Perfect Bound Books

Perfect binding is incredibly versatile and can be used across a wide range of products—from catalogues and magazines to self-published books, children’s books, and beyond.

Though it ultimately depends on the thickness of the sheets of paper, perfect-bound books can be as short as 30 or as long as 200 pages. For books over 150 pages, order PUR perfect bound books. Their PUR (polyurethane reactive) glue is a stronger adhesive that provides more durability, flexibility, and longevity. We use a traditional EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate) glue for standard perfect bound books.

One of the most distinct features of perfect bound booklet printing is its outward-facing spine. It immediately tells the reader that your book is worthy of a spot on their shelf.

Printing on the spine is an effective way introduce yourself from a bookshelf! For example, you might add:

• Author name
• Title
• Volume number
• Date of publication

How much you can customize the spine of your book depends on its width. If it’s less than 0.16”, the area is too small for a custom spine. In that case, we’ll usually wrap the front cover design to the spine. If you prefer the back cover design for the spine, just let us know!

Spine Thickness

When printing bound books, you can submit a customized spine with your front and back book covers, but you’ll need to know exactly how thick your spine is. Since spine width depends on page count and paper type, we recommend you allow us to calculate how wide your spine is after you’ve selected your paper.

If your page count or paper weight changes during the proofing process, our Prepress team will automatically adjust your spine design, so the binding process is as smooth as possible for you.

Best Practices

Designing the spine is simple, but there are best practices to follow for the best results.

1. Use the same color for your spine as your front and back covers. Any slight registration issues are glaringly apparent when the spine is a different color than the covers.
2. All spine content should be in the center of the design and not too close to any of the edges. More importantly, keep all text away from the top and bottom of the book. Perfect bound book covers and interior pages are first bound at the spine, then cut to the final dimension for a clean finish. We recommend moving important content a minimum of ¼” from the final dimension as a safety margin.
3. You can submit your front, cover, and spine design as one connected image, or you can submit the three sections of the cover separately. Our team can easily work with whichever option you choose.

Need help?

Printivity has you covered. Our design team can create the exact spine you need for your perfect bound booklet printing, as long as we have the following details:

• Fonts
• Text Content (book title, author, etc.)
• Content Placement
• Content Direction ( UK vs US style*)

*US style text direction on the spine refers to the text running down the spine. Where UK style text direction runs up the spine.

Delivery dates vary depending on the quantity and page count of your order, but our standard turnaround time is typically 4 days.

For faster turnarounds, select a delivery date in your cart.

Saddle stitched booklets are bound with two staples, perfect binding bound using glue. Perfect bound books have a cleaner look and feel and is a great option for page counts above 64 pages.