Gone are the days when you have to find a publisher and have your manuscript “accepted” to print soft cover books. With the help of a great printing company and the following softcover book printing tips, you can manage a short print run of books easily yourself!
Of course, what’s not to love about a softcover book? The way it bends and folds to fit your hands, or the way it looks timeless on any bookshelf or coffee table. The next best thing to the look and feel of your book would be an eye-catching cover design and high-quality printing to match it.
1. Cover Design
You have always heard you can’t tell a book by its cover, but covers definitely attract interest. In fact, when scanning the shelves of a bookstore, or the pages of an online shop, the first thing people do is judge a book by its cover! Play around with shapes, hues, textures, and everything in between.
Gatekeeper Press, who overs custom book cover design services, recommends basing your cover design on your book’s theme, plot, and/or imagery. The cover design should incorporate all the intricate details of your book, including textures, backgrounds, and blending.
Better yet, hire a professional! To design a book cover that really attracts the attention of your target market, use a professionally designed cover.
2. Cover Stock
Usually, book covers are coated on one side, though nowadays there are other paper options besides coated paper. With that said, you still have to decide the weight of the paper you wish to use. In the United States, this refers to the weight of 500 parent sheets of a particular type and size of paper. In other words, 500 parent sheets of 20# bond paper will weigh 20 pounds. This can get a bit confusing, but that’s why we’re here to help you find the perfect fit.
3. Extra Coatings and Special Effects
There seems to be an endless array of paper coatings to choose from. You can do book covers with stay flat nylon laminate, UV coating, or maybe even aqueous coating. Each of these provides an extra level of protection to the cover, resisting moisture, grease, and fingerprints. In addition, if appropriate, you can incorporate embossing or foil stamping into your cover design to make it stand out!
4. Inside pages
There are still more decisions to make with respect to the inside pages of the book! Will they be full color or black and white? What kind of stock do you want to use? You can use simple 20# white bond (copy paper) all the way up to 100# text stock, or even recycled stock, if you would prefer! There are also differences in the whiteness and opacity of various brands of offset papers.
5. Affordability
With today’s digital technology, small runs of soft cover books can be surprisingly affordable. There is no longer a need to run thousands of books and wait for buyers to show up. Run what you need, and run more later! Thinking about writing a prequel or a sequel? Perfect! You provide the ideas, we put them down on paper at a price that doesn’t break the bank.
Softcover Book Printing at The Print Authority
If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve been waiting for a sign to print your masterpiece… Well, this is it. Contact the experts at The Print Authority for a detailed explanation of all of your book printing options. We have been in business for almost 3 decades and can guide you through the process successfully!
