In my last post, I discussed bulk sales and how using printers outside of the KDP print-on-demand process can save you dollars (sometimes big dollars) with bulk sales.
Essential to the bulk sales scenario is knowing about book specifications and understanding how a book is printed. While working at Focus on the Family I went to Michigan for print training. I learned the book specifications lingo during this training, but they made a lot more sense when I started publishing my own books.
Geek that I am, I love touring a printing facility. I witnessed magazine pages being printed, assembled, and ad cards being blown-in (literally), all at an amazing speed of thousands per minute!
If you have a local printing facility, call and find out if they will give you a tour.
Whether you ever decide to bulk print or not, knowing these terms and basics about book production will help you make decisions about your print-on-demand book.
Press Basics
Offset printing is best for larger print runs of 500 or more. “Offset printing technology uses plates, usually made from aluminum, which are used to transfer an image onto a rubber ‘blanket,’ and then rolling that image onto a sheet of paper. It’s called offset because the ink is not transferred directly onto the paper.” (from PrintingforLess.com)
Each signature contains 8 pages of a book.
Offset printing cannot control the quantity of books printed as closely as digital printing can. A 10% overrun or under run is standard.
If you sold 1000 copies to a subscription box and those books will be delivered straight from the printer to that company, warn your printer you cannot have an under run. The company paid for 1000, they’ll want 1000, not 900. Conversely, you pay for the overruns and you’ll want those overruns to sell yourself.
Digital printing doesn’t use plates and applies ink directly to paper much like your home printer would. Digital printing works best for print runs of less than 500.
“Web presses are well suited for longer print runs of magazine and catalog production. Web presses use paper rolls to reduce paper costs, and they print and fold in one quick operation.” (from Walsworth.com)
Offset and digital printing are the standard for books.
Book Basics
- Hardcover, a standard for large traditional publishers like Simon & Schuster, but very expensive.
- Soft Cover, the standard paperback.
- The Interior
In book production, the interior is designed separately from the book cover. Many printers require a pdf file of the interior to print your book’s guts. - The Book Cover
The book cover is a separate file and most often uses more than just black color. Printers often accept a pdf file, but some accept files from design software like Adobe InDesign (the program I use).
Book Specifications
Trim Size
Trim size refers to the finished size of your book. It gets the name trim because the edges of paper get trimmed off in the assembly process.
Standard book trim sizes are 5 x 8, 5.5 x 8.5, 6 x 9. Children’s books are often 7.5 x 7.5, 7 x 10, and 10 x 8. Many standard sizes exist. If you get outside the standard, be prepared to hear “we can’t do that size” or that it will cost considerably more.
Paper weight
Various elements go into the determination of paper weight, much more than I want to go into with this blog post. This is where things can get confusing because there are so many types of paper. Visit your local office supply store for a bit of educational research.
Magazines require different paper from that used for books. Book covers are generally printed on cover stock (thicker and stiffer), while the interior is printed on book paper. The paper used in your home office printer is usually bond paper. The standards KDP offers are 55# and 60#, white or cream.
If your book interior is black text only, the standard 50#, 55#, or 60# provide you a quality book. However, if you are doing picture books, board books, text books, or books with 4-color photography, you’ll need to make inquiries about the best paper for these jobs.
Again, some personal educational research can come in handy. Is there a print shop in town? Give them a visit, view samples, and ask questions.
What you want to consider is that the ink soaks into the paper, and the paper type and weight affect how that ink goes into the paper. Stop a moment and grab a book. Now, take a look at how visible or not so visible the ink from the other side is. Paper type and weight make this difference.
Color
CMYK stands for cyan (bluish green), magenta (pink to purple), yellow, black. Printers use these standard 4 colors for hard copy printing, not for the web. (I have seen 5- and 6-color print presses.)
RGB stands for red, green, blue. Digital devices such at TVs, cell phones, and computers use this color process. It is a process in the background of programs like Canva. You’ll not notice it much unless you are deep into designing for the web.
Most book covers use the 4-color CMYK in their design. If you are using a designer, you’ll want to know if their design uses 4-color or not as you will want to let your printer know this.
Bleed
As you can imagine from the word, bleed is when color bleeds off the edge of your page. Normally, you have bleed on the cover, but you can find it on the interior as well.
Bleed margins are required because of the trimming process books go through. If you didn’t allow for bleed, you could end up with a white stripe along any of the edges of your book. Envision coloring a butterfly on a piece of white paper and then cutting out that butterfly for use on your vision board. If you cut outside the colored edge, you’re going to have a white stripe.
Binding
Many options exist for binding your book, but the two most common for books are perfect bound and saddle stitch.
- Perfect bound, the pages of your book are glued together.
- Saddle stitch, the pages are folded and nested together then secured with staples. This type of binding is best for books under 60 to 64 pages.
Requesting a Quote
Here are the book specifications you’ll want to provide when you request a quote from a printer:
- Book title
- Trim size
- Paper weight and color (white and cream are the common options)
- Page count of book
- Cover, whether 4 color or not, and is there color on the flip side.
- Quantity, and don’t be afraid to ask for varied quantities such as 50, 100, 200. Of course, if you know you need at least 1000, then start there.
Don’t hesitate to ask for recommendations in any of these areas, especially paper. You can also ask for samples of paper from many printers.
Printers I’ve worked with and heartily recommend:
- Walsworth, plants in Missouri and Michigan. They have offset, digital, web, and other printing options
- Books International out of Virginia.
Do you have questions about book specifications? Put them in the comments and I’ll be sure to answer them.
Except for the print quote request image, all other pictures were taken at the Marceline, Missouri, Walsworth printing facility.