Artwork sits under the barcode

Where the barcode goes

When you publish a paperback or hardcover through KDP with an ISBN, a barcode is printed on the back cover. This app reserves an area of 2" × 1.2" for it in the bottom-right corner of the back cover, 0.25" in from the bottom trim edge and from the spine fold — the bottom-right of the back panel as you look at the flat cover.

Whatever artwork sits in that rectangle will be printed underneath a white box with the barcode in it.

What may and may not sit there

Background colour, texture or a photograph can run straight through the area; covering a piece of sky with a barcode is harmless. What must stay out is anything a reader needs: the last line of your blurb, an author photo, a publisher logo, a price, a website address.

A common pattern is to design the back cover first and drop the barcode on at the end, by which time the bottom of the blurb has crept into the corner. Laying the keep-out rectangle down before writing the back copy avoids it.

Using your own barcode

If you supply your own barcode in the artwork, you are responsible for its size, contrast and quiet zone. Scanners need a clear, light margin around the bars. Placing a barcode on a busy or dark background is a frequent reason for a printed barcode that does not scan, and nothing in the upload process checks that it does.

Seeing it on your cover

The free cover calculator gives the position of the zone for your exact trim, page count and paper, measured from the edges of the full cover artboard. The cover builder in the workspace draws it over your uploaded artwork, so you can see what it will hide before you export.