Reply To: Questions about a perfect bound book

I can only answer from my experience with my publishers and printers:

1) The interior file and the exterior wrap cover are two separate files. You will send the printer an interior file with pages that are sized according to the book. For example, if you are doing a trade paperback, each page would be 5.5 inches wide and 8.5 inches tall. You can set it up in InDesign as facing pages, but the printer will want you to export it as individual pages, not two page spreads. The wrap-around cover will be provided as one file. They aren't going to want you to send them separate files for the back, spine, and front portions. They will want you to send it in the exact dimensions of the final book, no extra bleed space added on, but usually they will tell you to not put important information within 1/4 to 1/2 inch of the borders, as this area is subject to getting cut.

2) I don't understand this question. But unless you want an image of the cover to appear INSIDE the book, then you should not include them in your interior file

3) You should not need to set a specific bleed margin, but you may want to make your inside margins for the text be wider than the outside margins. For example, when I set a fiction novel as a perfect bound trade paperback, I typically make my interior margin 0.8125 in and my exterior margin 0.75 in. This results in a book that opens well without the owner having to pull hard at the binding to read the text near the spine, and it allows ample room for the person to hold the book open and not have to move their thumbs to read text that comes to the outside margins.