Books

A book is a printed and bound work usually composed of a block of inner sheets and a cover.

Format

There are multiple formats for books, but the most common are: A4, A5, A6, 17x24, 21x21….

Of course, it is also possible to manufacture a book in "custom" format.

Printing

Colour (four-colour), black or mixed.

Medium

Any type of paper can be used, but the most common are: Coated, offset, recycled, volume paper and some specific specialities.

The weights most commonly used inside range between 80 and 170 grams.

On the covers, colour usually prevails and they are usually made with coated papers (couche), or graphic card in weights between 250 and 450 grams.

Sometimes, the books have a cover manufactured in hard cover or cardboard, with cardboard thicknesses ranging from 2-3 mm.

Binding

These are the most common book bindings: Milled rustic, PUR glue, rustic stitched thread...

Milled rustic: A block is made with the leaves that make up the book placed in order, the spine is milled, that is, it is scraped producing small notches in the paper so that the glue penetrates more easily, it is glued using EVA glue and the cover is glued. It is the cheapest type of binding, if the product is not going to have a very long shelf life, as it is the weakest.

PUR rustic: Following the same procedure as the milled rustic, another type of glue with greater density and resistance is used, holding the leaves more firmly, making the binding of the book or magazine more long lasting. This type of binding has sturdiness similar to that of stitched rustic.

Stitched rustic: The sheets are sewn, joining them together in a block according to the paging of the book or magazine, and hot glue is applied to join them to the cover. This type of binding is the most resistant and offers the highest quality. 

Type of Cover

The most common types of book covers are: Simple cover, with flaps, wrap-around cover, hard cover…

Hard covers or cardboard covers: In this type of binding the inner sheets are covered with a rigid cardboard cover that is 2 or 2.5 mm thick.

Finishes and Effects

It is not uncommon to see some effects and finishes on book covers. Although they are also applicable in the book's interior pages. These are some of them:

  • Plastic-coated / laminated
  • UV varnish
  • Drip off varnish
  • Stamping
  • Embossing
  • ...

Plastic coating or laminates protect the product and prevent its deterioration over time. On book covers this is particularly relevant because they deteriorate less with use.

Tips

At ORVY we help you with the printing and binding of your books, advising you during the pre-press, printing and post-printing phases.

Before starting the production of the book you need to decide on a wide variety of formats, media, types of printing and finishes that we can offer you.

To choose the most suitable printing medium, it is best to see and, above all, touch the paper on which it will be printed. For this we offer you samples of the different papers we have.

Our pre-press department will advise you on such important aspects as:

  • The margins to apply in the design of the book.
  • The type and quality of the images to be used (CMYK and with a minimum resolution of 200 dpi).
  • Typefaces and effects to use.
  • Review of texts and images.

The correct way to generate the final PDF file from the layout and imposition applications.