On this custom printing job, we’re trimming the book costs to the bone. A print brokering client of mine is producing a family history from the Second World War. He needs to keep costs down since he will be paying the bill himself. However, it’s his legacy. Therefore, the book has to look really good.
Questioning Book Trim Sizes
For this 352-page book with an ultra-short press run of 50, 100, or 200 copies, we have looked at offset and digital commercial printing from various vendors. Offset would be ideal due to the superior quality of the print. In fact, regardless of how we produce the text, printing the cover via offset lithography will be essential in order to maintain the level of quality my client requires.
In the various estimates I have received, I have seen about a $2,500.00 premium (for all press run options) to print the 9” x 12” size rather than the 8.5” x 11” format. Although the larger book would give a more dramatic feel to the printed product, and although it would provide more space for a more ornate interior design, it would be expensive.
Other vendors’ prices reflect a smaller cost difference between the two sizes, but the $2,500 price difference noted above comes from the vendor with the lowest overall bid. So this may be a good place to cut. Therefore, I have asked my client to consider the 8.5” x 11” size over the larger format.
Questioning the French Flaps
My client also wanted French flaps, the flaps that fold back into the front and back covers giving the illusion of a dust cover on a paperback book. It’s very high style. I included them on a book for the Chilean Embassy once. Picture 3.5” flaps extending from the face margin of the front and back covers. Once folded in, they give an extra front and back panel on which to include author biographies, supplemental material, or whatever else the author wants.
However, they’re expensive. The commercial printing vendor with the low bid would charge about $700.00 for French flaps on any of the three press runs. Therefore, I’ve asked my client to consider their value to him.
Considering Cover Coatings
I initially specified a lay-flat dull film laminate to be applied to the front and back covers. These offer a crisp appearance and ultimate protection for the books. However, the coating is applied by an additional vendor, a subcontractor. The low bid vendor can apply a dull UV coating with his own equipment, saving approximately $200.00 to $500.00 for all press run options. I’ve asked my client to consider this.
Considering the Digital Option
Another print vendor with an HP Indigo can offer a digital 9” x 12” book with French flaps for approximately $2,300.00 less than the low bid offset printer can produce an 8.5” x 11” offset-printed book with French flaps. This would be true for 100 books but not for 200 books.
There will be a lot of photos, so this is not necessarily the best answer. The Indigo is the highest quality digital printer I’ve seen. The liquid toners provide superb color. But for this job all that’s needed is black and white. However, the photos are from World War II. They’re not great. They need to be exceptionally well reproduced. Fortunately the digital commercial printing vendor has also included in his price an 80# Finch Vanilla Text stock, which is slightly thicker than the paper included in the low-bid offset printer’s estimate.
I’m going to want to see samples of similar print books from this vendor, but I’ve asked my client to keep an open mind. Fortunately, only the interior pages would be printed digitally. The cover would be offset printed, and the pricing would include French flaps.
The All-Digital Option
I have tried to steer my client away from only printing an electronic book to be read on a tablet. I think that especially for a family history, a physical print book he and his family members can hold in their hands would be treasured. After all, the focus of the book will be on the photos. So having a two-page spread of 9” x 12” pages (i.e., a 18” x 12” canvas, if you will), would be impressive.
That said, it wouldn’t hurt to distill the InDesign book file into a screen-ready (as opposed to press-ready) PDF. Perhaps the design could be slightly altered as well to optimize this version for reading on a tablet. The good news is that burning the file to CD or DVD (even commercially, in order to yield 50, 100, or 200 copies) would not be very expensive.
If my client were to print (either digitally or via offset lithography) a small to medium inventory of physical print books and also burn PDFs of the book to CD or DVD, he could sell the CDs or DVDs for a small amount and make a profit that could help offset the cost of the physical book printing run.
I’ve also asked my client to consider this option, and, just in case, I have an offset printer waiting in the wings who duplicates CDs and DVDs in addition to putting ink and toner on paper.
What You Can Learn from This Experience
Here are some rules of thumb to take away from this case study:
- Consider the trim size when designing a book. The number of book pages that can be laid out on a press sheet will significantly affect the final cost.
- Any aspect of production that can be done in-house by your printer, rather than jobbed out to a subcontractor, will save you money. This includes binding methods and cover coating methods.
- “Bells and whistles” such as French flaps, embossing, die cutting, and such, improve the overall look of a book. However, their absence does not necessarily reduce the aesthetic value of your project. Consider whether they are really necessary. Omitting them can save you money.
- Look closely at the press run and page count when determining whether to choose an offset or digital press. Offset is still superior, but for many jobs digital printing would be fine. Don’t pay for what you can’t see. But be sure to check out samples closely under good light.
- In choosing between a print version only or an electronic version only, why settle for one or the other? Consider saving money by doing slightly shorter runs of both.
- These rules of thumb pertain to other jobs than just book printing.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, December 27th, 2012 at 3:34 pm and is filed under Book Printing, Digital Printing, Soft Cover Book Printing.
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