Custom Printing

Paperback Book Printing

About Custom Printing Options

We all want to make our book or journal unique and special – and with the custom book options we offer, you can do just that. We offer five different customisation options, including:

Foiling

Foiling is where a design is cut into metal (called a die) that is then heated and stamped onto the cover board. The foil sticks to the cover surface leaving an eye-catching design. We offer silver and gold foiling as standard, but other colours are available, just ask.

Spot UV

Normally used on matt laminated covers, spot UV is a varnish/gloss coating that is applied to a certain part of a design to give the specific area a more shiny look against the rest of the cover. Other embellishing options include textured (a certain feel on a part of a book) and embossed (raise area on a book).

French Flaps

Also known as gatefolds, this refers to the extension of a cover on a paperback book. You can have French flaps either extending from the front, back, or both. They are folded over and usually have additional information about the book or author on them.

Custom Endpapers

Endpapers or end sheets are the pages right after the front cover and right before back cover. Popular choices for custom endpapers include full-colour card or printed; however, we are open to any ideas that you may have in mind for your endpapers.

Shrink Wrapping

This refers to a film that, when heated, shrinks tightly around the book. It is used as an extra protective layer for books and journals.

Have a look at our jargon buster if you have any difficulty with our industry-specific terms!

If there is anything out of the ordinary that you have in mind for your books? Contact us to discuss your options.

Helpful Links

Need help?

Call us on: 01392 851 550
to speak to our friendly customer service team.

Paper

To learn all about our wide range of paper finishes and weights. please click here.

Print Finishes

To learn all about our wide range of paper coating, lamination and UV varnish. please click here.

What is a paperback book?

Paperback books, also known as soft backs, use thick paper or paperboard cover and are usually perfect bound (bound with glue). We use a 240gsm cover card which is wrapped around printed book blocks. The book blocks can be printed on anything from an 80gsm munken bookwove off-white or cream coloured paper to heavier paperweights such as 170gsm coated papers for photo books. We have a variety of paper types to choose from so please get in touch if you require anything not listed below.

What size can my paperback book be?

What paper types can I use?

We have a vast range of papertypes to choose from depending on the content of your book. Our most popular papertypes are below;

80gsm Opaque - Good for nonfiction books and good for keeping the costs low. Opaque 80gsm is our cheapest paper and helps with cheap book printing if you are on a budget.

100gsm Opaque - Also good for non-fiction books. As it is a heavier paper than the opaque 80gsm it is better for colour images as there will be less show through. It is more expensive than the opaque 80gsm but only by a little.

80gsm Munken Bookwove White - This is the standard paper for novels and fiction titles. It is a slightly off-white paper with a slightly rough/textured feel. It is also good for ‘bulking’ up the book as it is slightly thicker than the 80gsm and 100gsm opaque papers.

80gsm Munken Bookwove Cream - This is the same paper as the Bookwove White but as the name suggests, this is the cream version. Again this paper is mostly used for novels and for making your books spine bigger.

100gsm Recycled - A popular paper for non-fiction titles. This is our recycled paper which is a white similar to the 100gsm Opaque but has a slightly rougher feel but is smoother than the Bookwove papers.

We also offer a range of coated papers from 115gsm to 170gsm which are good for printing photographs and high quality images. We are able to print any number of pages in a plate section on the coated papers and then insert them into the book. This is a great option if you want to have the text printed on the nice Bookwove paper and have some colour images on 130gsm coated paper.

If you are struggling to decide on the paper you want please visit our blog post on papertypes or get in contact with us directly to discuss your options. If the paper you want is not listed above or on our website, we may be able to order it in.

What cover stock do you use for paperback books?

For our paperback covers, we use 240gsm cover board; however, other thicknesses are available. After printing, we usually apply a laminate, this would be either a gloss or matt lamination. For hardback books we use a 135gsm coloured wibalin cover wrapped around a 2750 micron board or we can use a PPC cover wrapped around the same board instead of the coloured wibalin. We are able to offer extra unique touches to our covers such as spot UV, please enquire for more details.

What will the spine width be for a paperback book?

Perfect bound paperbacks come with a minimum spine width of 3 mm, which roughly equates to a 36 page book printed on our 80gsm munken bookwove paper. The maximum spine width is 50 mm which when printed on our 80gsm bookwove paper would equate to roughly 720 pages or 950 pages when printed on our 80gsm opaque paper. Use our quick quote calculator on our home page to find out your book’s spine width.

What glue do you use?

Our paperback books use two types of glue depending on the paper used. For regular uncoated paper, we use EVA (Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate) and for coated papers or uncoated paper where the print bleeds into the spine of the book, we use PUR (Polyurethane Reactive). PUR is a stronger and more durable glue than EVA but it is also more expensive. We have had no issue using EVA glue with our uncoated paperback books, we have been doing it this way for over 20 years and it does mean we are able to have a cheaper manufacturing process.

What extras can I add to my paperback book?

Why choose Imprint Digital for your Paperback Books?

A personal service

We are a family-owned book printing company. We don't have large amounts of staff in our office which means you will only ever be in contact with either David or Jamie from our pre-press team. We have been providing a personal service ever since we started and we have built some fantastic relationships with our customers.

Specialist Printing

We have been printing books for over 20 years and we know what methods are required to produce you an amazing hardback book. Every member of staff is expertly trained and specialises in their field and receives ongoing training in their specialisation. We also make sure to keep up-to-date with the latest advances in technology.

Quality control

When your hardback book passes through each stage of production, every team member that deals with your book will carry out inspections to make sure the quality of your book meets the companies expectations. We pride ourselves on producing some of the best books in the country - take a look at our reviews and testimonials.

Our customer service is some of the best in the industry and all our staff love books just as much as you. This means our pre-press team wants to help you to produce a book that we are both proud to put our names on. Our pre-press team often help our customers fine-tune their books and get them ready for printing. We won't just take your files and print your book, we will have a look through your book to make sure any errors in pre-press and printing are minimized.