Paperback Book Printing
Paperback books are probably the most familiar format to readers everywhere. Instantly recognisable, convenient, attractive, and cost-effective to print and distribute, they’re the publishing world’s favourite choice.
A well-made paperback edition is the perfect way to get your story out of the shop and into the hands of readers. Whether you write genre fiction—romance, historical, fantasy, science fiction, young adult, adventure, crime, thrillers, horror, and more—or memoirs, inspirational books, short stories, poetry collections, graphic novels, self-help, travelogues, or anything else, a professional paperback gives your creativity the presentation it deserves.
At QinPrinting, we print premium-quality paperback books for self-publishers, academics, public speakers, entrepreneurs, businesses, and beyond. With over 25 years’ experience, an expert team, cutting-edge technology, and outstanding customer service, our dedication to quality has earned us a strong reputation among discerning self-publishers and independent creatives worldwide.
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They produced an excellent product that was printed, shipped and arrived within the expected timescales.
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The whole process was smooth and straightforward.
What a delight!
Whenever I have a creative idea, their team goes above and beyond to help bring it to life. I’ve printed four comic books with them, and each time, they’ve exceeded my expectations. If you’re considering a printer, take a chance on these friendly, reliable folks—they truly value your business. - Chad Townsend, Creator of The Black Phantom.
But working with Nelson was an absolute pleasure. He patiently addressed all my concerns, and my final printed book was just as I would hope it would be.
What is Paperback Book Printing?
“Paperback” refers to a bookbinding style also known as “softcover” or “perfect binding”. The broad term “paperback” covers both standard perfect binding and sewn perfect binding.
Standard Perfect Binding
Perfect bound printing is the technical term for what’s commonly called paperback or softcover printing. It’s the same thing! Think of the type of novel you pick up at the newsagent, in the fiction section of a bookstore, or at the airport. This familiar style is visually appealing and cost-effective. Perfect binding suits any genre.
With this binding style, we collate the interior pages into a “block” and secure them with adhesive. Then, we glue the block into the cover. The cover is a printed sheet—often gloss or matte coated or laminated—made from heavier stock paper. The glue used is NUR, a powerful polyurethane adhesive specially formulated to provide a strong bond while maintaining flexibility. Finally, we trim the cover and pages on a precision cutting machine so they align perfectly, which gives this binding method its name and a neat, professional finish.
Sewn perfect binding
Our specialist techniques allow us to offer this superior option when you need a paperback with greater durability that can also lay flat without damaging the spine. We sew the interior pages before gluing them to the cover. However, the sewn pages are not individually glued to the spine, allowing the book to open flat without splitting. Sewn perfect binding offers a clean, professional look with practical strength. Best of all, this premium binding method is the most affordable among the higher-end options.
Popular Paperback / Softcover Sizes
We can print paperback books in a wide range of sizes, available in either portrait or landscape formats. The size and format you choose for your paperback edition depends on your genre, target market, content, and more. To give you an idea, here’s a quick list of the most popular sizes by genre (all sizes in millimetres):
- Novels: 135 mm × 210 mm (A5) and 153 mm × 229 mm (trade paperback) are the most common sizes.
- Educational / textbooks: 153 mm × 229 mm (trade paperback) and 216 mm × 279 mm (A4) are typical standards.
- Early reader books: 216 mm × 216 mm (square format) is popular.
These standard sizes are practical if you need to distribute many copies by post. For commercial reasons, they often work best as they meet customer expectations, stack and store easily, fit neatly on bookstore, library and home bookshelves, and are the most cost-effective to produce.
At QinPrinting, we’re happy to produce custom paperback books in any size or format you prefer. Just keep in mind that extensive customisation will increase costs and turnaround times due to additional pre-press work and setup. For some projects, the extra investment may well be worthwhile. The choice is always yours.
Custom Paperback Book Options
If your softcover book includes colourful illustrations, cartoons, diagrams, or photographs, we recommend printing on gloss or matte art paper to achieve the best results. Both gloss and matte finishes provide excellent surfaces for vibrant colour and black-and-white printing that really make your artwork, graphics, photos, and illustrations stand out. Matte paper still offers superb image reproduction while making the text easier to read.
If you’re printing a “trade” style paperback novel that resembles those published by mainstream publishers and don’t require colour interiors, we suggest using uncoated offset paper, which will give you the exact traditional look you want.
Offset paper — also known as uncoated wood-free paper (UWF) — has the lignin removed during pulping. This results in a natural-looking, absorbent white paper with a good balance of strength, opacity, and brightness, making it ideal for interior text. Print-on-demand digital paperback novels often use smooth ultra-white or cream paper, which can be easily recognised as a lower-quality product. An offset-printed novel is indistinguishable from those produced by major publishers, as this is the same printing method they use.
You will need to specify at least two types of paper for your paperback perfect bound book: one for the interior pages and one for the cover.
Paper Choices for Paperback Books
Cover Paper
- 200 gsm gloss cover paper
- 250 gsm gloss cover paper
- 300 gsm gloss cover paper
- 350 gsm gloss cover paper
- 200 gsm matte cover paper
- 250 gsm matte cover paper
- 300 gsm matte cover paper
Interior Paper
- 80 gsm coated text paper
- 105 gsm coated text paper
- 128 gsm coated text paper
- 157 gsm coated text paper
- 200 gsm coated text paper
- 80 gsm uncoated text paper
- 100 gsm uncoated text paper
- 120 gsm uncoated text paper
- 140 gsm uncoated text paper
For an added flourish, we can also apply specialist finishing techniques to the cover, including embossing, metallic foil stamping, and UV spot coating.
We also make it easy for you to design your softcover book. You can use one of our ready-made design templates for the interiors and covers if you wish. Just ask us for paper samples — we’ll post them to you free of charge.
Special Finish Options
Here are some popular surface finishes that can enhance both the appearance and durability of your paperback book.
Shiny and reflective, perfect for vibrant graphics and photos.
Glossy highlights on specific areas for a striking contrast.
Smooth and non-reflective for a simple yet professional design.
Similar to matte lamination, but the resulting surface has a delightful, almost velvet feel.
A glossy finish applied to specific areas for a bold and distinct look.
Metallic or pigmented foil for a shiny, eye-catching effect.
Raised designs for added texture and elegance.
A recessed design that creates a tactile impression on the cover, adding texture and sophistication.
Cut a shape out of the paper material
Thin metallic foil—usually gold, silver, or bronze—is applied to the trimmed edges of your book's pages.
Custom patterns and images are sprayed on the edges for a truly unique appearance.
Print your design on a special paper that reflects light in a rainbow-like pattern.
Paperback Book Printing Design and Artwork Tips
Whether you’re preparing your own text, artwork, and layouts or commissioning a professional designer to handle the technical work, it’s important to understand how to prepare finished digital files for printing. You’ll need to allow for bleed zones, safety areas, trim lines, and borders, and ensure the resolution and colour space are correct. Here are some useful tips to help when preparing your files for the printer.
Export your files as vectors in PDF format for the best results. We recommend using Adobe Illustrator or Adobe InDesign for all book designs. These programs also allow you to convert your colour space from RGB to CMYK, which is necessary for offset printing.
If you can't supply vectors—such as when exporting bitmaps from Photoshop for your book cover—make sure the resolution is at least 300 dpi. With vectors, resolution isn't a concern, but all other images need high definition to tolerate resizing without becoming blurry or pixelated.
Add a bleed zone of 3 mm around all image pages. A bleed is an extended margin outside the finished page area. After printing, we trim the pages to the exact paperback size. This extra area ensures images fill the page completely with no unwanted white edges. Mark bleed zones with red lines. If your book contains only text, this doesn't apply to the interiors but is still required for the cover.
Inside the bleed zone, mark the trim lines, which define the final page size. Ensure that all important elements—text, titles, decorative flourishes, pagination—are at least 10 mm away from the trim line to avoid being cut off.
If an image or artwork spans a two-page spread, ensure nothing essential—such as faces or important details—falls on the centre crease.
Ensure consistent formatting throughout your document, including fonts and sizes, drop capitals, dividers, pagination, borders, margins, chapter headings, and page breaks.
Don't forget your ISBN and barcode if your book is for sale. These can be obtained fromThorpe-Bowker. Barcodes should be vector graphics and rendered in pure black.
If you’re working with a professional designer, they should know what’s needed to make your files print-ready. If you’re using design software yourself for the first time, these tips are essential before submitting your files. The responsibility for providing print-ready files lies with you.
But don’t worry — we’re here to guide you through the process, explain requirements, liaise with your designer if needed, and manually check everything to ensure your custom paperback prints perfectly.
Need Help Preparing Your Files? We Offer a Free File Checking Service
Can’t find what you want? Contact us!
Custom Paperback Printing Costs
At QinPrinting, we help self-published authors, business professionals, thought leaders, entrepreneurs, public speakers, and others print high-quality custom paperback books every day. But we believe you shouldn’t have to spend a fortune or sell the family silver to afford a fine softcover edition of your book. That’s why we regularly review our processes to ensure we deliver quality books at competitive prices.
So, how much does it cost to print perfect bound paperback books? Our quick pricing chart gives you a good general idea. Unlike other offset book printing services — which often require minimum orders of 500, 1,000, or even 5,000 copies — we can print short runs starting from just 100 copies, still at competitive prices. As you’ll see from the chart, the more copies you order in a single run, the lower the cost per copy.
How much does it cost to print a paperback book?
Paperback Book Printing Price Chart (210 mm × 297 mm)
| Quantity | 1018 copies | 1459 copies | 1882 copies | 2852 copies | 5956 copies | 11157 copies |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80pp + 4pp | Unit: A$10.18 Total: A$1,018 |
Unit: A$2.92 Total: A$1,459 |
Unit: A$1.88 Total: A$1,882 |
Unit: A$1.43 Total: A$2,852 |
Unit: A$1.19 Total: A$5,956 |
Unit: A$1.12 Total: A$11,157 |
| 128pp + 4pp | Unit: A$15.11 Total: A$1,511 |
Unit: A$4.40 Total: A$2,198 |
Unit: A$2.84 Total: A$2,843 |
Unit: A$2.18 Total: A$4,354 |
Unit: A$1.81 Total: A$9,025 |
Unit: A$1.70 Total: A$16,970 |
| 208pp + 4pp | Unit: A$23.33 Total: A$2,333 |
Unit: A$6.86 Total: A$3,432 |
Unit: A$4.45 Total: A$4,448 |
Unit: A$3.40 Total: A$6,794 |
Unit: A$2.82 Total: A$14,110 |
Unit: A$2.66 Total: A$26,602 |
| 256pp + 4pp | Unit: A$28.26 Total: A$2,826 |
Unit: A$8.34 Total: A$4,172 |
Unit: A$5.41 Total: A$5,410 |
Unit: A$4.13 Total: A$8,259 |
Unit: A$3.44 Total: A$17,178 |
Unit: A$3.24 Total: A$32,415 |
- Please note that all prices are EXW (Ex Works) from our facility and do not include shipping costs.
- Cover: 250 gsm coated cover paper with matte lamination
- Interior: 105 gsm coated text paper, full colour printing
- Cover and interior: Full colour printing throughout
- Binding: Perfect bound
For a more detailed estimate, try our easy and convenient online Printing Cost Calculator. Simply follow the link, enter your details, and receive an instant quote!
If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch — one of our knowledgeable, in-house experts will be happy to assist you.
Let's Talk!
Designing and preparing a paperback book is a rewarding creative process that adds real value to your body of published work.
Get in touch today to discuss your project or request a no-obligation quote. We’d love to help you bring your custom paperback book to life — and make it your best one yet!
