Is there a bleed correction in KOMA?

Question

I'm preparing a book (text only) using the scrbook class of the KOMA-Script that in the end should have A5 sized pages. To do that, I have to prepare a PDF that has slightly larger pages, since the printer will crop 3.15mm from all edges (bleed). This I can obtain with the class option paper=15.44cm:21.62cm.

Now, I'd like to apply the box construction method presented in the KOMA-Script documentation. I can correct the page area for the binding using BCOR=... This length is then disregarded before applying the box construction.

However, since the printer crops 3.15mm after printing my oversized A5 pdf, the final pages won't respect the box construction method which was applied on the oversized A5 paper (minus the binding correction). Basically, I'd need a similar setting to BCOR that takes into account the bleed before applying the box construction, right? How do I achieve that?

I've seen this answer, but it doesn't seem to follow the box construction method for the page layout.

Answer 1

You have to go the other way round and specify the normal A5 paper dimensions (148mm × 210mm) in the options for the document class. You then can use the »crop« package to specify a paper format that adds the mentioned 3.15mm to all margins. Take a look at this approach.

\documentclass[
  paper=a5
]{scrbook}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[
  cross,
  center,
  width=154.3mm,
  height=216.3mm
]{crop}
\usepackage{blindtext}

\begin{document}
  \blinddocument
\end{document}

The crosses mark the actual paper size A5. The type area chosen by the class now corresponds to the paper size. The bleed can be cut after printing. Ask your printer if this is acceptable.

Note that the »blindtext« package is only used here to create the dummy document, thus is not part of the solution.

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