Why should I print perfect bound booklets?
There are many benefits to choosing perfect binding for book projects. They look incredibly professional yet cost a fraction of hardcover binding. If you want to sell your books retail, this is usually the best option since you can print on the spine (if it's wide enough), which makes it easy to index and display your perfect bound books on shelves.
Perfect binding creates a professional, softcover-style book, which is ideal for books which are read for pleasure (novels, memoirs, etc.). Hobby readers don't need to worry about books laying flat on a surface or being resistant to water and grease.
However if you're publishing technical training books, yearbooks, cookbooks, or any project that requires flat-surface reading or additional protection (laminated covers, vinyl backings, etc.), you should consider one of our other book binding options:
View All Book Types
How do I design covers and spines for perfect binding?
Perfect bound books require special setup for the covers, since the front and back cover (and spine, when applicable) are all part of the same sheet.
Please refer to this page to get more information about calculating your spine width and setting up perfect bound booklet covers:
Perfect Bound Cover Setup
How many pages can a perfect bound booklet contain?
In our experience, very thin perfect bound books may not look or feel as good, or be as durable, as thicker books because there is not enough of a surface area to glue the pages into the spine. Our order form will allow perfect bound booklets as small as 10 sheets, but we recommend you consider other binding options first if you're in that range.
On the other end, 446 is the maximum number of 20/50# Bond sheets we can fit into a perfect book. As you go up in paper thickness, that threshold will go down incrementally. The cost calculator will let you know if your book is too thick.
How do I avoid show-through to the backside of my pages?
For 100% opacity and virtually no show-through, we recommend the 32/80# Text Smooth/Gloss or higher.
For books where most of the content is text, most people are happy with 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 perfect booklets?
In most cases, we do not automatically send a digital proof, so make sure to request this in the notes if you want one.
But there are some cases in which we must send a proof and receive approval before we can print:
- Files which are not JPG, PNG or PDF
- Any time you request file edits
- If we happen to notice something that doesn't look right
Can you mail my perfect bound books?
Yes we can. On the order form, click Bulk Mailing and choose "Mail in Padded Envelopes." Upload your mailing list (Excel or CSV) with your print files at checkout. We will print and bind each book, insert them individually in protective envelopes and mail them out typically in 3-5 business days. The exact USPS service used will depend on each book's weight. Please note that this service may not include tracking information.
