KDP coloring book interior: trim size, margins and bleed

For an Amazon KDP coloring book, use a standard trim such as 8.5 × 11 in, keep the drawings inside a white margin (so no bleed is needed), and leave a gutter of at least 0.375 in on the binding side for books up to 150 pages. Upload the interior as a single PDF with at least 24 pages.

The numbers below come from KDP’s own help pages (Set Trim Size, Bleed, and Margins and Create a Paperback Cover), checked in October 2026. KDP does update them, so give the help pages a quick look before you upload.

Pick a trim size

The trim size is the finished size of the book. These are the KDP paperback sizes that suit coloring books, with KDP’s page limits for black ink on white paper:

Trim size	Pages (black ink, white paper)	Good for
8.5 × 11 in (21.59 × 27.94 cm)	24–590	The most popular coloring book size; largest drawing area
8.27 × 11.69 in (A4)	24–780	Readers used to A4
8 × 10 in (20.32 × 25.4 cm)	24–828	A slightly smaller, classic book size
8.5 × 8.5 in (21.59 × 21.59 cm)	24–590	Square art, mandalas
6 × 9 in (15.24 × 22.86 cm)	24–828	Pocket and travel books

Every interior needs at least 24 pages.

Bleed: usually not

Bleed means the art runs off the edge of the page. To allow for that, KDP asks for the page to be 0.125 in (3.2 mm) bigger than the trim on the top, bottom and outside edges: a 6 × 9 in book with bleed uses a 6.125 × 9.25 in page.

Coloring pages normally sit inside a white border, so most coloring books are set up without bleed. Then the PDF page size is simply the trim size, which is one less thing to get wrong. Choose the same option (“no bleed”) when you set up the book in KDP.

Margins: watch the gutter

The gutter is the inside margin, on the binding side. The thicker the book, the more of the page disappears into the spine, so KDP’s minimum grows with the page count:

Page count	Inside (gutter) margin	Outside margins, no bleed	Outside margins, with bleed
24–150	0.375 in (9.6 mm)	at least 0.25 in (6.4 mm)	at least 0.375 in (9.6 mm)
151–300	0.5 in (12.7 mm)	at least 0.25 in	at least 0.375 in
301–500	0.625 in (15.9 mm)	at least 0.25 in	at least 0.375 in
501–700	0.75 in (19.1 mm)	at least 0.25 in	at least 0.375 in
701–828	0.875 in (22.3 mm)	at least 0.25 in	at least 0.375 in

These are minimums. On a coloring page, art that touches the 0.25 in line looks like a printing mistake, so most designers leave half an inch or more on the outside edges.

The gutter swaps sides: on a right-hand (odd) page it is on the left, on a left-hand (even) page it is on the right. If your drawings are centred on the page with a generous margin all round, you are covered either way.

One drawing per sheet

Markers bleed through ordinary book paper, and a picture printed on the back of another is one a child cannot colour without ruining the other. The common solution is single-sided pages: each drawing on a right-hand page, with a blank page behind it. That doubles the page count, so a book of 50 drawings becomes 100 pages, which matters for the spine.

Spine width

KDP sizes the spine from the page count and the paper:

• White paper: pages × 0.002252 in
• Cream paper: pages × 0.0025 in
• Premium colour: pages × 0.002347 in

So a 100-page book on white paper has a 0.2252 in spine, and a 200-page book on cream paper a 0.5 in one. Spine text needs at least 79 pages; below that, leave the spine blank.

The full cover is one image: bleed + back cover + spine + front cover + bleed. For an 8.5 × 11 in book with 100 white pages, that is 0.125 + 8.5 + 0.2252 + 8.5 + 0.125 = 17.4752 × 11.25 in. KDP’s cover calculator gives you a template with the same numbers.

Resolution and file format

• Interior images at 300 DPI at their printed size. For an 8.5 × 11 in page with half-inch margins, the drawing area is about 7.5 × 10 in, so the art needs about 2250 × 3000 pixels.
• Upload the interior as one PDF, with every page the same size.
• Black-and-white interiors print in black ink only, so keep the line art pure black on white. Grey anti-aliasing at the edges is fine.

The image resolution for printing guide has the pixel maths for other sizes.

Tell KDP about AI-generated pages

KDP’s content guidelines require you to disclose AI-generated content (text, images or translations) when you publish a book, and that includes interior images. In KDP’s words, content counts as AI-generated “even if you applied substantial edits afterwards”. Content you made yourself and only edited or refined with AI tools is AI-assisted and does not need to be disclosed. Disclosure is part of the publishing form, so it takes a minute, and getting it wrong breaks KDP’s guidelines.

Building the interior from your pages

If you make the pages with our photo to coloring page tool, you can collect them into a coloring book and download it with the For KDP button. It builds the interior PDF for you:

• 8.5 × 11, 8 × 10 or 6 × 9 in trim, no bleed;
• each picture on a right-hand page, with an optional blank back;
• an optional title page;
• the gutter set from the final page count, and half-inch outside margins;
• blank pages added to reach KDP’s 24-page minimum and an even count.

It also tells you the final page count, which is the number you need for the spine.

Upload checklist

• Trim size chosen, and the same size set in KDP.
• “No bleed” in KDP if the art stays inside a margin.
• Gutter at least the minimum for your page count; outside margins 0.25 in or more (0.5 in looks better).
• At least 24 pages.
• One PDF, 300 DPI art, pure black lines.
• Spine width from the final page count; spine text only from 79 pages.
• AI-generated content disclosed in the publishing form.
• Order a proof copy before you publish.