Choosing The Right Binding Method For Your Book

When publishing your book you may want to consider how your book will appear to it's readers. Does the appearance of your book convey your message? Does it fit the overall theme of your book? Choosing the right binding method can help you accomplish the right image and message for your book. Here's a list of our standard binding methods from Best Book Printing and their intended uses.

Saddle Stitched
Suitable for books with 80 pages or less. The press sheets are folded in half and stapled on the spine. ( I generally see used in books with smaller pages such as children's books).


Perfect Bound
Paperback books with more then 40 pages. This is the most common binding method for the self publisher. The pages are stacked and glued. They are then glued to the inside of the cover. (I usually see these used for instructional how to type books).


Case Bound
Hard cover books wrapped in cloth and foil stamped on the cover and spine. This method requires a minimum of 80 pages. This is more expensive but also more durable than perfect binding.


Case Bound with Dust Jacket
Same as standard case binding with the addition of a one sided loose color cover. This affords additional protection to the cloth cover and still allows for foil stamping on the cover and spine.


Case Wrapped
Mechanically the same as a case bound book, but instead of foil stamped cloth material, the cover wrap is printed in color on paper and applied to the outside boards with adhesive.


PlastiCoil
Much like metal spiral binding but made with a more durable plastic coil. This is suitable for books with up to 250 sheets and the coil is available in a number of standard colors.


Wire-O
A professional looking mechanical binding method that is available in 3 standard colors. This method uses a double loop of coated metal. Like PlastiCoil, it is suitable for books with up to 250 sheets.
The binding methods examples were taken from the FAQ section of Best Book Printing

Book Marketing Resources for the Self Publisher

When kicking off your book marketing and promotions campaign it is always good to get as much reviews and media coverage as possible. Every moment could possibly be a missed marketing opportunity for your book There are many resources to get your book noticed such as newspapers, blogs, forums and columns to name a few. Here are a few Review Column Sources:

American Book Review
Black Issues Book Review
The Bloomsbury Review
Boston Book Review
Boston Review
Broken Pencil
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Complete Review
Contemporary Poetry Review
ForeWord
New Haven Review
Lit Mob
Midwest Book Review
New York Review of Books
QBR The Black Book Review
Rain Taxi Review of Books
VLS
The Women's Review of Books
Yale Review of Books

Book Printing Money Saving Tips

When it comes to book printing we all would like to get the project done right the first time. We also would like to keep our cost down in order to maximize our profits. Printing your first book does not have to break you but there are some basic things to consider. First, make sure you have a good relationship with your publishing company regarding your project. This will save you time and money when it comes to your first book publishing project. A great way to know if you have chosen a good publishing house is by their ability to disclose your printing options to you. Here are some of those options:

Money Saving Tip #1:

Stock selection can make a difference in costs. A great way to cut back on costs is by the type of stock you choose for your book.

Money Saving Tip #2:

Choosing to make your book a soft cover verses a hard cover can bring your costs down.

Money Saving Tip #3:

Opting for black and white verses color is a major way of slashing your book printing costs.

Money Saving Tip #4:

When it comes to book printing the savings in printing is based on how many books you print. The more you print the more you will save per book on printing cost.

Money Saving Tip #5

It takes money to make money so with being said, don’t skimp on you books image or style. Sometimes you have to spend a little on printing extras like: adding ribbon bookmarks, foil stamping, a leather cover, custom name stamping, fold outs and so on. If it will help with your books image or theme then feel free to enhance. The investment can be fruitful.