Request a Book Printing Estimate
Send us the details below so that our production team can prepare an accurate printing quotation.
- Book size
- Number of pages
- Interior colour and paper type
- Number of copies required
Book printing
Ready to print your book? Send us your specifications and we will guide you through the quotation and production process.
What decides the price of a print run
A printing quotation is only as accurate as the specification behind it. These are the details our production team asks for, and why each one changes the figure.
Trim size
The finished size of the book. A5 (148 × 210 mm) is the usual size for novels, memoirs and most non-fiction, and A4 (210 × 297 mm) suits workbooks, manuals and reports. A size that fits the printing sheet efficiently wastes less paper, which is why a standard size normally costs less than a custom one.
Page count
The number of printed pages, not manuscript pages. Once the text is typeset at the chosen trim size the count usually changes, so a final quotation follows typesetting. The page count also sets the spine width the cover designer works to.
Interior paper and colour
Uncoated paper is easier to read on for text-only books; coated paper reproduces photographs and colour illustration more faithfully. Printing every page in colour costs considerably more than black ink, so a book with a handful of colour images is worth discussing before the layout is fixed.
Binding
A glued, square spine (perfect binding) is the usual choice for paperbacks with enough pages to form one. Stapling through the fold (saddle stitching) suits thin books and booklets. A hardcover costs more and is chosen for books meant to be kept for a long time.
Cover finish
Matt or gloss lamination protects the cover from handling and moisture. Matt reads as understated and hides fingerprints; gloss makes strong colour and photography stand out.
Quantity and delivery
Every print run carries a fixed setup cost, so the price per copy falls as the quantity rises, but copies that do not sell are money spent in advance. Base a first run on the readers you can realistically reach, and tell us where the copies should be delivered so the quotation can account for it.
Files ready for the press
If you are bringing finished files, check them against this list first. Most delays in printing come from files that look right on a screen and are not right for a press.
- Interior pages as a single PDF at the final trim size, with fonts embedded
- Images of at least 300 dpi at the size they will be printed, not copied from a website
- Bleed (commonly 3 mm) on any page where colour or an image runs off the edge; the production team confirms the allowance for your book
- The cover as a separate file: back, spine and front, with the spine width worked out from the final page count
Files not ready yet? Our cover design and typesetting team prepares them to the printer's specification. If the book is still being written or revised, start with editing and proofreading, or see how a whole title moves through book publishing with us.