Your Complete Guide To Book Printing

By Author: Alice Copper
Total Articles: 7
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Getting a cookbook printed, or any other book, is not so easy. When you have worked hard on your book, it is essential that you do not overlook printing, as it plays a crucial role in the success of your work. When choosing the printing method or deciding on the binding style, there are several things to be taken into consideration. Let’s read more about the process.

Attract attention with an appealing front cover that has a crisp, clean graphics. The interior text needs to be easy to read. Graphically pleasing layout and design for both the cover and text are essential, especially when it comes to cookbooks. Consider these three important elements before you request a quote for cookbook printing.

Getting any book published can be a nightmare, if you choose the wrong printer. You can end up with badly printed books after spending a huge amount. Some authors are more interested in saving money, so will knowingly (or unknowingly,) compromise on the quality of printing. Then, there are authors who unnecessarily spend more than needed to print their books.

One should never compromise on the quality of printing. ...
... However, you can save substantially while maintaining high printing standards, if you know a few things about the whole process.

Basics of Book Printing

Page count per signature is important. If the page count is multiples of the number of signatures used, the cost of printing will be more economical.

The cost and be high, but not unreasonable for even the highest quality cookbook printing or process color books with full color. High quality paper, high resolution images, and printing on commercial printing presses will mean that you will pay more than printing digitally, but the unit cost for each book is much lower.

Printing more books can save money. The more books printed on press, the lower the unit cost.

Digital Printing vs. Traditional Printing

Digital printing, often called POD or print-on-demand, is to output books, similar to printing or copying a document to a laser or inkjet printer. The images can smear when you wipe a moist finger across the page. Books are output a page at a time. The hardcover bindings are side sewn, not professionally bound. But, you can print just a few books at a time.

Traditional printing is much higher quality — if printed by skilled press technicians on commercial printing presses. Books are printed, ink on paper, on large sheets that are then folded several times into booklets called signatures. Signatures are gathered and then either sewn or glued together, trimmed and bound. The cost for traditional printing means that while you print more books to meet the minimum cost of press set-up, the cost per book is lower than digital output.

Binding

There are three different types of bindings most frequently used for books to be well-bound. The cost depends on the style of binding you choose.

Hardcover Book Binding – A hardcover or hard case book is bound with boards. It provides a sturdy cover, and is usually the most elegant binding method. It has the highest price point, but can also command a higher retail price compared to other binding methods.

Soft Cover Book Binding – This is a book cover that is a little heavier weight that the text weight. It is a paperback book and the cover is attached at the spine.

Wire-O Binding – A twin wire is used to bind pages together. Wire-O ® can bind hardcover or soft cover books. The wire can be seen, concealed or semi-concealed. It often comes in a choice of colors.

Saddle stitching (staples), spiral binding, and GBC (plastic coil) bindings are used more on low-cost commodity or small print shop printing, but not for higher quality cookbook printing.

Get in Touch with a Printing Broker

Many writers and publishers are getting in touch with book printing brokers, to save money, and for a smoother operation.

These reliable companies sometimes act as a representative of the book printer. It is becoming increasingly more popular to use a book printing broker that represents the publisher or independent authors. They have the interests of their clients in mind, instead of working for a printer. A good book printing broker understands book construction, design and printing. They can address color concerns, graphic design, shipping, and choosing the best, most reliable vendors. The book printing broker takes care of everything, and stands behind the books they print.

High quality printing and price affordability are the two prime concerns of a book printing broker. They have ties with a large number of printing companies, which help in maintaining high quality printing and service standards.

Whether you are a publisher or want to self publish your cookbook, the services of a printing broker will surely prove to be time saving and profitable.

The author of this article is associated with Star Print Brokers, the trusted book printing brokers for independent, self-publishing authors and publishers worldwide.