Book Printing

On Demand Book Printing

With over 20 years of experience in high volume digital on demand book printing, we are experts in producing Custom High Quality short run books. Our digital presses allow us to offer both the highest image quality and flexibility in paper choices. We can produce books on a wide variety of stocks Including traditional non-gloss uncoated paper as well as gloss or matt stocks. We can produce samples upon request so you can see the difference! While our standard books are Soft Cover Perfect Bound, we also offer Saddle Stitched, Hard Cover and Coffee Table Books as well as Coil Binding as finishing alternatives.

Our Customer Service and Art Departments specialize in assisting you in converting your text files into a professionally formatted layout with a beautiful cover designed to engage the reader. From beginning to end let us show you our unique ability to get your project produced in the highest quality for the lowest price.

We can work with your book printing project regardless of whether it is in a final “ready for print” format or if you only have basic text in final format. We recommend that you provide us with final text that has been fully edited and spell checked. Making changes after we format your book will cause unnecessary expense in redoing your layout and producing extra proofs. We offer several basic design services based on your requirements for designing an inside layout as well as a professional book cover.

Cover Design Service

A professionally designed cover will make your book stand out! Our creative team will take your basic theme and design a cover incorporating images, professional typography and colors for both front and back cover as well as the spine. This service has a fixed charge of $125.00 and includes all design services and proofs. You will receive a final PDF file suitable for production.

Cover Before Design	Cover After Design

Inside Page Book Layout Service

Formatting your book with proper margins, typography and layout can really add to the look of your book. Preparing photos and properly inserting them within the page is also something requiring design skills. If you need assistance, our team can take your word files after you have finalized them, and create a professional layout. We will send proofs as well as providing a final PDF production file upon the completion of the project. We can take your photos in digital form or scan them from original hardcopy provided (for an additional charge). The cost of this services is $0.40 / page based on final page count.

In estimating the size of your book in terms of final page count, you can use these “rules of thumb” to convert word counts (shown in Word) into an estimated page count:

• For a book size of 5.5” x 8.5” you will average about 300 words per page
• For a book size of 6” x 9” you will average about 350 words per page
• For a book size of 8.5” x 11” you will average about 550 words per page

Remember to add pages to account for images or photos being inserted within the text.

For your book to enter production a final production PDF file is required. If you have the skills to prepare final artwork, we can use it to produce a proof and actual final production. Your cover artwork needs to have the front, back and spine artwork set in position with proper bleeds and resolution. Inside pages need to be formatted with proper margins in a Print Quality PDF. Files submitted in Word or with cover artwork not in final form, will need additional design service by our art department.

While we can produce other custom sizes, the three standard sizes we offer are designed to minimize waste and cost per page by taking advantage of all of the paper. If your book has full bleeds, we can usually handle this for a small additional charge. Contact customer service for details.

• 5.5” x 8.5”
• 6” x 9”
• 8.5” x 11”

If we are doing design service, you will receive soft proofs via email for both inside and cover art. Once you approve the emailed design or if you provide final production artwork, we produce a printed proof of the inside pages trimmed to final size together with a print out of the Cover Artwork. Proofs are not bound in final form. Changes made after the proof is made will incur additional charges as follows.

Cover Proofs are produced using final stock and printer showing how the final cover will print. Some color variance is standard with digital print devices so if color matching is critical advise customer service and they can discuss options for getting the best possible color.

• First Proof Included at no charge
• Process new PDF of inside and print without additional proof - $30.00
• Additional proof of inside - $40.00 (plus $30.00 file reprocessing)
• Process new PDF of cover and print without additional proof - $15.00
• Additional proof of cover - $10.00 (plus $15.00 file reprocessing)

On Demand Book Printing Production Options

Alta Graphics uses 8 different presses with over half being state of the art digital output devices capable of printing your book in black and white or color on almost any paper stock. This combination offers you tremendous flexibility in creating a high quality custom book in small quantities at a very low price. Until very recently it was not possible to produce economical black and white books with high quality photographs on glossy paper in short runs. Talk to our customer service department to see if it makes sense to take advantage of this for your project.

While covers are almost always printed in full color on the outside, the inside pages can be done either as all color, all Black & White or some combination where a section may be in one or the other. If a book has an entire section that is different from the rest of the book (for example a color section in a black & white book) it can be priced based on the total number of color pages plus the total number of black & white pages using our pricing calculator. If however the pages are not together in a section but are interspersed throughout the book, it will probably need to be priced as all color. Contact customer service for assistance in seeing how we can handle your specific project if it has a mix of color pages throughout the book.

While we can print on most papers, there are several that are commonly used for book printing. The vast majority of books are printed on uncoated or non glossy paper. Coffee Table books or art books are usually printed on Glossy or Coated paper which makes the pictures look photographic. Depending on the nature of your book, you may want to consider using a coated paper if you have lots of photographs. We also offer “Dull” or Matt coated stock which has less glare but looks and feels better than traditional uncoated stocks.

• 60# Offset is the standard sheet used for most books. It is about 20% thicker that normal 20% bond making it hold up better while being economical.
• 70# Offset is an upgraded paper that is similar to the basic 60# offset but is thicker providing a more substantial look and feel.
• 80# Coated text in gloss or dull finish is available for projects requiring a more refined look. This stock is ideal for photographic reproduction.
• Covers are printed on 10 point C1S cover stock. Other papers are available for an additional charge.

Alta Graphics offers a wide range of book binding alternatives ensuring that regardless of your books size, we can provide a professionally bound finished product. The industry standard is Perfect Bound Soft Cover like paper back books purchased in a book store. This binding requires about 50 sheets (100 pages) as a minimum size. For books with smaller page counts, saddle stitching is a popular option. We also offer color coil binding which has advantages for certain books.

	Perfect Binding is the binding of choice for most book printing projects. It is used for most projects that have a thick enough spine usually around 50 sheets or 100 pages. The finished product is a paper back book with a printed spine.
	Saddle Stitched booklets are the standard for thinner books usually up to about 48 pages.
	Color Plastic Coil Binding is a popular option for some reference books because the coil allows the book to be opened farther and flatter than perfect binding and permits the reader to flip pages behind the book for a smaller footprint. Coils come in many colors so it is possible to design a unique color combination coordinating colors in the cover art. There is no printed spine so on a bookshelf you can not see what the book is like a perfect bound book.
	Hard Cover or Case bound books are available in 2 versions. We offer full color hard bound coffee table books with laminated covers and usually coated inside paper. We can Hard Cover Case Bind your book for use with a dust jacket like most hard cover books sold in book stores or we can even foil stamp the cover for a special project.

While Alta Graphics is the printer, you are the publisher. Here are several things to consider when self publishing your book:

• You can copyright your book by placing the word copyright and or the copyright symbol on your book. You also should include the year you first published the book together with the name of the copyright holder. Additional information is available at the U.S. Copyright Office.
• To sell your book you should get an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) prior to publishing. This number is converted to a barcode that you see on most books. You can get your ISBN number by visiting R.R Bowker. The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is 13-digit number that uniquely identifies books and book-like products published internationally, allowing for more efficient marketing of products by booksellers, libraries, universities, wholesalers and distributors. The ISBN Agency assigns ISBNs at the direct request of publishers, e-book publishers, audio cassette and video producers, software producers and museums and associations with publishing programs.
• The ISBN will establish and identify one title or edition of a title from one specific publisher and is unique to that edition.