Just finished your special book and looking for a way to get it printed and perfect bound? With today’s Book Printing services, it’s no longer necessary to wait for a professional publishing house to accept your work. Today, authors can take publishing into their own hands…and Publishing Xpress can help!

To review whether a perfect bound binding option is right for your printing project, check out our article entitled Perfect Binding: A Guide for more information. Paperback books a classic example of perfect bound binding.

The Process of Perfect Bound Binding

When your book is printed on our digital presses, the covers are printed separate from the inside pages. Since the cover wraps around the inside pages, it is larger than the inside pages, which fit inside the cover. The inside pages are printed in sets of 2 or 4 books, depending on how large the book is.

Once the printing is complete, the inside pages are cut down to a little larger than the finished size. If you selected lamination for the cover, the lamination is applied to the covers, then the covers are cut down to a little larger than their finished size.

The covers and insides are then sent to the perfect bound binding machine to bind the books. One set of insides is put inside a clamp in the machine, which moves the pages over a milling machine that notches the spine. This allows the glue to soak into the pages of the book. The spine is then run over the glue pot, where glue is adhered to the spine and a little up the spine on both sides of the book. The inside pages are then positioned over the cover and clamped into place.

Once the books have set and the glue is dry, they are trimmed to the finished size of the book. Since the spine is the bound side, the book is trimmed on three sides.

There are two types of glue for perfect binding — EVA (ethyl vinyl acetate) and PUR (polyurethane). EVA glue dries much faster than PUR glue, but is not as tough or durable. For most applications, EVA is fine. But PUR glue is almost impossible to pull apart and will not come apart in very hot or cold weather. Also, perfect bound binding with EVA glue will not lay flat, while a PUR bound book will lay flat without falling apart. Publishing Xpress has two perfect binding machines — one that uses EVA glue and one that used PUR glue.

If at all possible, we will use the PUR machine when perfect bound binding. We are unable to use the PUR machine if the size of the book is smaller than 5 x 7 inches, there are only a few pages on the inside of the book, or if the book has to be shipped the same day (PUR glue needs to dry overnight).

Tips for Your Perfect Bound Book

The first thing to consider is whether perfect bound binding is the best option for your book, magazine, journal, or other multi-page document. Books that are going to be read a couple of times are great choices for perfect bound binding. But things like cookbooks where the cook wants the book to lay flat or journals where the user will be writing in the book may be better as a plastic coil or wire-o book. Consider the final use of the book before deciding on a binding style. Once you’ve settled on a perfect bound book, consider these tips:

Make sure to design your book with ample margins, especially near the spine. About 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch will get caught up in the spine of the book, so you want to make sure that any critical text avoids this area. The margin on the spine side of the book should be larger than the other three sides (unless you have ample margins on all four sides). Should for 1/2 inch on the three sides not in the spine and 3/4 of an inch on the spine side.
If you have a picture that is spread across two pages, be aware of the fact that some of the photo will be buried in the spine. Typically, this is not an issue if you are careful with the placement of the photo. Keep a person’s face to one side or the other, but not in the center. The central focus of the photo should be on one page or the other, not straddling both pages.
Odd pages numbers should be on the right side and even page numbers on the left. Either center the page numbers on the page or put the odd page number on the right hand side and the even page number on the left side of the page. If you place all page numbers on either the right or left side of every page, it is possible that some will get buried in the spine. Plus it looks more professional if the page numbers are on the outside edges of the two pages.
Text should only be included on the spine of the book if the width is greater than 1/4 inch. If the spine is smaller than that, the text will be too small and it will be hard to make sure the text remains centered on the spine. And make sure the text does not extend to the very top and bottom of the spine. The cover can shift a little when it is being bound and you want to make sure that the text is clearly centered on the spine.
While ample margins are important throughout your book, they are especially important on the cover. Keep all critical graphics and text well inside the cut line. Your book will look much more professional if it is not crammed with information on the cover or too close to the edge of the page.

Other Considerations for Perfect Bound Books

Whether you’re looking to make your work of fiction something more permanent, put together your family history in a way that will guarantee its posterity, or wish to create a perfect bound book that speaks to your chosen industry, with our book printing services, your finished piece will be polished, professional, and ready to sell, showcase, promote, or give as gifts.

Publishing Xpress offers a wide range of book printing options. You can print perfect bound books from 8 to 600 or more pages. Check out this Wikipedia article on perfect bound options for more information.

Other options include sizes — our pricing covers books at any size up to 9 x 12 finished size; color — your books can be printed full color throughout, or you can use just black ink on the inside pages; paper — we have a variety of paper options available; and quantity — we offer a minimum print quantity of only 25 copies, something that is anything but standard in the industry. Looking for landscape-oriented books? We can print landscape-oriented books for 5½ x 8½, 6 x 9, 8½ x 11, and 9 x 12 formats.

Inspiration for Perfect Bound Books

Check out our client spotlights that feature perfect binding:

Printing Your Perfect Bound Book with Publishing Xpress

More than anything, Publishing Xpress is committed to making sure your book printing project goes smoothly and is as convenient as possible for you – our customer. We want the end result to be exactly what you envisioned for your book. After all, we are helping you to bring your vision to life, and through our book printing services, we do everything in our power to make it as easy as possible.

We raise the bar on customer service, making our website available for convenient uploading and ordering; but we also have a hands-on team of experts who handle all of your book printing and other printing needs.

We are always here to help you move the process along and customize your book printing order to your liking. We pride ourselves on high-quality work, quick turnarounds — with the ability to proof the work via PDF files, and low prices.

Our focus is always on maintaining the highest-quality standards, and our low prices and convenient process do nothing to detract from that quality. Your book printing order is handled with expertise, professionalism, and an eye on the details.

Let us help you create the book you envision. Check out our other three book binding options. Our book printing experts will ensure that your project is handled to your precise specifications and that the finished project fully demonstrates our commitment to high quality!