Definition
Endpapers
Endpapers are the heavier sheets glued between a hardback's cover boards and its text block, one at each end. Paperbacks and most print-on-demand hardbacks do not have them.
Each endpaper is a single sheet folded once: half is pasted to the inside of the board, half becomes the first free leaf. They are structural before they are decorative — they take the strain where the block meets the case — which is why they are cut from heavier stock. Printed endpapers, maps in fantasy titles being the familiar case, are a trade-hardback feature and are generally unavailable through print-on-demand.
Related tools & guides
A print-ready interior, checked
Upload the manuscript and download an exact-trim PDF with embedded fonts and the right gutter for its page count — or check the PDF you already have against KDP's rules first.