Our award-winning Author Event Series is a great way to discover new books, talk to authors about their work, and meet other book-lovers in the community.

A monthly program suggesting books that lead to great conversations.

Our Select Seventy features great new hardcover and paperback titles with spotlights on specific topics, picks from our staff, and the store bestsellers – all discounted 20%.

Submission Guidelines

You’ll submit two PDF files, one for the bookblock and one for the cover.

You must own the rights and/or have permission to use any content or images included in your book. You may submit your files by email at bookmachine@harvard.com or you may bring them into the store on a USB, CD, DVD, or zip drive.

Bookblock

The bookblock consists of your interior pages. It includes any blank pages and front or back matter. It will print in black and white.

Minimum number of pages: about 40

Maximum number of pages: about 500

Trim size dimensions (W” x H”): minimum 4.5” x 5.5”, maximum 8.25” x 10.5”
(trim size is the desired width and height dimensions of the finished book)

Determining your page count:
A 300-page book only uses 150 pieces of paper, printed on the front and back. When considering any blank pages, dedications, about the author pages, etc, remember to think of each physical piece of paper as 2 pages in your final book page count.

Cover

For layout purposes, your cover is the back + spine + front of your book, printed as one continuous sheet (a 17”x11” landscape-oriented rectangle). The sheet wraps around the printed bookblock and gets trimmed down to specified trim size.

Nothing can print on the interior side of the front or back cover.

Cover requirements
• Maximum cover dimensions = 10.75” x 16.75”
• Cover must be centered vertically and horizontally in landscape-oriented 11” x 17” document
• No crop / registration marks
• ¼” bleed on all sides

Before designing your cover, you must know your spine width. To calculate this, you’ll need your number of book pages (front, core and back matter) and the PPI (pages per inch). The PPI measurement is specific to the thickness of the paper you’re using. Our standard PPI is 434 (for Springhill Opaque 60lb cream paper).

To calculate spine width:
Spine width = number of pages ÷ PPI

Note: number of pages here refers to the double-sided page count you use when you describe the length of your book. Remember to include all front and back matter, as well as any blank pages, in your final page count.

Keep in mind that the appropriate trim size for your book depends upon the number of pages & your spine width. The more pages you have, the larger your spine width will be, and the smaller your overall trim size may need to be for the cover to print properly on the 17” x 11” page.