Booklets and Books
Booklets are the ideal way to convey lots of information. Modern technology makes them easy to design, since we only need your artwork supplied as individual pages and our prepress software automatically works out how to lay out the pages for printing.
At one time even a simple booklet was a tricky affair to prepare for printing. Pages had to be supplied as "printers' pairs" where page 1 might be opposite page 15, for example, depending on how the finished sheets would be gathered together before binding. Sometimes designers had to lay out "printers' spreads" which were even more complex affairs and prone to errors. Thankfully things have moved on apace and you can now supply your PDF in simple page order and let us worry about the rest!
Booklets consist of two or more double-sided printed sheets which are folded and then bound together. Because each leaf of a booklet is a folded double-sided sheet, booklets are always multiples of 4 in length. If your booklet has a cover and then two inner leaves, it is classed as a 12 page booklet – four cover pages and eight inner pages.
All of our booklet types offer inner pages in 100gsm or 120gsm uncoated paper, or silk or gloss paper in weights of 115gsm, 130gsm or 170gsm. They are printed in full colour throughout, but if your requirement is for a larger quantity in black only, or with a mixture of colour and black-only pages, please contact us and we will be happy to discuss the most cost-effective way of approaching your project.
Stitched booklets
The most popular, and inexpensive, type of booklet is a stitched (or stapled) booklet. They are made by printing multiple sheets of paper which are then folded, collated together, stitched (stapled) and finally cut to the correct size.
Stitched booklets have a minimum of 8 pages, and the maximum depends on the weight of paper used for the inside pages. Typically this type of booklet has between 16 and 24 pages, but up to 64 pages are possible if a lightweight paper is used for the inner pages.
Stitched booklets are available in A6, A5, A4, ⅓ A4, 148mm square, 210mm square or can be trimmed to your custom size.
Perfect bound booklets
If you need more pages than a stitched booklet can accommodate, perfect binding may be the answer. This type of booklet can have up to 240 pages (including the cover).
They are produced by having the pages printed in several groups on larger sheets of paper. These sheets are then folded and a process called castleated cutting creates a rough edge, to which a super-strong glue adheres and bonds the groups of pages together. Finally, a printed cover is glued on and the whole assembly is cut to size.
Perfect bound booklets are available in A6, A5, A4, ⅓ A4, 148mm square, 210mm square or can be trimmed to your custom size.
Wiro-bound booklets
Wiro-binding offers an advantage that no other binding type has: the ability for the booklet to lie flat when open. This makes wiro-binding the most suitable for booklets which are consulted regularly like recipe books, or which are written in, like training manuals.
Wiro-bound books can contain up to 180 printed pages in a variety of paper weights. For books intended to be completed by hand, choose either 100gsm or 120gsm uncoated paper which is smooth and easy to write on.
Wiro-bound booklets are available in A6, A5, A4, ⅓ A4, 148mm square, 210mm square and A3 (landscape only). Please note that because the binding wires are a fixed size, we are unable to offer custom size wiro-bound booklets.
Hardcover booklets
Hardcover booklets are just like hardback books, and give the same superb first-impression on being handled. They are also known as casebound books because of the way they are made.
Casebound books started out in a similar way to perfect-bound books, as groups of pages assembled on larger sheets of paper which are machine folded before being glued together. At the same time, printed and laminated sheets are glued on to stiff greyboard and flysheets and white endpapers are added. These two components are then bonded together to produce the final book.
Hardcover books can have up to 400 pages and need a minimum of 40 pages.
Turnaround time
Stitched booklets are usually supplied in 5 working days; the other types are more labour-intensive and can take up to 15 working days in total depending on the quantity ordered.
VAT guidance
Books and booklets are usually zero-rated for VAT. There are exceptions however, so please check our VAT Information page or contact us to discuss your project.