Book Printing and Binding FAQs
Which book binding service should I choose?
The different book binding options are often a personal choice, but commonly perfect back binding (softcover binding) is most common for novels, poetry, short stories, biographies, and the like. Whereas wire "O" binding (think college lined notebooks) is best for workbooks and books where the information is best when left wide open for full spread view. Hardback binding is great but can be expensive in short runs or odd sizes and generally takes a longer production time. Tape binding on the edge is a popular choice for draft and edit copies.
Are there other AlphaGraphics services that can help me with my book?
Yes. We can explain the copyright laws (no, we are not lawyers, but we know stuff!) We can help with the purchase and registration of ISBN numbers and barcodes (those funny little lines on the back lower right corner of most books). Our professional graphic designers can take your great cover idea and make it come to life. We can also organize your pages, center your text, add proper headers and footers, detail all the proper formatting, and even fix that pesky table of contents.
How long does it take to get my book printed?
If your book is already set up for print and you have properly prepared PDF files with crop marks and bleeds, then soft cover perfect bound books can usually be printed in two weeks or less. If we need to help with the page formatting, borders, table of contents, etc., then allow our design team a few more weeks to get the book print ready. And all this is done under our roof, not sent out of state or country. Your AlphaGraphics on Camelback team makes it happen, right here in AZ!
Can you customize the books you print in terms of size and shape?
Books come in lots of sizes, including the most popular 6" x 9" paperback size, but lots of custom sizes are not a problem, depending on what binding method you choose. Smaller books, 4" x 5", 5" x 7" or 5.5" x 8.5" are great for poetry and some short stories. Square books like 8" x 8" or 10" x 10" are also very popular in the photography world. We can even make die cut windows or shaped books in many cases.
If you found a sample book you just love, bring it in. Often we can either do a similar style or get you something very close.
Which variables factor into the book printing price?
A book that prints in all black and white will be less expensive than a book that prints in full color. Standard-sized books (think 6" x 9" paperbacks) are generally faster and cheaper to produce than custom-sized or square books. The number of copies you print at each printing also plays a large part in your final book price. The number of pages in your book also affects the final print prices. As a general rule, the more books you print in one printing, the cheaper the per book price is. Lastly, as you may guess, hardback binding is more expensive than soft cover perfect binding.
ISBN number and barcodes, what you need to know?
An ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is common on most modern books. It is a simple numeric identifier used by many bookstores, retailers (think big box stores and smaller ones too) as well as publishers to identify unique books. You would need a separate ISBN number for a soft cover vs a hard cover version of the same book, and an eBook or electronic book will need yet another version of the ISBN number. Most commonly the ISBN is placed as a bar code on the back cover. You can buy a ISBN number direclty from Bowker, or we can do it for you (the exact same thing, we just handle the heavy lifting for you), same exact price! They cost $125 each or $250 for 10 ISBN numbers. We will create your barcode for you for a small fee. Do not confuse getting a ISBN number with copyright. They are two completely different processes.