Children's Books on KDP: Bleed, Resolution and Trim Size
Printing picture books with Amazon KDP: which size, why you need bleed, what resolution, and how to bring in finished pages.
Children's books live on images that run to the edge of the page – which is exactly what makes them tricky to print.
The right trim size
Popular choices are 8.5 × 8.5 in (square) and 8.25 × 6 in (landscape); 8 × 10 in for older readers. Choose the size before you illustrate.
Bleed
Paper is trimmed after printing. To avoid white slivers at the edge, images must extend 0.125 in beyond the trim line – top, bottom and outside. Your page is then trim width + 0.125 in and trim height + 0.25 in; for 8.5 × 8.5 in that's 8.625 × 8.75 in. Keep text at least 0.375 in from the edge.
Resolution
For sharp print you need at least 300 dpi at print size – a full-page image at 8.625 × 8.75 in needs about 2,600 × 2,630 pixels.
Minimum page count
A KDP paperback needs at least 24 pages.
Bring in finished pages
Many people design pages in a design app and export a PDF. Papyrus Peak imports those PDFs directly, as well as Word files with images:
- each page is fitted to the KDP trim size with bleed
- the app warns when the aspect ratio doesn't match
- image resolution is checked per page
- export a print PDF and an eBook