

A brief to start from

An illustrated field guide to backyard birds of the American Midwest for first-time birdwatchers: how to identify twenty common species, what to feed them, and when each one visits.

Start from this brief

Sources

Last reviewed 30 October 2026

  1. Amazon KDP, “Set Trim Size, Bleed, and Margins”
  2. Amazon KDP, “Create a Paperback Cover”
  3. Amazon KDP, “Paperback Printing Cost”
  1. What is trim size? Trim size is a printed book's final width and height, after the pages are cut. The sizes KDP offers, what they change, and the ones Chapbook's paperback uses.
  2. What is the gutter in a book? The gutter is the inside margin of a printed page, the part closest to the binding. KDP's minimum by page count, and how Chapbook's paperback follows it.
  3. What is a book spine? The spine is the bound edge of a book, the part you see on a shelf. How KDP's paper and page count set its width, and when it can carry text.
  1. Illustrated guide maker: a how-to with a picture in every section Turn one paragraph into an illustrated how-to: sections in the order the reader does them, a picture in each, something to try at the end, and a typeset PDF and EPUB.

Questions people ask

Does my paperback need bleed?

Only if something on the page runs to the edge. A text-only interior does not need it. A KDP paperback cover always does: 0.125 in on every side, whatever the interior does.

Does bleed cost more at KDP?

No. KDP's Paperback Printing Cost page, checked on 30 October 2026, says bleed settings and cover finish do not affect printing cost.

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