Saddle-Stitched Booklets FAQs
Q. What are saddle-stitched booklets?
A. Saddle-stitched refers to a very popular booklet binding technique that uses staples to hold together folded sheets of paper.
Q. Where would you use saddle-stitched booklets?
A. Saddle-stitched booklets are the perfect solution for annual reports, magazines, brochures and catalogues.
Q. How are saddle-stitched booklets bound together?
A. The process involves binding pages together using staples (known as stitches) along the spine of the booklet.
Q. What sizes do you print saddle-stitched booklets?
A. We can provide saddle-stitched booklets in a selection of finished sizes: 120 x 120 mm, A6, 140 x 140 mm, 148 x 148 mm, ⅓ A4, A5, US comic, 210 x 210 mm, US Letter, A4 Landscape and A4 Portrait.
Q. What is the minimum amount of pages I can have with a saddle-stitched booklet?
A. The minimum number of pages is 8 and the total page count must go up in multiples of 4.
Thus, two pages folded in half that can be stapled together to become an 8-page book.
Q. What is the maximum amount of pages I can have with a saddle-stitched booklet?
A. The maximum number of pages that we recommend is 52 pages. The reason for this is to ensure that your booklet will fold over neatly. More than 52 pages we recommend you use perfect bound.
Q. What paper options do you offer with saddle-stitched booklets?
A. We print our saddle-stitched booklets in silk coated paper (115gsm - 350gs), gloss coated (115gsm - 350gs) and premium uncoated (100gsm - 350gs).
Q. Can I choose a luxury paper for my saddle-stitched booklets?
A. You can choose from a comprehensive selection of luxury papers including, Acquerello, Constellation Snow, Laid, Mohawk Felt, Nettuno, Sirio Pearl Oyster, Sirio Pearl Polar Dawn, Splendorgel Avorio and Gesso.
Q. What finishes do you offer for saddle-stitched booklets?
A. Our saddle-stitched booklets are available in a number of finishes from single or double-sided lamination in gloss or matt finish or opt for no lamination. Matt lamination gives a soft, contemporary effect. Adding a gloss lamination gives a higher quality shine finish than printing on gloss paper alone. Lamination is most useful with solid colours or images to enhance their vibrancy or where you want to protect your printed documents.
Q. Do you have any templates that I could download?
A. We provide templates in Adobe Illustrator, InDesign and PDF formats. View our design templates for saddle-stitched booklets.
Q. Can I print text over the spine of my saddle-stitched booklet?
A. No. It’s not possible to print on the spine of your saddle-stitched booklet because it’s not a flat surface.
Q. How do I supply my artwork?
A. Please supply saddle-stitched booklets as one multi-page PDF which consists of single pages running from the front cover through to the back cover, including any blank pages if needed. Saddle-stitched booklets must be created in multiples of 4 pages.
Q. Do I need bleed and crop marks on my artwork?
A. Yes, this is very important when providing artwork for saddle-stitched booklets. You should always create 3mm bleed on all edges.
Q. Do I need to adhere to certain margins when designing my book?
A. Yes, please ensure you don't place text too close to the edge of the page. As a rule, try to leave at least 5mm of space from the trimmed edge. A common mistake is placing page numbers too close to the edge.
Q. Do I need to supply fonts?
A. If you supply us with a Print Ready PDF then the fonts should be embedded. We may on occasion, request fonts when supplying files in other formats.
Q. What are the benefits of saddle-stitched booklets?
A. Saddle-stitched printing is the least expensive of all binding options and available with fast turnaround.