Documentation for novel
document class
Documentation version: 1.32.
User Guide
9. Display, Start Pages;
Chapters; Continued Pages;
Footnotes, Endnotes.
10. Cover Artwork
Cover Artwork, CMYK 240% Ink Limit;
PDF/X Compliance
This page serves a limited purpose. It is for the benefit of those who need to submit color print cover artwork in the form of a PDF/X-1a:2001 file, with the artwork as CMYK and 240% ink limit. This is the format required by some American print-on-demand services. It is also generally acceptable to others, whose requirements are less restrictive.
The novel document class does not provide any support for creating the original artwork, either image or text. In fact, TeX is not the best way to do that. Use a graphics program (such as the free GIMP) to do your artwork, including text. In the end, your text will be rasterized, just like any background image.
DO NOT PLACE A BARCODE. Create the required white rectangle, where the barcode will go. Almost every print service is willing to create the barcode from your ISBN, and place the barcode image into your PDF during post-processing. Some of them even demand that they do it themselves. Do-it-yourself barcodes are incompatible with the following instructions.
DISCLAIMER: This documentation, and its accompanying software, is offered AS-IS, WITHOUT WARRANTY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. USE ONLY AT YOUR OWN RISK. The author is an amateur who does not profess expertise in these matters.
10.1 Begin With PNG
Create your artwork, including all text (but not barcode or barcode text) using whatever means you have. How you do it is not relevant. To follow these instructions, you must provide the artwork as a flattened (no transparency) PNG format image, at correct size (including bleed area) and resolution (dpi).
Example: Suppose your book is 5.5" x 8.5" softcover, a typical size for American fiction. Based on its page count and paper, you are told that the spine width must be 0.62". The required beed width, on all four sides, must be 0.125".
Then, the image is 0.125 + 5.5 + 0.62 + 5.5 + 0.125 = 11.87in wide.
The image is 0.125 + 8.5 + 0.125 = 8.75in high.
At 300dpi resolution (a typical value) the image must be 11.87 x 300 = 3561 picels wide, and 8.75 x 300 = 2625 pixels high. In case of fractional pixels, round upward. The exact pixel count is important.
It is best to use the AdobeRGB1998 color workspace, or equivalent. But you can also use sRGB, or equivalent, and in many cases you will not notice much difference. It is helpful to attach (embed) the workspace color profile in your PNG image, especially if it is something other than AdobeRGB1998 or sRGB. Note that the workspace is NOT the color profile of your monitor (if you have it). If you do not attach (embed) the workspace color profile, then remember whether you were using AdobeRGB1998 or sRGB. If you make a mistake here, it is not fatal. It merely means that some colors (particularly bright greens and blue-greens) will print somewhat brighter or duller than you were expecting.
When done, export it as a flattened PNG. An example image of this size can be found in the EXTRAS/novel-coverart-demo folder of the author's GitHub site.
If you are provided with an image other than PNG, you have to convert it to PNG. No alternative. It is easy enough to use GIMP to convert most image formats. If you have a PDF (which is not already in the required format), GIMP can probably open it as an image. Be sure you import it with the correct resolution. Again, the pixel width and height are important.
10.2 Get Some Software
You need the 238% ink limit color profile from Aaron Shepard. This does the magic of ensuring that you comply with the 240% ink limit (the profile provides a little headroom, which seems necessary). It can also be used for softproofing, if you know how to do that. This is not the only possible profile, but it seems to me that it is the best of several available.
You might (or might not) need the Adobe icc profiles (for end users). This link works for Windows or Linux (even though it says "for Windows"). I am told that there is a different link for Mac, but I don't have a Mac.
Get GraphicsMagick. On Linux, you can install it via your system package manager. On Windows, get the Q16 binaries for your system (32 or 64 bit) from SourceForge. I am told that versions for Mac are available via homebrew and macports, but again, I do not have a Mac, so I cannot check that.
You can use ImageMagick instead. But if you do, the commands are slightly different on Linux and Windows: On Linux, use the GraphicsMagick commands without the gm
in front. On Windows, substitute magick
for gm
.
10.3 Convert Your Image to CMYK at 240% Ink Limit
At right, you can see an emulation of the above cover artwork, softproofed to CMYK at 238% ink limit. It is not the CMYK file itself, but an RGB image that is supposed to help you visualize what happens during conversion. You will notice that the colors are less intense, because the original image contained colors that didn't fit the gamut of the printing process. Colors don't always change; I could have planned ahead, and selected from a palette of colors that fit within the gamut.
Get ready: Make a copy of the above 238% ink limit color profile, and re-name the copy as "238.icc".
I will call your original PNG image "yourimage.png". Put this image, the 238.icc file, and (if necessary) the AdobeRGB1998.icc file in a single working folder.
I will also assume that the image resolution is 300dpi. If it is something else, then modify 300 to the other number, when you see it below.
Step 1: Open a Terminal (Command Prompt) and navigate to that folder. In the following commands, the initial "gm" calls GraphicsMagick. Code:
gm convert yourimage.png embedded.icc
The above command may return the message "No color profile available" and generate a zero-byte embedded.icc file. Not a problem. Discard the zero-byte file. But if it generates a non-zero embedded.icc file, keep it.
Step 2: Next (note the file extensions):
gm convert -strip yourimage.png yourimage-stripped.tif
Step 3: At this point, there are three possibilities:
(a) You have a non-zero embedded.icc file. In this case:
gm convert -profile embedded.icc -profile 238.icc yourimage-stripped.tif yourimage-temp.tif
(b) No embedded.icc, but you know that the artwork was create using AdobeRGB1998 workspace, or equivalent. Then:
gm convert -profile AdobeRGB1998.icc -profile 238.icc yourimage-stripped.tif yourimage-temp.tif
(c) Neither of the above. The image is probably sRGB (default), so:
gm convert -profile 238.icc yourimage-stripped.tif yourimage-temp.tif
Step 4: Now, regardless of which possibility you used above:
gm mogrify -strip yourimage-temp.tif
Step 5: And finally:
gm convert -units PixelsPerInch -density 300 -quality 100 yourimage-temp.tif yourimage-cmyk240.jpg
Step 6: Now verify your work:
gm identify -verbose yourimage-cmyk-240.jpg
The report should show that the image is CMYK, that it is at 300 pixels/inch, and that there is NO entry for "Profile-color". It will not have anything to say about ink limit, or SWOP.
10.4 Convert your CMYK Image to PDF/X.
Up to now, you did not need TeX. Now you do. Be sure that you have a working TeX installation, with the novel document class package.
In folder (your TeX root)/doc/lualatex/novel you will find file "novel-coverart-template.tex". Place a copy in the same working folder as your image, and modify it as needed.
\SetMediaSize
refers to the full size of the image, with units (usually in). This includes the bleed box. For the example image, \SetMediaSize{11.87in}{8.75in}
.
\SetTrimSize
refers to the trimmed image, without bleed. For the example image, \SetTrimSize{11.62in}{8.5in}
.
\SetPDFX[CGATSTR001]{X-1a:2001}
will get you "Us Web Coated SWOP v2" output intent (most common the USA), and PDF/X-1a:2001 compliance. The Output Intent *.icc color profile will NOT be embedded, because this is almost always the way that print services want it. The PDF contains a code identifying the intent, so there is no need to embed the color profile (and disadvantages to embedding it). In the unlikely event that they demand the Output Intent color profile embedded, put an asterisk on the command.
For compliance you need to use \SetTitle
. The title for this file might not be the title of your book, because this file isn't your book. Ask you print service what they want. Same with \SetAuthor
.
You can use \SetApplication
and \SetProducer
to change internal identifiers. Don't use these unless you have a reason.
\SetCoverImage
is self-explanatory. Must have file extension jpg, jpeg, JPG, or JPEG. Must be CMYK. Note that TeX cannot verify whether the image is in correct color space. It will compile, even if the image is wrong. Beware!
Do not attempt to write anything between \begin{document}
and \end{document}
. If you erroneously put some text there, the document will probably compile, and it may even be a valid PDF/X file. However, the resulting text color will almost surely be wrong. If so, the problem will be detected when you submit your file (wrong ink limit or color space). However, this is not a fundamental limit. It is possible to place TeX text over the image, but this documentation (as of version 1.32) does not show you how to do that.
Compiling may take a little longer than expected. If your TeX system opens a PDF viewer automatically, the image might be missing (or partial) until a few seconds after the viewer opens. Be patient. The file size is large.
10.5 Final Check
Open the PDF in Adobe Reader, which does a trick that no other free software will do, to my knowledge. If your platform does not have Adobe Reader, then find a friend who has it. May be a different platform.
In Adobe Reader, go to Edit, Preferences, Documents. Check "Save As optimizes for fast web view." Then go to Edit, Preferences, Page Disaply. Check "Show art, trim, and bleed boxes." Then OK.
Open your PDF. You should see a light green box, just inside the image boundary. This shows the Trim Area. This box does not print; it is only for visualization. Go to File, Properties, Fonts. There should be no fonts listed.
Then, "Save As" the same file name (or another one, if you prefer). This will optimize the file. You probably do not need to do that, but it does not hurt, and a few services expect it.
Remember the Disclaimer! Your PDF file should now be ready for submission. Only "should," not "is," because this documentation and its accompanying software comes without warranty. Submit at your own risk!
All I can say is that it "works for me." Screenshot from Adobe Acrobat Pro: