Book margins are a bit like, "What comes first, The Chicken or the egg?"
Books margins are not a fixed number and will change as you write your book. There are many things that can determine the best margins for a book such as the number of pages in your book and the paper stock that you intend to use in the printing process. The purpose of the margins is to ensure that the text is centered in the middle of the bound page. When writing a book you must taking the binding edge into consideration if you want to be able to read text on the binding side. Book margins should not be used as a tool to change where the text finishes on a page or where a chapter ends. Too often page margins are played with to fit text onto a page. Do not be tempted do do this.
Word Document Setup
As a general rule, 20mm on all sides, plus an additional gutter area is a great place to start. When setting up a book in word, IT IS ESSENTIAL that you set the document up with the following settings:
- Mirror Margins for the whole document - Mirror margins will enable you to create a wider margin on the binding edge of the book.
- Binding Edge Margin - This can be done two ways. You can either increase the internal margin or use the gutter setting, and it will make the adjustment for you.
- Lets go with the gutter option for the sake of this exercise.
With the calculator below you can enter the details of your book and the gutter margin required will be calculated for you. If you are not using the "Gutter"option, then the result from the calculator should be added to the internal book margin if your inside and outside margins are the same. An example would be:
Based on these book specifications
Your book is 152mm wide and the height is 229mm
The number of internal pages in your book is 200 and the stock you have chosen is 100gsm uncoated
Before Calculation
Top Margin 25mm
Bottom Margin 20mm
Inside Margin 20mm
Outside Margin 20mm
After calculation using with these specs
Top Margin 25mm
Bottom Margin 20mm
Inside Margin 20mm plus 6.25
Outside Margin 20mm