Different Types of Printed Books

Do you have an annual report coming up? Maybe you want to create the perfect brochure to promote your business? Or perhaps you have a longing to create a mouth-watering recipe book.

No matter your goal, you’ll need a high-quality printed book. In this post, DigitalPrintingIreland.ie takes a deep dive into printed books, giving you the lowdown on different types of binding, rules for setting up and so much more.

What are the different types of bookbinding?

There are three separate bookbinding methods, each serving a slightly different purpose:

• PUR Perfect Binding
• Wiro Binding
• Saddle Stitching

PUR Perfect Bound Books

What is a perfect-bound book?

Perfect bound books bind documents together along the spine using an industry-standard adhesive, producing a professional and stylish finish. Due to this fact, perfect bound books are much more durable than their saddle-stitched counterparts.

Furthermore, they are suitable for large page counts, typically ranging between 40 – 700 pages in length. As long as your spine size allows for text that is at least 6pt, you have the ability to insert text along the spine to add that extra special touch.

What are perfect bound books used for?

Perfect bound books are great for:

• Annual reports
• Catalogues
• Product manuals
• Dissertations

How to set up a perfect-bound book

If you’re worried about setting up your own perfect-bound book, don’t be! DigitalPrinting.co.uk provides a range of handy templates for InDesign, Illustrator and PDF formats, taking the guesswork out of the process for you.

To access these templates, click here.

Perfect bound book set up tips:

1. Supply the cover and inside pages separately.

2. Perfect bound books are printed in full colour, so be sure to supply us with any blanks needed throughout.

3. Supply the cover as a spread – this is the finished size of the book, multiplied by two and then the spine added in (e.g. an A4 book with a 2mm spine would be 210mm x 210mm + 2mm for the width, with the height remaining 297mm).

4. Ensure the cover file includes: Front Cover, Back Cover, Inside Front Cover, Inside Back Cover.

5. Supply inside pages in running order from first to last.

6. During the design stage, leave a ‘safe area’ of 12mm on the bound edge of each page. When the book is bound, the cover gets clamped onto it with a 12mm deep crease. If any text or imagery falls within the 12mm ‘safe area’ there is a chance that it will become obscured by the cover, especially in the first and last inside pages.

7. Leave a 7mm ‘glue area’ on the first and last inside pages on the bound side so that no text/imagery can be obscured by the adhesive.

Wiro Bound Books

What is a wiro bound book?

Wiro binding, also known as wire binding, spiral binding or coil binding, holds pages together by punching holes along their side and inserting a metal wire spine. They can either be bound together from the top or the left-hand side, in landscape or portrait orientation.

This binding method is durable and fast to produce, suitable for documents between 4 and 180 leaves (or 360 printed sides). An added benefit of wiro binding is that the books lie completely flat without springing back, making them the perfect solution for reference material.

What are wiro bound books used for?

• Reports
• Recipe books
• Manuals
• Workbooks
• Production sheets

How to set up a wiro bound book

Don’t stress over setting up your wiro bound book. DigitalPrinting.co.uk provides you with a selection of useful templates to aid in the design process. We have templates for InDesign, Illustrator and PDF formats – so you’re bound to find just what you’re looking for!

To access these templates, click here.

Wiro bound book set up tips:

1. Setting up is similar to Perfect Bound books in that a ‘safe area’ needs to be taken into account for the binding. We ask that a safe area of at least 13mm is allowed on the bound edge of each page to help ensure that nothing is obscured by the binding or drilled through.

2. The artwork should be supplied to us as one multi-page PDF in running order from the front to back cover, ensuring that any blanks needed throughout have been supplied.

3. Depending on where the book is bound, it is important to allow for the ‘safe area’ in the correct space. For example, a book that is top-bound and double-sided would have the ‘safe area’ alternating from the top to the bottom of each page.

Saddle Stitched Books

What is a saddle stitched book?

Saddle stitching is our most cost-effective binding method for documents between 8 and 48 pages long. The process is simple: we take the spreads, fold them, make a crease and staple the pages together along the fold. As such, saddle stitched books have a minimum page count of 4, including blanks, covers and inside pages.

Don’t worry, we square off the spine of larger booklets to avoid the annoyance of the book springing open. You won’t just save money with saddle stitched books, you’ll save time as well; because we don’t have to wait for the glue to dry, our turnaround times are as fast as lightning!

What are saddle stitched books used for?

Saddle stitched books can be used as:

• Comic books
• Promotional brochures
• Magazines
• Newsletters
• Product guides

How to set up a saddle stitched book

Just like our Perfect Bound Books and Wiro Bound Books, we have provided you with a range of handy templates for InDesign, Illustrator and PDF formats. This will make designing your saddle stitch books quick and easy, leaving you more time to get on more important stuff!

To access these templates, click here.

Saddle stitched book set up tips:

1. The artwork should be supplied to us as one multi-page PDF in running order from the front to back cover, providing us with any blanks needed throughout the book.

2. Unlike Perfect Bound Books and Wiro Bound Books, saddle stitching only requires a 5mm ‘safe area’ on the edge of each page as the staples aren’t quite as intrusive.

Rules for setting up ANY type of book:

• Ensure there is 3mm of bleed supplied around each page to help ensure that no white borders are left when the books are trimmed to final size.
• Ensure that all fonts are embedded when exporting your document.
• All artwork should be set up with a CMYK colour profile.
• We advise that all images within documents are supplied at a minimum of 300dpi and exported at the highest quality setting available.

Why choose DigitalPrintingIreland.ie for printed books?

After having gained a better understanding of the different types of bookbinding methods, all that’s left for you to do is visit our website and place your order!

At DigitalPrintingIreland.ie, we are proud of our value for money prices and super fast turnaround times; no matter where you are in Ireland, you can rest assured that we’ll have your printed booklets to you in no time at all!

What’s more, there’s no minimum print run, meaning that you can receive one fully printed proof before placing a larger order. So don’t wait, visit our website today and order printed books online!