Stapled booklets are a cheap but durable way to bind your pages.
If you want to print booklets that look great and cost as little as possible, we recommend saddle stitch booklet printing (stapled booklets). This method is unique among our other book binding options. Our prepress agents sequence your pages to print 2-up on each side of a sheet. As the sheets print, our stapling finisher folds each sheet in half and staples the stacked sheets in the correct reading sequence. The staples go through the fold, or saddle, hence the term saddle stitch booklet printing.
Because each sheet creates 4 pages in your finished booklet, page counts must go in multiples of 4. If you meant to order 1 sheet folded in half to make 4 pages, order this on the 4-Page Half-Fold Newsletters product page instead.
NEW: Mail Books in Padded Envelopes
- Price out the printing as normal
- Select Bulk Mailing - Ship in Padded Envelopes
- Upload your Excel or CSV file with your artwork
Saddle Stitch Booklet Design Tips:
Please setup your files 1-printed-page per page in your file, not as reader spreads (where two pages appear side by side). We will automatically sequence each page so that booklets read in the right order after folding and stapling. Spreads will not let us do that.
Do not set your pages up as spreads.
Set them up as single pages instead.
The low cost and simple elegance of stapled booklets make them a great binding choice for magazines, event programs, team memory books, playbills, business reports, student publications and much more.
Glossy is Better:
If you're looking to improve the quality while keeping costs low, try adding a glossy cardstock cover for an extra boost of professionalism. Because unfortunately, many readers still tend to judge a book by its cover. For full color booklets with a lot of graphics, consider using the 32/80# Text Gloss for the inside.
Bleeds:
Do you need printing to go to the edge, leaving no margin? If so, make sure to choose "Bleeds - Yes" and
setup your bleed content according to our specifications.
If you have any questions about cheap booklet printing, including setting up your files for stapled booklets, please feel free to
call or email.
"I have to admit - I was EXTREMELY nervous using DOCUcopies.com - I had never known your company existed before, and my very first order was pretty complicated and I needed it in less than one week...I had a lot of people relying on the shipment arriving in time - not to mention a potentially embarrassing situation...but I could not pass up your pricing to I decided to use your service.
The order is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT...all my instructions were followed to the letter...the package was delivered the day it was promised and packaged so very carefully, and the stapled booklets are absolutely beautiful. I wish to say a special thank you for taking the extra care to manipulate the PDF files as I requested to re-arrange the first few pages and insert the special copyright permission letter.
You have not only won me over, but I will continue to use your service from now on - not only have you given me confidence with your abilities, but you have demonstrated that you're willing to take extra care with special and complicated jobs.
Oh - and there's the pricing - I still can't believe you were able to do this order for the price I paid - and for a non-profit, you know that's critical!
THANK YOU!!!"Joseph S. - IN
"I ordered a scrapbook and I am extremely pleased with the product. The color and print quality of the photos on the pages are very sharp, and the paper is thick and durable. I was super excited to receive my order! Thank you for helping me preserve and share memories in such a durable, tangible, and aesthetically pleasing way!"Rose J. - NY
"Our booklets look wonderful, thank you so much for the quick and beautiful printing services! And your customer service is great, too. We will definitely be using you guys again next year"Christine L. - MI
"This is the eighth year our band has used Docucopies to print our annual show concert program booklet. Every time the quality of product, customer support, and turnaround time has been excellent. I know I can wait for last minute ads because I'm not worried that we won't get the booklets in time. I can't find a local printer that would even come close to your prices."George W. - NJ
"This is the second year I have used Docucopies.com to create program booklets for my scholarship program. I am completely satisfied with the high-quality and low-cost products! I will definitely refer all my friends and colleagues to your site and I will absolutely use your site again next year! Thank you! Also, I worked with Ashlee via email before placing my order and she was extremely friendly and helpful."Mandi S.
FAQ
Why should I use saddle stitch booklet printing?
Saddle stitch booklets are incredibly popular because they deliver a professional looking product at the lowest price possible. Because the folding and stapling is done by machine, this keeps the costs low. Stapled booklets also print incredibly fast, leaving more time and machine resources for other jobs. Keeping the binding price minimal helps sophisticated marketers focus their attention on other WOW! factors like glossy paper, professionally designed graphics and efficient distribution.
Cheap booklets don't have to look cheap. While stapling is the most economical print and binding method, you may want to consider our other book binding options depending on the needs of your project.
See All Book Binding Options
Why do page counts go in 4's?
This is because of the way saddle stitch booklets are constructed.
Picture an 8-page stapled booklet which is sized 8.5x11. If you were to open to the center spread and pull out the staples, you would see that the booklet is actually only made from 2 - 11x17 sheets. Because each 11x17 sheet produces 4 - 8.5x11 "pages" (2 on each side), this is the only way pages can be counted.
If your booklet page count doesn't quite reach a multiple of 4, you can add more content or just add blank pages to get there.
Where are your 4-page booklets?
Because a 4-page booklet is only 1 sheet folded in half, we categorize this product under Newsletters:
4-Page Half Fold Newsletters
What paper should I use to avoid see-through to the backside?
To absolutely avoid show-through in your printed booklet, we recommend either of the 32/80# Text options or heavier. In our experience this is a safe choice for booklets printed with photos, graphics and text alike.
For booklets where most of the content is text, most people are happy with the 28/70# Text Smooth. This is a mid-weight paper and has minimal show-through, which is much less noticeable with text-oriented pages where the text is more or less aligned back-to-back.
Will I receive a digital proof before you print my booklets?
In most cases, we do not automatically send a digital proof. If you do want a digital proof first, no problem! Just request this in the Job Notes. The reason for this is that the vast majority of files are setup correctly and require no reformatting or proofing. Most customers also want their job as fast as possible. Unfortunately with email, there is always the risk that the digital proof could end up in the Spam, Junk or Promotions folder, which is more likely to cause a delay in production than it is to stop a misprint from occurring.
But there are some cases in which we must receive proof approval before we can print. This includes:
- Files which are not uploaded as JPG, PNG or PDF
- Any time we make file edits at your request
- If we happen to notice something that looks "wrong" but aren't sure
Is there a limit for saddle stitch binding page count?
Because of the way saddle stitch booklets are created, there are page-count limitations due to the thickness of the paper and length of the staples. The page limit for your booklets will depend on the paper you select.
Our thinnest paper for cheap booklets is the 20/50# Bond, which will allow up to 180 pages printed in your saddle stitch booklets.
Higher quality paper like the 32/80# Gloss is capped at 48 pages, while middle-weight papers fall in between.
Can you mail my printed booklets?
Yes we can. Select a Bulk Mailing option on the order form and upload your mailing list (Excel or CSV) with your files. If you need them folded in half and tabbed closed, this requires a custom quote: please fill in your job details to the best of your ability (including Bulk Mailing) and click "Save as Quote." Then you can email us and let us know you need pricing for folding and tabbing.
