An image that looks right on screen can print badly, because a screen shows roughly a hundred dots per inch and a printer wants three hundred. The gap between those two numbers is behind most image problems in a printed book: pictures that come out soft, text inside a diagram that blurs, and files that a platform refuses for resolution. Word adds a second problem of its own, by compressing images on save unless it is told not to.
This guide gathers our posts on images in a printed book in one place: what resolution to supply, what happens to images in Word, and what changes when a book is mostly pictures. Each post answers a single question and stands on its own, so start wherever your question sits rather than at the top. We add to the guide as we cover more ground, so it is worth bookmarking.
One caveat: the resolution floors here are print-on-demand requirements and they are scoped, not blanket. A figure that applies to a color interior may not apply to a black-and-white one or to the cover, so check which case a post is describing.
Getting the resolution right
- What DPI interior images need: the figure to supply, and what happens below it.
- Text inside an image: why lettering in a picture blurs in print, and how to avoid it.
- Word compressing your images: how to stop it quietly reducing them on save.
Books built around pictures
- Non-fiction with images: how to lay out a book where pictures sit alongside the text.
- Children’s picture books: the file specs illustrations need for print on demand.