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Cheap Book Printing: Check Your Layout

"The way I lay out my book can have an impact on my final printing cost?" In a one-word answer: Yes!

For example, most offset printers use 32-page signatures. This means that you will want to keep your page count divisible by 8, 16, or 32. A 130-page book can cost a fair amount more to print than a 128-page book, so it's worth trying to figure out how to get rid of those two extra pages, if at all possible.

How can you get an economical page count? Check your margins. Sometimes just widening them by a touch or narrowing them a little can adjust your page count by 2-4 pages or more. That could be the difference between needing to print with an extra signature or not.

Another easy change to make is to adjust the line spacing or leading. Here, too, a small adjustment can have a major impact on the page count. Don't go overboard - if you look at your adjustment and it looks too squished, it might not be worth it. Get a second or third opinion to make sure your book remains readable.

However, before spending too much time worrying about your page count, talk to your printer. It may be that the price difference isn't worth the hassle of adjusting your layout (although it probably is). Also, if you're using a digital press, you don't need to worry about page counts since they don't use signatures. Other presses may use unusual signature breaks as well.

One last area that can save money on the print run is by rethinking the trim size of the book. Too many times I've seen customers insist on a specific print size when adjusting it by 1/4" or 1/2" would save them quite a bit of money. Why is that? Because different trim sizes are set up differently on different presses. A trim size that works well on one press might generate a lot of paper waste on another press. And guess who pays for that extra paper waste - you!

Don't assume that the trim size you are using for your book will work just fine. Ask your printer's sales rep for recommendations for your trim size. Maybe they will recommend that you drop your size by just 1/8" or 1/4". Wouldn't it be worth it to do that to save money on the print run? Almost certainly!

Article Source: http://www.articleadventure.com

Josh Prizer has worked in book publishing for 15 years and is a cheap book printing expert. To learn how to publish your own book, visit his web site.

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