After you have created a PDF file of your book, you are ready to deliver it to us. Although the details of every book are different, they all follow the same basic production process.

Files are received

As a customer, your primary responsibility in the printing process is to deliver the source files to us and be available in case we have questions about your book. You should provide us with a hard copy proof, (That’s if we didn’t product it for you) containing the source files, fonts, and a PDF file.

Sending files over the internet is increasing in popularity, although bandwidth and file corruption issues need to be addressed before it can be considered a reliable and common form of delivery. Many times our customers have come to the shop only to find that their email never arrived. So, always phone after emailing any file.

Preflight check

When we receive your job, we glance at the hard copy proof to get a sense of your book. Then we insert your disk and begin a preflight check, checking for all the necessary source files to verify:

  • Page count
  • Page dimensions
  • Colour
  • Applications used to create source files
  • Fonts used
  • Bleeds
  • Image quality

Once we familiar with your book, we may have suggestions that will improve the final output. For example, let's say you selected thick paper and a saddle-stitched binding method, we may recommend a thinner paper to allow the book to fold better in the middle. This is where our paper and printing expertise comes in handy. As we are conducting the preflight check, we considering the type of paper you have chosen, the page dimensions of your book, and the binding method you have chosen. Your choice, in combination with our experience, determines how they will impose your book for printing.

Imposition

Imposition is the process of arranging pages so that they will be in consecutive order when folded and bound. The way the pages are organized depends on the page dimensions of the final document, the size of the paper it is to be printed on.

Although we handle the imposition of your book, we will use our imposition experience to determine the most economical way to produce your book. The best imposition is one that will save you money, which means that we must produce your book in the quickest way possible wasting the least amount of paper. So, both of us have a vested interest in using the most efficient imposition method possible.

We will choose the largest paper size we can print the most copies of your book in a single run. Of course, these choices are affected by the page size of the final book and the way the book will be bound. Also, the paper you choose must have the right thickness and weight to be compatible with the press and binding machine. 

PDF conversion

We take your PDF and impose the book and use specific drivers to save it as a new PDF format. This is one reason why we need the source files of your book and not just a PDF file. Also, if there is a problem during production, we will be able to fix it ourselves.

Job queue

Just like when you send a file from your computer to your printer, the operator sends the PDF file from the computer to the press. Our goal is to keeping the presses running constantly. Otherwise, we make very little profit. Therefore, all the jobs are in the print queue so that they run back-to-back all day everyday as much as possible. When a job is added to the queue, the operator uses the press interface software to configure all the settings to fit each specific document.

Quality check

Once the book is sent to the press, the operator prints a single copy and verifies that the book is printing properly. All the pages must print in the correct sequence, there must be no ink splatters on the paper, and the colour should be accurately represented. We may deliver a proof to the customer and make the needed adjustments before continuing with the production process.

Laminated cover

Lamination is typically used on Perfect-bound book covers or in certain types of marketing literature. Lamination is available in many different forms. (gloss, matt, both sides or single)

Binding

After a book is printed, it may need to be bound before it can be trimmed to its final size. Some presses have finishing devices. As a result, all of the printing, trimming, and binding preferences are set when the job is added to the queue and the operator just monitors the machine's progress. However, a standalone machine to will most likely bind your books. 

The three most common binding methods are perfect bound, saddle-stitch, and comb bound. In Perfect binding, the cover is wrapped around the stack of paper that makes up the inside of the book, and then the whole book is bound together and trimmed. In saddle-stitch binding, the front and back covers are printed on one sheet of paper that is placed on the bottom of the stack of paper that makes up the inside of the book, and then the whole book is stapled and folded down the middle. With comb binding, the front and back covers are placed on the top and bottom of the stack of paper that makes up the inside of the book, and then they are all put into a comb binder.

Trimming

Based on the trim marks printed on every page of the book, the trimmer slices through the stack of paper all at once, creating a clean sharp edge. It is the same whether the trimmer is an online device or a standalone guillotine trimmer. In both types of equipment, a pressure plate holds the stack of paper in place while the blade slices down onto the trim mark that was added to the files during imposition.

Final quality check

Before the book is packaged, we conducts a spot check of the final book copies. We may product one or two extra copies of every job and use them to replace those copies that get damaged during production. These extra copies are called overs.

Packaging

We provide different packaging and delivery services, such as shrink wrapping, mail distribution, labeling, etc. For example, if we print a hundred copies of a brochure that you plan to mail to your best customers, we can put them in envelopes and mail them out for you. We can handle many different methods of delivery.