Cheap Book Printing: Check Your Layout

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

If you’re trying to publish your own book and save money on book printing services, you’ll definitely want to pay attention to how your book is laid out. Minor adjustments in the layout can result in a reduction in page count that reap large savings on print cost.

Printers print pages in blocks, called signatures. A 32-page signature is most common, so if your page count is divisible by 32, that’s the most economical option possible. However, the general rule of thumb is to try to not print less than a quarter signature of 8 pages. So if your book is 266 pages, see if you can drop a couple pages to get it down to 264. You’ll definitely notice the cost savings for the print run.

How can you get an economical page count? Check your margins. Sometimes just widening them by a touch or narrowing them a little can adjust your page count by 2-4 pages or more. That could be the difference between needing to print with an extra signature or not.

Another easy change to make is to adjust the line spacing or leading. Here, too, a small adjustment can have a major impact on the page count. Don’t go overboard – if you look at your adjustment and it looks too squished, it might not be worth it. Get a second or third opinion to make sure your book remains readable.

However, before spending too much time worrying about your page count, talk to your printer. It may be that the price difference isn’t worth the hassle of adjusting your layout (although it probably is). Also, if you’re using a digital press, you don’t need to worry about page counts since they don’t use signatures. Other presses may use unusual signature breaks as well.

Finally, check with your printer regarding the size of your book. If you are printing a non-standard-sized book, the printer probably has some paper waste on the press. That paper waste equals extra cost for you.

So don’t be afraid to ask for help from your printer sales rep. And shop around. See if the trim size you have in mind might work better for a different printing plant. Or see if you can get recommendations from a plant as to what trim sizes work best for them. Minor variations can save a lot of money on your book publishing in the end.

Tagged with: art • attention • avi • book • expert • lead • Links • money • pr • recommendation • sales • services • site • Source • uaw • web • www

Filed under: Marketing

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!