Paperback Book Printing
Paperback books also known as softcover books is the ideal option for for publications such as novels, reading books, training or user manuals and educational textbooks.. Ready to print your paperback book? Create a custom book printing quote using our cost calculator below and discover affordable paperback printing along with professional book printing services designed to help your manuscript reach more readers.
Whether you are publishing your first novel, publishing an educational textbook or producing training or user manuals, our paperback book printing service can help you create books that look professional and presents well for sale or distribution. With flexible quantities, popular European & US trim sizes, quality FSC papers, and dependable production, we make paperback printing simple and affordable for authors, self-publishers or a novice we produce books to be proud of.
Popular sizes include A5, A4, B-format, Demy, Royal, 6×9 US Royal. All paperback books are perfect bound with print options from black-and-white or full colour inners on uncoated or silk papers. With flexible pagination from 32-400 pages and choice of thick 350gsm silk or 300gsm uncoated cover and matt or gloss laminate finishes.
Use our cost calculator to work out the best options for your paperback book.
Create a quote to suit your budget by selecting the various options eg. book size, paper weight, colours and turnaround times.
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Quality
How are paperback books bound?
The method and advantages
Paperback books are bound using the perfect binding method. The inner pages are glued together with a medium weight card softcover along the spine and then trimmed to size of the finished book creating the familiar square-backed paperback format.
Perfect binding is popular because it supports medium to high page counts, and offers a cost-effective alternative to hardback books. If you prefer something a bit more premium, have a look at our hardback books.
How to supply artwork for paperback books
File setup for Paperbacks
As these are perfect bound, we require 2 separate PDF files; a cover file and the other containing all inner pages as single pages.
Cover file
The cover should be setup as a spread which includes (from right to left) the front page + spine + back page with a 3mm bleed all around.
Inner pages file
Your file should contain all pages as single pages not spreads in reading order. Pages should include a 3mm bleed area all around and please keep text within a quiet area of approximately 5mm away from the page edge.
Colour Profiles
Wherever possible always try to work CMYK colours preferably to fogra 39l standards. If using non DTP programs for example Microsoft word, Canva etc. these programs usually output to the RGB spectrum which is suited for colour screens not professional printing. Our rip (raster information process) will automatically convert to CMYK, however bear in mind these colour may not be the same as intended from your origination file.
Our guide to most popular paperback book sizes and their general usage.
For paperback books and novels which generally are text-led books with a small number of illustrations, a lightweight uncoated paper is often the best choice because it reduces glare and provides a comfortable reading experience. We offer white uncoated papers in 90gsm, 100gsm and 120gsm, available in popular novel sizes.
Paperback book sizes.
A4 – 210 x 297 mm:Â A4 size books is best suited to workbooks, manuals, educational texts, technical guides and illustrated books where diagrams, tables or generous page layouts are important.
A5 – 148 x 210 mm: A compact and popular UK and European paperback size for novels, poetry collections, memoirs, short story books, guides and general non-fiction, offering a good balance between readability and portability.
Novel – 127 x 203 mm: A traditional fiction size commonly used for paperback novels, novellas and genre fiction, giving books a familiar shelf-friendly format that is comfortable to hold and read.
Demy – 138 x 216 mm: A versatile book size often chosen for literary fiction, biographies, memoirs and narrative non-fiction, providing more page space than standard novel formats while remaining easy to handle.
6×9 US Royal – 152 x 229 mm: Although an American size 6×9 is a widely used international paperback size for self-published books, business titles, academic texts, journals and non-fiction, offering a professional look with efficient page usage.
Royal – 156 x 234 mm: A larger paperback format suited to premium fiction, textbooks, reference books, illustrated non-fiction and publications that benefit from a more spacious page layout.
Square – 210 x 210 mm: A distinctive format used for visual books, photography titles, art books, children’s books, gift books and creative publications where balanced image-led layouts are important.
Trade – 200 x 250 mm: A larger trade format ideal for cookbooks, lifestyle books, educational resources, catalogues, magazines and image-rich non-fiction that needs more space for photography, graphics or detailed content.
