Printing of your self-published books

Why print your book as a self-publication?

There are many reasons to want to self-publish your book:

• Your manuscript has not been accepted by the publishing houses you have contacted and you wish to continue the publishing process on your own.
• You want to produce your book under conditions that only you can decide.
• You wish to distribute your book only within a friendly or family circle.
• You want to see your texts valued in a book that looks perfectly professional.

There are also many advantages to producing a self-published book:

• You are not accountable to anyone for the progress of your manuscript.
• You set your own editorial line with complete freedom.
• You retain full copyright on your self-published book.
• You can freely decide the price of your self-published book.

What finishes for your self-published book?

• The binding of your self-published book

Your self-published book is assembled by a glued square back binding The look and feel of your book is similar to that of softcover books sold in bookstores: paperbacks, some art books or tourist guides.

This binding method consists of applying a PUR (reactive polyurethane) glue to the edge of the pages of your self-published book, as well as to the inside edge of the cover to join them together. The glued square back binding offers a great resistance to your self-published book whose pages are then indetachable. For this reason, it is also recommended for binding high-end catalogs and university theses for example.

• The glued square back binding is suitable for self-published books with 20 to 550 sheets, i.e. up to 1100 pages printed on both sides.
• For a self-published book, such as your grandmother's recipe book or a photo album of memories, the prestige glued spine binding (hard cover) can also be an option. It is suitable for self-publishing books with 20 to 180 sheets, oronly 360 pages printed on both sides.

• The slice of your book in self-publishing

Your self-published book may, under certain conditions, bear the title of your work (like a book published by a publishing house):

• your self-published book must have at least 40 double-sided pages (20 sheets) and the edge must measure at least 8 mm.
• The spine of your self-published book should be a maximum of 6.5 cm.

To calculate the edge thickness of your self-published book, you need to multiply the number of sheets in your self-published book by the thickness of each sheet.

A paper with a weight between 80 and 115 g/m2 measures 0.1 mm. A paper of135 g/m2 measures 0.12 mm.

For example, if your self-published book has 200 double-sided pages, i.e. 100 sheets, and you choose a 115 g/m2 paper, the edge of your book will measure 10 mm (100 x 0.1). You will be able to put the title of your self-published book and your name on it if you wish.

• The cover of your self-published book

Since you will only be able to rely on your own network and resources to distribute your self-published book, the cover of the book must be as attractive as possible.

At Copymage, we offer multiple personalization and finishing options for the cover of your self-published book (lamination, selective varnish, 3D varnish, gilding, etc.).

Using a professional for your self-published book

Your self-published book deserves the same level of care and expertise as fine books. For this reason, all our consultants are at your disposal:

- to answer all your questions about the format, size, edge, paper, etc. of your self-published book.

- present you with all possible printing options for your self-published book,

- offer you the option of printing a single copy of your self-published book to check that the result corresponds in all respects to your expectations, before launching the printing of several copies.

- offer you the possibility to order your self-published book in small quantities (from 10 copies) which reduces the financial risks and avoids you to plan a large storage space.