Sometimes it pays to take a fresh look at the way you do business… to find new ideas to help improve the profitability of your business. Impressive savings can be made at the finishing stage if you take an enlightened approach and consider every opportunity to cut costs.

We hope you find the following tips helpful:

• Always allow 3mm of additional image outside of the page trim area where image is intended to print up to the trim of the book.
• As a general guideline, do not position text within 10mm of the edge of the page.
• Remember that the more pages there are in a saddle stitched book, the smaller the innermost pages become, spine to fore edge. Perfect binding is an option if the bulking effect is too great and affecting the image.
• When perfect binding papers above 100gsm, consider slot (burst) binding instead, to maximise the strength of bind.
• If the pagination in a perfect bound book produces a spine width of less than 3mm, consider saddle stitching. A spine of less than 3mm can look rounded and scruffy.
• Cover stocks above 130gsm (depending on the publication's intended use) may require creasing or scoring prior to folding to avoid cracking on the fold.
• Avoid perforations which are closer than 10mm to the fold.
• Consider sealer varnishing on Matt or Silk papers, or when using predominantly white paper on your front and back covers, as this will help prevent marking caused by ink transfer during the production process and whilst in transit.