Amazon KDP and IngramSpark covers

IngramSpark barcode: what the cover template expects

By Marko Markovic, prepress specialist · Updated 10 October 2026 · 3 min read

IngramSpark's barcode rules

IngramSpark also says that barcodes that will not scan cause delays in printing, so these are not cosmetic rules.

Using the template barcode

When you generate a cover template in your IngramSpark account, you enter the ISBN, and the template comes with the barcode already in place. Many authors simply keep it. Things to watch:

• Do not resize it. Move it if you need to, but keep its size.
• Keep it black only. If you copy it into another program, make sure it stays 100% K and does not get converted to a mixed black.
• Keep the white behind it. Do not set it on your background art.

Using your own barcode

Reasons to make your own: one back cover for both IngramSpark and KDP, a specific price add-on, or a cover built outside the template.

1. Make the barcode from your ISBN. The IngramSpark layout in Barcode Rocket gives the plain EAN-13 at 80% magnification in 100% K, sized to sit inside IngramSpark's 1.75 x 1 in area, as a vector PDF. The file is about 1.26 x 1.0 in, so it leaves white space inside the 1.75 x 1 in area.
2. If you want a price add-on, mind the width. BISG gives the ISBN barcode with the add-on as about 2-3/16 in (2.19 in) wide at 100%, and about 1-3/4 in at 80%. So with a price it only fits IngramSpark's 1.75 in width at the 80% minimum, with no room to spare. Our ISBN + price file is made at 100% (about 2.37 in wide with its margins), so it is larger than IngramSpark's recommended area. If you need a price in the barcode on IngramSpark, look first at the options of IngramSpark's own cover template barcode, which is made to fit its area.
3. Place it on the back cover inside the template's safety area, on a white box.
4. Export to PDF without color conversion of the black. IngramSpark recommends PDF/X-1a for covers.
5. Check the exported PDF: the barcode should appear on the black plate only.

The color profile trap

IngramSpark's help warns that ICC profiles applied to 100% black text often turn it into a shade or a percentage of gray, less than 100% black. A barcode behaves the same way: an export preset that converts colors to a destination profile can turn your clean K100 bars into a four-color mix or a lighter gray. You will not see it on screen. You see it only by checking the separations of the final PDF. How to check.