In an age when textbooks are updated frequently, you need a trusted printer who can print small quantities for your textbook printing project. With a minimum print quantity of only 25 copies and four different binding styles — perfect bound, plastic coil, saddle stitch, and wire-o — Publishing Xpress is a great choice.
Publishing Xpress specializes in printing books, so we understand textbook printing from top to bottom. We offer lots of options for your book printing, including numerous paper stocks, color or black and white printing, lamination for covers, corner rounding, and much more. And our customer service is unsurpassed. But don’t take our word for it. Check out all of our 5-star Google reviews. Our online calculators can give you an instant quote on your textbook printing project:
As you work on getting your textbook ready for publishing, keep these tips in mind:
For textbook printing, the most popular options are perfect bound, plastic coil, or wire-o Since textbooks normally have lots of pages, saddle stitch binding is usually not a good options (the maximum number of pages that can be bound this way is 80). Due to the way perfect bound, plastic coil, and wire-o is bound, you will need to add an additional margin on the bound side of every page.
We normally recommend 1/2 inch on the three non-bound sides and a 3/4 inch margin on the bound side of the page. For plastic coil and wire-o, the bound side is punched, so you need to make sure that no text or critical graphics are punched. For perfect binding, part of the page will be caught in the spine to hold the book together. Large margins help ensure there are no issues when the books are bound and help ensure that they can be easily read without destroying the binding.
Textbooks typically have some photos and graphics in them. You need to make sure that you use high quality photos. First, make sure that every photo is at least 300 dpi. Keep in mind that if you enlarge a photo, you reduce the resolution. So you may start with a photo that is 300 dpi, but after you enlarge it, the resolution may be significantly lower than that. A quick way to visually check the resolution, is to enlarge the page with the photo to 300% on your computer.
If it looks good, the quality will generally be fine for printing. If it looks grainy, you should get a higher resolution photo or reduce the size of the photo. Photos should be converted to a CMYK (cyan-magenta-yellow-black) color format. Almost all photos and graphics are in a RGB (red-green-blue) color profile, but printing presses must print in a CMYK format. The printing press can force the conversion to CMYK, but it is better if you convert the photo yourself, so there are no unintended shifts in color.
Your choices for paper for the cover are 80# and 100# cover stock for perfect bound books. For plastic coil and wire-o books, we would recommend the heaviest paper stocks, either 120# or 16 pt. cover stock. For inside pages, you can select anything from 60# uncoated to 100# gloss or matte text stock.
For textbooks that will be written in, we would recommend 70# text stock. If the text book won’t be written in, you might want to consider 80# matte text stock. To see the paper stocks for yourself, send for our free sample package. We’ll send you samples of our four binding options – perfect bound, plastic coil, saddle stitch, and wire-o. The plastic coil book has samples of all of our paper stocks as well as samples of gloss lamination and soft-touch lamination. Many clients find this package helpful when selecting options for their book printing.
We can add lamination to covers of perfect bound, plastic coil, and wire-o books. The lamination will add a little thickness to the cover and protect it. Gloss lamination will make the colors on the covers pop, while soft-touch lamination has a velvety feel to it. For plastic coil and wire-o books, you can also add a clear plastic cover to the front and a colored plastic cover to the back. Many of our clients will laminate the front cover and add a colored plastic cover to the back.
Ideally, before you start designing your yearbook or at least before you submit it for printing, go through some textbooks whose design and format you like. What is it about the textbook that you like? How are different chapters handled? What font do they use and how large is the font? How are photos and graphics handled? Are there any features that you weren’t considering but really like? You don’t have to copy another textbook exactly, but often you will find really good ideas for your textbook with this type of review.
If you have time and are concerned about some of your printing choices, consider getting a hard copy press proof. We will print and bind your textbook using the exact specifications from your order, so you can see exactly how your books will look. If you need to make any changes based on the proof, that’s not a problem and there is no charge. The cost for a hard copy press proof is $60 if shipped via UPS ground service and $100 if shipped via UPS overnight service.
Getting a textbook printed can be a huge task. Publishing Xpress is here to help make sure the process is effortless and that your textbook turns out exactly how you expect it. If you have questions, be sure to let us know.
Contact us to learn more about our textbook printing capabilities. Or take a look at our other book printing ideas. We look forward to hearing from you! You can call us at 1-877-977-3779, email us at help@publishingXpress.com, or chat online (our online chat is located in the right hand corner of every page on our website).
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