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Cheap Booklets

Saddlestitch binding uses staples for cheap booklet printing.

Order stapled booklets for a professional, affordable product.

When you need cheap booklets that still look and feel professional, saddle-stitch booklet printing is your best option. This binding method utilizes folding, trimming and staples to print booklets that are low-cost, high-impact, and perfect for a wide range of professional and creative uses. This makes saddle-stitch binding one of our most popular services.

Saddle stitch booklets use staples for cheap, professional binding.

Stapled booklets are the most economical way to bind multiple pages together. This makes saddle-stitch books ideal for high-volume, short-term use materials such as newsletters, brochures, mailers, catalogs, magazines and more.

    Why is binding booklets with staples economical?

    There are several reasons that staples are used for cheap booklet printing:

  1. Production Efficiency:
  2. Saddle-stitch binding is a relatively quick and efficient process, which helps reduce production costs. The booklet finishing unit folds double-wide sheets in half after printing and staples booklet pages along the folded crease. This equates to lower labor and setup costs compared to more complex binding methods, which makes staples the ideal choice for printing cheap booklets.
  3. Material Economy:
  4. Saddlestitching booklets with staples requires minimal material usage, resulting in reduced costs compared to other book-binding options. The reduced material consumption also makes stapled booklets more environmentally friendly.
  5. Scalability:
  6. Whether you need a small batch or a large volume, these cheap booklets are easily scalable. The cost per unit decreases as the quantity increases, allowing you to print booklets in bulk without breaking the bank. This scalability is particularly beneficial for promotional campaigns, trade shows, and seasonal marketing efforts.

How do staples make saddle-stitch booklets?

  1. Pages are arranged and printed 2-up on each side of a sheet.
  2. Sheets are folded in half and nested so pages read in the correct sequence.
  3. The finishing unit staples booklet pages together with 2 staples on the fold.
  4. Edges are trimmed evenly, and the booklet comes out finished.
saddle-stitch booklet printing with staples in the fold

Stapled booklets are perfect for catalogs, magazines, programs, coloring books and more.

Saddle-stitch Binding Page Count

Binding with staples requires page counts in multiples of 4.

Because each sheet creates 4 pages in a stapled 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.

The staples used in saddlestitch binding can accommodate up to 180 pages (double sided) on 20/50# Bond. The page-count cutoff will lower with each increase in paper weight and thickness. Enter your details on the quote/order form to see options.

Design Tips for Booklet Printing

Booklet print files should not be spreads.

Please setup your files as "stacked pages," or 1-printed-page per page in your file, not as reader spreads (where two pages appear side by side).

saddle-stitch booklets setup wrong.

Do not set your pages up as spreads.
Pages will fold/staple out of sequence.

Stapled booklets setup correctly.

Set them up as single pages instead.
We will auto-sequence pages for saddlestitch binding.

We will automatically sequence each page so that booklets print and read in the right order. Reader spreads will not let us do that and will result in your pages printing out of order. If your pages are already arranged correctly in printer spreads, we can print these but do not recommend setting up your spreads manually.

Cheap booklets don't have to look cheap.

While staples are the most economical booklet binding method, you may want to consider our other book binding options depending on the needs of your project.

"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.

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Saddle Stitch Binding FAQ

Printing booklets for the first time? Find answers here.

Is printing booklets with staples affordable?

Saddle-stitch binding uses staples to print high-quality, cheap booklets. The edges of the pages are face-trimmed to create a smooth book edge, and the booklets come off the press ready to box and ship out.

Because there is little (if any) hand finishing involved, saddle-stitch books are typically the most affordable way to bind your booklet, catalog or newsletter.

What are saddle stitch booklets?

Saddle-stitch binding creates 4 printed pages out of each individual sheet of paper. For 8.5x11 stapled booklets, 2 pages are printed on each side of an 11x17 sheet, creating 4 - 8.5x11 pages out of each. The booklet printer folds the sheets, nests them together and staples them through the fold, or saddle. Because the folding and stapling is done by machine, this keeps the costs low. This makes saddle-stitch printing ideal for material such as product catalogs, magazines, newsletters, student publications, event guides and more.

See All Book Binding Options

Why do saddle-stitch booklet page counts go in 4's?

This is because of the way saddle-stitch booklets are printed.

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.

Companies like DocuCopies.com, who are printing hundreds of thousands of sheets per day or more, are able to negotiate a much lower click rate than local walk-in copy shops because of the volume. This means we can charge you less.

Do you print 4-page stapled booklets?

Because a 4-page booklet is only 1 sheet folded in half, we categorize this product under Newsletters and Brochures:

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-ba3k.

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 printed, 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 saddle-stitch booklets is the 20/50# Bond, which will allow up to 180 pages.

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.

Quote / Order
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Finishing

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