PrintNinja 877-396-4652 www.printninja.com

Copyright © 2013 PrintNinja LLC. All rights reserved. PrintNinja is a registered trademark of PrintNinja LLC. The PrintNinja logo and related marks are marks of PrintNinja LLC. This guide is provided as a convenience to PrintNinja customers and while reasonable efforts have been made to ensure its accuracy, PrintNinja cannot be responsible for any errors or omissions.

This guide may contain references and examples that feature products, services or brands that are the intellectual property of others. These are included for illustrative purposes only and those products, services and brands do not endorse this guide or have any association with PrintNinja LLC.

Getting Started With Endsheets

What Are Endsheets?

Endsheets, sometimes called endleaves, are extra sheets of paper placed at the end and, despite their name, the beginning of hardcover books.

Endsheets help give hardcover books a more polished and professional feel as well as help hold the book together better.

Endsheets are, if you start counting pages with the front cover, the second, third and fourth pages of your project and, at the other end, the fourth to last, third to last and second to last pages. See the diagram on the opposite page for a visual representation of this concept.

Endsheet Standards

At PrintNinja, our standard endsheets use 95 lb. uncoated white stock.

All hardcover book projects must have six pages added to the page count to account for endsheets — even if you want them to be completely blank. In addition, in order to ensure quality and durability, all hardcover book projects must have endsheets.

While custom options are available, we recommend using 95 lb. uncoated stock for endsheets to prevent bubbling and other quality issues. After some extensive testing, we’ve found that 95 lb. uncoated stock holds up best to the special adhesives used to mount the book to the back of the casebinding.

Endsheet Options

Some people prefer endsheets to be completely blank — and that’s fine. Our high quality uncoated stock will shine incredibly well on its own.

That said, endsheets are also a great way to add a special touch to your project — and we can produce a few additional options.

First, endsheets can be printed any solid color you want. Most creators will select a color that matches or complements the cover design, but it’s entirely up to you.

Another option is to print a design or illustration on your endsheets. One common technique is to use a pattern or tiled image, sometimes ghosted against a colored background, but really any design or pattern can be printed on it.

When deciding on a solid color or design for your endsheets, keep in mind that the stock mostly likely will be different from the stock you’re using for your inside pages, which can have a slight affect on how colors appear. In general, colors appear less vibrant on uncoated stock.

The final option is to use a textured or special paper stock for your endsheets. Depending on the stock selected, you may be able to print on the endsheets as well for even more possibilities, but some papers may not hold up well to being printed on.

PrintNinja 877-396-4652 www.printninja.com

Copyright © 2013 PrintNinja LLC. All rights reserved. PrintNinja is a registered trademark of PrintNinja LLC. The PrintNinja logo and related marks are marks of PrintNinja LLC. This guide is provided as a convenience to PrintNinja customers and while reasonable efforts have been made to ensure its accuracy, PrintNinja cannot be responsible for any errors or omissions.

This guide may contain references and examples that feature products, services or brands that are the intellectual property of others. These are included for illustrative purposes only and those products, services and brands do not endorse this guide or have any association with PrintNinja LLC.

Getting Started With Endsheets

PrintNinja 877-396-4652 www.printninja.com

Copyright © 2013 PrintNinja LLC. All rights reserved. PrintNinja is a registered trademark of PrintNinja LLC. The PrintNinja logo and related marks are marks of PrintNinja LLC. This guide is provided as a convenience to PrintNinja customers and while reasonable efforts have been made to ensure its accuracy, PrintNinja cannot be responsible for any errors or omissions.

This guide may contain references and examples that feature products, services or brands that are the intellectual property of others. These are included for illustrative purposes only and those products, services and brands do not endorse this guide or have any association with PrintNinja LLC.

Getting Started With Endsheets

Accounting for Endsheets in Your Files

When sending us your files for printing, you will need to let us know how you want your endsheets handled. If you plan on leaving them blank, we recommend adding four blank pages between your front cover and the start of your inside pages. Similarly, if you plan to use solid color endsheets, adding four pages filled with the color of your choice is helpful. Our prepress department can still help you add these pages — just let us know if they are to be left blank or what color you want to use.

For designed endsheets, you will need to supply us with the design you want for all three endsheets. We generally recommend submitting the first two endsheets (which face each other) as a single file that’s twice as wide as a single page in your project.

For the final front endsheet, which is on the left side, please note that the far 0.125” will be glued to the next page and will not be visible. The same is true for the first back endsheet (fourth to last page), except that the right side is glued down. Because of this, and the fact the paper stocks will differ, we do not recommend attempting to span a design from these endsheets to the facing page.

What Order?

A common question is how endsheets affect placement of title pages, copyright pages and other elements inside the book. While there is no single correct answer, here are some common options (all examples assume page counting starts with the front cover as Page 1 and back cover is considered a page).

• Page Arrangement Scenario A: Make pages 2, 3 and 4 your endsheets, either left blank, printed a solid color or with a design. Page 5 becomes your title page. Page 6 would typically be left blank in this setup, but could also be used for copyright, credits, dedication or other miscellaneous content, with the “real” content of the book starting on Page 7.

• Page Arrangement Scenario B: Make pages 2, 3 and 4 your endsheets, either left blank, printed a solid color or with a design. Page 5 becomes your first title page or dedication page. Page 6 becomes your credits or copyright page and Page 7 becomes a second title page or dedication page. Page 8 may be left blank or used for miscellaneous content, with the main content starting on Page 9.

• Page Arrangement Scenario C: Make pages 2 and 3 your endsheets, either left blank, printed a solid color or with a design. Page 4 is used as a copyright or credits page (keep in mind this will be on endsheet stock) and Page 5 becomes your title page and Page 6 is left blank or used for another purpose. Page 7 would be your first page of main content.

For the end of the book, it’s common to end content on the left facing page (the fifth to last page), followed by endsheets on the fourth to last, third to last and second to last pages. Some creators opt to leave the fifth to last page blank, as well.

When considering your configuration, consider that title pages are typically on the right side of the book (odd numbered pages) while copyright pages tend to be on the left (even numbered pages). It’s also traditional to start the main content on the right side (an odd numbered page).

Keep in mind, however, that these are just guidelines and every project is unique!

To download an example layout of a hardcover book that show how your files should be set up, visit www.printninja.com/resources/hardcover/example/