Questions to Ask Before You Choose a Binding Method

Questions to Ask before Choosing Your Book’s Binding

The binding you choose for your book makes a big impression, so weigh your options carefully before you decide. It’s also one of the reasons you might think twice about print-on-demand services that may limit your binding, printing, trim size, and quality options. If you’re a self-publisher and print your books with us at Acutrack, we provide a complete range of options. You can have perfect bound (softcover), casebound (hardcover), spiral or wire-o bindings — just as if a traditional publisher was producing your book.

Every binding method has advantages and strengths for specific uses or pricing needs. Here are four questions to ask yourself as you make your choice.

How Will Your Book be Used?

Each book has a purpose, and it indicates the optimal binding choice. For example, will people often need to carry your book with them? Is it for children? Will it be shared and used heavily? Does it need to be folded and put into a bag?

• For example, if your book will be sold in physical stores and needs to stack neatly and attractively, you may want to select perfect binding. It’s the style also known as a paperback for book printing and binding.
• If you want your pages to lay flat when opened and not be damaged even when folded back, go for spiral binding.
• If your book needs a look of permanence and fine quality, such as a coffee table book or as a first edition does, consider case binding, also known as a hardcover. It’s also an excellent choice if your book will be shared, shelved in libraries, and otherwise heavily used.

How many pages?

Page count is a major factor, as is trim size. Is your book going to have more than 100 pages? 500 pages? 

• One of the most affordable binding options,saddle stitching is suitable for documents that are made up of between 8 and 80 pages.If your documents are made up of between 8 to about 80 pages, saddle stitch would be suitable. It is one of the most affordable binding options and is a popular choice if you are printing a booklet or a magazine.
• For documents numbering between 48 and 240 pages, perfect binding would be ideal. It is also known as softcover or paperback binding. Another key thing to keep in mind while choosing this binding option is the thickness of the paper. The true minimum is not a fixed number of pages but the overall thickness of the finished piece. This is important because if the book does not have the minimum thickness, the pages may not glue properly and could fall apart. Perfect Bound Book Binding is the only binding method, other than Case Binding, that allows for printing on the spine and therefore is very popular for publications that will be displayed on shelves, like novels, magazines, catalogs, or manuals. It is affordable and yet manages to offer a professional-looking end product. This kind of binding works great for annual reports, brochures, catalogs and more.
• If your project demands polish and finesse and also needs to be long-lasting, hardback or case binding is your best bet. Remember, your project needs to be above 52 pages and less than 1000 pages. 
• The least number of pages required for Spiral bound printing is two sheets of paper. But since each sheet counts as two pages, the minimum number of pages that can be spiral bound is considered to be four and the maximum could be over 300 pages. Spiral binding methods are ideal for student reports, sales presentations, proposals, directories, instructional books, and maintenance manuals as they can open a full 360 degrees, allowing all the information on the pages to be seen easily even when the book is folded back along the spine.

What is your budget?

Every binding style has different production needs; because of which the costs vary. 

For example, spiral binding is readily available and reasonably priced. Saddle stitch is considered economical but can be fairly limiting. Another economical binding option to consider is perfect binding. Case-bound books are the most durable, and they are the most expensive binding methods.

How pretty do you want it?

If your budget allows it, you can choose the binding that fits your design. For keepsake or a first edition, a case-bound/hardcover would be ideal. 

Perfect binding is another type of bookbinding that you often see on softcover books such as paperback books and magazines. Perfect bound can be finished with UV or can be laminated. Spiral-bound books can also be personalized as the spirals come in a wide variety of colors.

Acutrack offers several varieties of binding methods, some popular ones are:

• Perfect Bound – Perfect binding which is also known as adhesive binding is a method in which an adhesive is applied to the spine of gathered pages and when dry, keeps them securely bound. This is the most popular binding and is suitable for almost all books!
• Spiral – This method joins the pages and cover of a book using a coil that is made of durable plastic. Shaped like a long spring, the coil is inserted and twisted through small holes punched along the spinal edge of the book’s cover and pages.  As this binding method allows a book to lay flat, it’s ideal for workbooks .
• Casebound – A case-bound book or a book with hardcover book printing has durable, protective covers. Best used for memoirs, coffee table books, and keepsake books.
• Saddle stitch – The saddle wire can be bound with either a self-cover or a separate cover. It is the most economical solution. Our saddle-stitched machine is capable of producing up to 100-page books by creating a square edge spine.  Best suited for thinner books on a budget.

Get a wide range of book print and binding options for every book type with Acutrack – from glossy hardcover photography books to softcover trade volumes. Perfect bound, saddle wire stitch, coil bound, casebound – there are multiple benefits of these book binding methods. Make you book look good, improve its shelf life by enhanced resilience, give it a clean & professional finish to leave an enduring impression.

Find out more about how to make the right binding choice!  

Why Choose Acutrack as your Binding Service Partner?

Acutrack is a book fulfillment company that also offers the widest range of book trim size and binding options for every book type or genre. If you have an established customer base and wish to have full control over your sales, count on our printing and binding services which will take care of unrivaled printing output and perfect protection of your book.

For guidance and help, be it for a journal or a novel, reach out to us for printing, book print on demand, binding and beyond – moc.kcartuca@selas

 Reach out to us to understand more about how we can help you self-publish, talk to one of our experts!