Looking to have a manga printing project printed? Publishing Xpress is experienced in printing graphic novels, comic books, and manga comics. As experienced manga printers, we offer numerous options and outstanding client service for your manga printing project. Check out our online calculators for an instant quote on your manga printing project:
Manga is a Japanese graphic novel with a specific form of drawing characters. Manga characters typically have large eyes and spiky hair. Manga books are usually printed in black and white, not color on the inside pages.
This is because most Japanese manga books are series that are printed on a weekly or monthly basis, and coloring them would take too much time. The books are also typically read from right to left. The standard size of a Manga book is 5 x 7.52 inches. Manga became popular in the United States after Japanese animated shows (anime) became popular in the 1990s. Check out this article on Japanese Manga.
For purposes of these tips, we will assume that your manga printing project will be perfect bound or saddle stitch, which is standard for these types of books. As you work on your manga, consider these tips:
The standard size for a manga comic is 5 x 7.52 inches. To order that size on our calculators, select the next largest size, 5.5 x 8.5 inches, and note in special instructions that the finished size should be 5 x 7.52 inches. Of course, you aren’t required to select that size. We can print from up to 9 x 12 inches.
In order to print properly, your graphics and images need to be high resolution (at least 300 dpi) with all colors converted to a CMYK (cyan-magenta-yellow-black) color profile. Computer designed images usually default to RGB (red-green-blue) color profile, but must be converted to CMYK when printing. Our printing presses will force convert to CMYK, but it is better for you to make the conversion, so you can see the variation in color from converting.
Manga books have a lot of images and text on the page. It is important to have large margins between any critical text and graphics and the edge of the page, so that nothing critical gets cut off when the book is trimmed. That doesn’t mean that you can’t have bleeds on the page, just that text and critical graphic elements need to be away from the edge of the page. Larger margins will also give your book a more professional look.
If your manga book is perfect bound, keep in mind that some of the page on the bound side will be lost in the spine area. You should leave even larger margins on the bound side of the page. You don’t want the reader pulling the book apart trying to read the text. We recommend at least 1/2 inch on the three unbound edges and 3/4 inch on the bound edge, whether you are using perfect bound or saddle stitch binding.
For saddle stitch books, you can select the same paper for the cover and inside pages. For perfect bound books, you need to select a cover stock for the cover and a text stock for the inside pages. For the inside pages, we have text stock from 60# uncoated text to 100# gloss or matte text. For perfect bound covers, we have 80# cover or 100# cover stock.
Consider ordering our free sample package, which has a plastic coil book with samples of all of our paper stocks. The book also has examples of gloss and soft-touch lamination. The sample package also has examples of our four binding styles — perfect bound, plastic coil, saddle stitch, and wire-o.
We can’t laminate saddle stitch books, but consider lamination for a perfect bound manga gook. Gloss lamination will make the colors on the cover pop, while soft-touch lamination has a very velvety feel to it. Lamination also offers protection for the cover.
With perfect binding, you need to be careful of images and text spreading across two pages. Since some of the page on the bound side will get caught in the spine, you can lose parts of text and images in the spine. Make sure that any text is clearly away from the spine. With images, make sure that characters’ faces are to the left or right of the center of the spread.
Be careful of images that are spread across two pages. With saddle stitch binding, be sure that a letter or word is not on two pages of a spread. It is very difficult to line up text that precisely and it is not unusual for the word to be slightly unaligned. It is much better to have text on one page or the other.
Before you finalize your manga printing project, review other manga comics. You might find interesting things in another book that you want to use in your manga printing project. You shouldn’t copy another manga comic exactly, but you might find elements in other books that you want to include in your manga comic.
Before submitting your manga book for printing, have a couple of friends or family members review it first. When you are so close to a project, it is easy to miss obvious errors. You will probably be surprised at the things they see that you never noticed.
Publishing Xpress will make the printing process easy for your manga book. Your dedicated client service rep will ensure that your manga book turns out the way you expect and will answer any questions you have during the process. We are known for our spectacular client service. But you don’t need to take our word for it. Check out all of our 5-star Google reviews.
Feel free to contact us for more information about manga printing. We’d be happy to discuss your manga printing project, explaining the different printing and binding options available. You can chat with us online (our chat feature is located in the right hand corner of every page on our website), call us at 1-877-977-3779, or email us at help@publishingXpress.com. You may also want to check out our other book printing ideas.
© 2024 Publishing Xpress. All Rights Reserved.
