Manual printing is easy when you work with Publishing Xpress. We offer affordable, customized service to meet your unique needs. As an online manual printing company, we know the ins and outs of the printing business and can make your project a straightforward process from start to finish.
Options for Manual Printing Online
There are many different types of manuals. Publishing Xpress can help you with any number of possibilities, such as:
Training manual printing
Product manual printing
Instruction manual printing
If you are looking for some ideas for your manual, check out these 98 book manual ideas.
We also offer a variety of printing and binding options for printing manuals. Our online calculators can give you an instant quote on your printing project:
Printing options:
Adjust your print size. We offer several standard print sizes (5½” x 8½”, 6″ x 9″, 8½” x 11″, 9″ x 12″). You can also customize the print size to fit your specific needs.
Choose color or black and white. Depending on the type of manual, it may be better suited for black and white or color. Both options are available with Publishing Xpress.
Decide on coating options. Some clients choose lamination for the cover of their manuals. (This option is only available for perfect bound, wire-o, or plastic coil bound manuals.)
Manual Bindings:
Certain types of bindings may be more appropriate for your manual, depending on its ulimate use. Here are some options:
Wire-o bound. This is a great binding option for manuals that need to lay flat. It can also easily be folded over, much like a notebook.
Plastic coil bound. Another good option for manuals (and similar to wire-o binding), plastic coil also allows your work to lay flat and fold over easily.
Saddle-stitched. This may be an option if your manual is fewer than 80 pages.
Perfect bound. This type of binding is good for larger manuals. The binding itself has a flat edge.
If you’re not sure which binding is best, we can help you choose the binding that makes the most sense for your publication.
Working with an Online Manual Printing Company
Many people have reservations about working with online-only companies. We’re here to help you set aside your fears. Our customer service representatives are available to help you at every step of the way. And our digital submission process takes the pain out of submitting your manual, including product manuals and training manuals, for printing. But don’t take our word for how great we are to work with. Check out our numerous 5-star Google reviews.
Tips for Your Manual Printing Project
Most manuals we print have either plastic coil or wire-o binding, so our tips will be based on those binding options:
Most manuals, including product manual printing projects and training manual printing project, are meant to be used over and over again. Thus, durability is important to consider. We recommend using the heaviest cover stocks we have for the cover of your manual. Those are either 120# or 16 pt. Adding lamination will make the covers a little thicker and add durability. You can select lamination for just the front of the covers or both sides of the covers. We also offer clear plastic covers for the front and colored plastic covers for the back. Many of our clients will laminate the front cover and use colored plastic covers for the back. We love this option on manuals.
For the inside pages of your manual, you may want to consider 60# or 70# uncoated text stock if users will be writing in the manual. Otherwise, we offer 70#, 80#, and 100# gloss and matte text weight paper. Really want to add durability to your manual? You can also select 80# and 100# cover stock for all inside pages. Not sure what you should select for your manual? Request our free sample packet. Samples of all four of our binding styles are included — plastic coil, wire-o, perfect bound, and saddle stitch. The plastic coil book has samples of all of our paper stock plus shows a sample of gloss and soft-touch lamination. It’s a great resource when deciding what paper stocks to use for your manual.
Plastic coil and wire-o binding are similar. Many feel that the wire-o binding has a more sophisticated look. When children will be using the manuals, however, you might want to go with a plastic coil binding. The wire-o binding can have sharp edges, so plastic coil might make more sense when children will be using the manual. Both options are great for uses where someone will want the book to lay flat or will be writing in it.
When designing your manual, keep in mind that the left-hand side of the page will be punched. Make sure that your margins are large enough on that side of the page. We generally recommend at least 1/2 inch margin from the edge of the page. But for plastic coil and wire-o binding, we recommend that the side that will be punched have at least a 3/4 of an inch margin from the edge of the page. That way, no text will get punched and there will be an adequate margin from the binding for the user to read the manual.
A manual is like any other type of book — it needs a great cover. Don’t just slap a title and your contact information on the cover. Put some graphics on the cover along with other pertinent information. If you’re not sure how to design a great cover, consider using Publishing Xpress to design it for you. For only $100, we’ll design the front and back covers, making sure it is print ready. You’ll get two rounds of changes to make sure we get the cover just right for your project.
Inspiration
Check out these manual printing projects that are highlighted in our Client Spotlights:
Are you ready to self-publish your manual? Find out what it’s like to work with Publishing Xpress, an online printer with years of experience. Feel free to reach out with any questions you have. You can call us at 1-877-977-3779, email us at help@publishingxpress.com, or chat with us online (our chat feature is in the right-hand corner of every page on our website). Or check out our other book printing ideas.
