Book printing is one of the important tasks for the self publishers. Therefore, it becomes important for them to get familiarize with those important terms, which are associated with the printing a book. Let us look at some of those terminologies:

 

Important Terms in Book Printing:

• Quote Number: Quote number is the reference number of printer. It is important to include this number for any correspondence with the printer
• Title, Author: Authors/ self publishers have to provide this information to the printer, as he would have to include it on the estimate
• Quantity: It is related to offset printing and not digital one. In offset printing, the cost drops with the increase in quantity, but this is not in the case of digital print on demand, as price remains same in that case.
• Trim size: The size of the book, is mentioned in ‘width' X ‘height'. It is important to choose the standard size of the book, for which the printer is optimized for. It is referred to as ‘Trim Size' because it trims the book in the standard size.
• Pages: To print a book, signatures of 8, 16, or 32 pages are used. Therefore, it is important to paginate the book correctly.  The books should have the pages in multiple of 8 (all physical pages and not just the page numbers), in order to save the extra costing.
• Copy: Copy is the form of artwork, in which the publishers provide the material to the printers. This material can be provided in the form of print ready PDF files or camera ready" copy.
• Proofs: To check how the book would look like, the printers give the proof copy to the publishers. The proofs although adds to the cost, yet one must get the proof copy to ensure that the print copy is flawless from every aspect.
• Press: It relates to the presswork required in printing a book, for instance; it is about inks required in printing book, cover or jacket
• Stock:  Stock relates to the kind of paper used in printing the book. The paper plays an important role in deciding the look & feel as well as the cost of the printing.
• Binding: Book printers allow different book binding options. Perfect binding and smythe sewn binding are the most commonly preferred binding options. In perfect binding, soft covers and ephemeral hardcovers are used.

 

These are the commonly used terms in book printing, and authors/self publishers must be aware of them to get the quality services.