Matte or gloss: which should I show?

Whichever you ordered. If you haven't decided, the mockup is a cheap way to compare: switch the finish and look at both.

Can I show a paperback and a hardback together?

One book per picture for now. Export each and place them side by side, as we did for gloss and matte above.

How thick will the book be?

From your full wrap, exactly as printed. From a front cover, from the page count and paper you enter.

Yes, to start, with no account and no watermark: the 3D paperback and hardback, turned up to 45° either way, exported at up to twice the size. Pro adds the full turn to the back, the dust jacket, read and well loved copies, the scenes and three times the size. You can try every Pro option on the canvas first; the export then carries a small preview tape.

Paperback book mockup, matte or gloss

A softcover that looks like the one in your hand: a thin flexible cover, a soft spine, matte or gloss lamination, white or cream pages.

Make a paperback mockup See pricing

Free to start. No signup to try. Nothing stamped on your exports.

Killing It by Christian A. Dumais as a matte 3D paperback on a yellow and black contour line pattern — Killing It as a matte paperback, on contour lines in the cover's own yellow.

What the paperback mockup does

Paperbacks are what most self-published authors sell, and a paperback mockup should look like one: the cover only a quarter of a millimetre thick, flush with the pages, and a spine that's part of the same sheet.

Choose matte or gloss to match what you ordered from your printer. Gloss catches a bright highlight as the book turns; matte stays soft and even. The page block comes in white or cream, the two papers KDP offers for paperbacks, and its thickness follows your page count.

Read copies are there too. A reader's copy has a slightly creased spine and softened corners; a well loved one has rubbed edges and a cover that has been opened a hundred times. For a review post or a bookstagram flat lay that can say more than a brand new copy.

Gloss, matte, and a read copy

Two 3D paperbacks side by side: Smashed in gloss on the left, Notes from Paraspace in matte on the right — Gloss (Smashed, left) and matte (Notes from Paraspace, right) under the same light.

A read copy of Notes from Paraspace lying on a marble café table next to a cup of coffee — Notes from Paraspace as a read copy, lying on the café table in a photo scene.

Paperback mockup features

Matte or gloss

The light behaves differently on each, as it does on the real lamination.

White or cream paper

The page edges take the colour, and the spine follows KDP's thickness for each paper.

Trim sizes

5 × 8, 5.5 × 8.5, 6 × 9 and the rest of KDP's list, plus UK A and B formats, Demy, Royal and A5.

New, read, well loved

Three states of wear for the cover, spine and corners (read and well loved are Pro).

Straight answers.

Matte or gloss: which should I show?: Whichever you ordered. If you haven't decided, the mockup is a cheap way to compare: switch the finish and look at both.
Can I show a paperback and a hardback together?: One book per picture for now. Export each and place them side by side, as we did for gloss and matte above.
How thick will the book be?: From your full wrap, exactly as printed. From a front cover, from the page count and paper you enter.
Is it free?: Yes, to start, with no account and no watermark: the 3D paperback and hardback, turned up to 45° either way, exported at up to twice the size. Pro adds the full turn to the back, the dust jacket, read and well loved copies, the scenes and three times the size. You can try every Pro option on the canvas first; the export then carries a small preview tape.

Try the paperback mockup free.

Free to start, no account, no watermark. Drop in your cover and turn it to the light.

Make a paperback mockup

Paperback book mockup, matte or glossPaperback book mockup, matte or gloss