If you equate the words "block" and "hinge" with construction materials and not books - you've come to the right place. Every day, somewhere, independent authors are pulling out their hair trying to make sure their book is properly formatted for print. Understanding the terminology used to describe each part of a book is the first step to nailing the formatting process and, ultimately, avoiding potential and expensive print issues. Let's get started.
The Interior Anatomy of a Book
The Spread
The spread of a book is the view of verso and recto pages of an open book.
The Page
The page of a book is, well, the page! This contains the contents of a book.
Verso (Left)
The verso page is the left page of the book.
Recto (Right)
The recto page is the right page of the book.
The Trimmed Edges
The trimmed edges of a book are the top, bottom, and outer edges of each page.
The Margin
The margin is the space where the text, header, and footer fit on the page and will not be cut off in the printing process. This is known as the "safe zone."
The Header
The header is the space above the body or other text on a page. Sometimes the page number will appear here, sometimes the title, sometimes the chapter title. This is up to the author and/or book designers to decide - or, they may decide not to include a header at all as it is an optional formatting element. The only required element here is that page numbers need to appear in either the header or the footer.
The Footer
The footer is the space above the body or other text on a page. Sometimes the page number will appear here, sometimes the title, sometimes the chapter or section title. This is up to the author and/or book designers to decide - or, they may decide not to include a footer at all as it is an optional formatting element. Footers may also include footnotes, often found in nonfiction books. The only required element here is that page numbers need to appear in either the header or the footer.
The Hinge
The hinge of a book is where the verso and recto pages meet in the middle.
The Gutter
The gutter of a book is no man's land - it's the space between the hinge and the margin where text cannot live.
There you have it! A crash course on the internal anatomy of a book. Click here for the external anatomy of a book, and keep an eye on the blog to catch the anatomy of the content of a book - coming soon!