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Article on choosing the right size for your book...

The Right Size for Your Book

Books come in many different shapes and sizes. There are a number of traditional sizes.

8.5 x 11
7 x 10
6 x 9
5.5 x 8.5
4.5 x 5.5

In reality you can have your book be any size you like. The sizes above are more or less a guideline for the MOST common books sizes. If you go into your local bookstore you will find books in just about every size imaginable.

The economy of today’s printing presses is that they are designed on the basis of an 8.5 x 11 page size. That means, for the most economical sizes, you want to design your page to be 8.5 x 11, 5.5 x 8.5 or 4.5 x 5.5.

If you want to compare the price of a 6 x 9 book to one that is 5.5 x 8.5 with the same page count, it will be slightly more expensive. A 7 x 10 trim size will, once again, be a little more expensive then the 6 x 9 size. You might even be surprised to find that a book with an 8.5 x 11 trim size may be very competitively priced against a 7 x 10 trim size.

Once again, you can design your book to be any size that you desire. Many times our clients are undecided about which trim size they want for their book. The first thing we tell them to do is to go to their local bookstore and see what’s out there. Go to the section of the bookstore where there are similar subject matter to your title and browse the books that are there. Look and see what sizes other authors/publishers have chosen for their titles. Pick them up and handle them to see how they feel in your hands.

The next best thing to do is to simply look through the books that you have in your home and see how the different sizes feel to you. We also offer a service where we will produce a blank ‘dummy’ book for you. This book will be made to your specifications so you can see exactly what your book will look and feel like. We will create the ‘dummy’ using the same cover stock, text paper and binding that you desire.

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