Book Design Made Simple

You can do it yourself.

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You are here: Home / Archives for book printing

Book Printing


Stack of printed books.Below you'll find links to all the information about book printing that’s available on our website, book, videos, and blog.

Get started with Part I of Book Design Made Simple, where you’ll learn how to lease and install Adobe InDesign, create a document, and import your manuscript from Word. Download Part I for free by subscribing to our blog—simply use the form below.

Excerpts from Book Design Made Simple

  • Book trim size: how to choose the right trim size
  • Ebooks vs print books: why not create both editions?
  • Book binding: many options beyond softcover and hardcover
  • Digital vs offset printing — which is better? what’s the difference?
  • List of book printers for indie authors

 

Blog posts

Below are all the blog posts in the Book Printing tag, starting with the most recent post.

Self-publishing services compared

October 7, 2024 By Glenna Collett 12 Comments

Self-Publishing Services: image of an open book.Are you ready to find a self-publishing service for your masterpiece? In this article we hope to help you discover the right one for your needs, whether it’s a full-service shop, simply a printing press, or an ebook conversion. Even though—as we always say—you can do it yourself, everyone needs at least a little help getting their book out there.

Possibly the majority of new publishers go straight to KDP, but many folks prefer to avoid Amazon for their own reasons. We will focus here mostly on other well-known self-publishing services. Aside from the ones we mention, there are many more to be found online and even advertised on television. Please read our words of caution at the end of this article about all self-publishing services.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Publishing Tagged With: Amazon, book marketing, book printing

Book edge treatments

July 8, 2024 By Fiona Raven 2 Comments

Painted fore edge by Joyfully Tessa Studios.

Fore edge painting: JoyfullyTessaStudios

Book edge treatments include anything that is applied to the edges of a book’s pages. This includes paint or gilding, or even patterns cut into the paper. Some treatments are done during a book’s production at the printer or bindery, and others are applied manually after a book is printed and bound.

We’ve compiled some ideas to inspire you about creative and fun ways to jazz up your books. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Book Design Tagged With: book binding, book printing

Crop marks and other printer’s marks

January 8, 2023 By Glenna Collett 3 Comments

Purple image with crop marks in corner.Crop marks and other printer’s marks appear in the PDFs you send to the printer. In Book Design Made Simple, we mention crop marks exactly once and never define what they are, so we think it’s about time that we did so.

Simply put, crop marks are chop marks—they indicate where the printer will chop around the edges of the stack of printed pages to make them the correct size, and a nice, neat package for binding. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Publishing Tagged With: book binding, book printing

Book endpapers: A gallery of ideas

July 11, 2022 By Glenna Collett 3 Comments

collage of endpaper artBook endpapers (also called endsheets) are probably the least noticed part of a hardcover book. But the endpapers are literally what hold the pages and the cover together. And they can add value to your book if you use them well.

If you’re publishing a paperback, take a look at the examples in this article for ideas anyway; you’ll find that the same principles can apply. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Book Design Tagged With: book binding, book printing, children's books, color

Book binding basics

July 12, 2021 By Glenna Collett 5 Comments

A display of book binding in hardcover and paperback books.Like everything else, the ancient art of book binding is automated these days, and the array of available binding machines is amazing. This article aims to quickly explain the basics of book binding methods so you’ll be able to choose a book printer wisely.

Book binderies can be separate entities but are usually integrated with a book printing company. And in some instances, printing and binding are done right inside the same machine. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Publishing Tagged With: book binding, book printing

Book distribution 101

November 8, 2020 By Glenna Collett 2 Comments

books in a book distribution warehouseYou’ve published a book—or you will soon—and you know that you’ll need to get it to readers. But how? That basic question is what we’re going to clue you in on. The very concept of book distribution confounds a lot of first-time publishers, so we’re hoping to make it all clear here.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Publishing Tagged With: Amazon, book marketing, book printing, ebooks

Design a workbook

September 7, 2020 By Glenna Collett 2 Comments

Design a workbook, five sample front covers shown.Want to design a workbook? Who uses those any more?

Lots of folks, actually. Even though there are apps for practically everything these days, children still enjoy workbooks for mazes or drawing or learning practically anything. Adults can use them for recording their latest bird find or geocaching location, or for word or number puzzles, for instance. A coloring book can be considered a workbook, too.

We’ll help you design a workbook that will work well for your audience.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Book Design Tagged With: Amazon, book printing, copyright, typesetting

How much does it cost to self-publish?

January 13, 2020 By Glenna Collett 11 Comments

dollar and pound signs indicating book publishing expensesThe path to a high quality self-published book is strewn with expenses. Annoying, maybe, but necessary. So, how much does it cost to self-publish? We’ve discussed most of the cost issues in the past, but here I’m pulling them all together so you won’t stumble on any surprises as you make your way.

Please don’t let anyone persuade you that you can produce a printed book that is up to publishing industry standards—and also market it—for free, because that’s simply not true.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Publishing Tagged With: Amazon, book marketing, book printing, copyright, ebooks, images, ISBN

Design a coffee table book

November 11, 2019 By Glenna Collett 23 Comments

coffee table books on a coffee tableCoffee table books. Are they a blast from the past? No, actually, folks are still publishing them, and you can, too. Do you have an idea for a coffee table book of poetry and photography? About a specific artist or a place you love? About your local history, or something completely different? With good planning and design, your book could become very successful. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Book Page Design Tagged With: book marketing, book printing, color, images, text frames

POD Book Publishing

September 9, 2019 By Fiona Raven 61 Comments

POD publishing means print-on-demand and no more book shipping costs.Thinking of POD book publishing? So are we! When we published Book Design Made Simple, we got a good deal for printing both editions at Friesens in Canada. Offset printing cost us about 62% less than print on demand (POD) at Amazon. We also found a book distributor, which has housed our books and handled all of our orders ever since.

But now we’re running low on print books, and we need to decide what to do next. Should we do another offset print run, or switch to POD book publishing? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Publishing Tagged With: Amazon, book printing, ISBN

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Recent Posts

  • Special signature inserts in books April 7, 2025
  • Designing a book title page January 13, 2025
  • Self-publishing services compared October 7, 2024
  • Book edge treatments July 8, 2024
  • Creative book cover treatments April 8, 2024
  • Designing book running heads January 8, 2024
  • A style sheet template for your book November 11, 2023

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