Product Information | Saddle Stitching
If you have questions about saddle stitching you have come to the right place!
Saddle stitching is a form of binding in which all pages are bound in the center of the booklet from the outside using wire staples. Saddle stitching is ideally suited to booklets or magazines in the 8pp to 80pp (printed page) range.
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We offer cheap Saddle Stitched Booklet prices, priority dispatch options and simple online ordering.
Magazine/Booklet Sizes & Orientations
We offer saddle stitched magazines & booklets in three standards sizes, A4, A5 and DL.
- A4 Portrait (210 x 297mm) Bound on Long Edge
- A4 Landscape (297 x 210mm) Bound on Short Edge
- A5 Portrait (148 x 210mm) Bound on Long Edge
- A5 Landscape (210 x 148mm) Bound on Short Edge
- DL Portrait (99 x 210mm) Bound on Long Edge
If you would like a different size to the standard sizes above, please contact us here to request a custom quotation.
Self Cover or Hard Cover
We offer an extensive range of self cover and hard cover options for our saddle stitched magazines & booklets.
Self Cover magazines & booklets (also know as soft cover) are printed with all pages (including covers) on the same paper type & weight. We offer self cover magazines & booklets on many paper types, including:
- 115gsm Gloss Artpaper
- 150gsm Gloss Artpaper
- 150gsm Matt-Satin Artpaper
Hard Cover magazines & booklets have the cover printed on a heavier paper weight compared to the internal (text) pages. We offer many combinations of sizes and paper types for hard cover magazines & booklets, including:
- 250gsm artboard cover / 115gsm artpaper internal pages (Gloss or Matt)
- 250gsm artboard cover / 150sm artpaper internal pages (Gloss or Matt)
- 350gsm artboard cover (with laminate) / 150sm artpaper internal pages (Gloss or Matt)
Saddle-stitch Booklet Printing Terminology
PP (Printed Pages)
PP stands for “printed pages.”
For example: A 16pp A4 Magazine = 4 x A3 sheets, double sided, folded and saddle stitched to A4.
Diagram Illustrating Creep
Creep
Also known as shingling, creep describes the effect where the cumulative thickness of a saddle stitched booklet/magazine causes the edges of the inner pages to gradually protrude beyond the edges of the outer ones. The greater the number of pages, the greater the effect of creep. Creep can result in the margins of the inner pages becoming progressively smaller and smaller.
Due to creep, we require a minimum of 5mm internal bleed for ALL saddle stitched booklets and magazines. For further information about bleed, please refer to the bleed instructions.
Example of Booklet Notching
Booklet Notching
Due to the saddle-stitching binding method, small notches on the bottom or top edge of the spine can occur after trimming.
Thicker booklets (around 48-50pp upwards), heavier weight covers (e.g. 350gsm) and high ink coverage on the cover are all factors which increase the risk of notching.
If they do occur, notches are usually very small and not particularly noticeable (see image below). However if you wish to prevent them from occurring we recommend selecting either matt or gloss laminating on your covers at the time of placing your order. Laminating the cover of your magazines will prevent notches from occurring when trimming.
Artwork Resources and Guidelines
When creating your artwork, we always recommend that our guideline templates be used. Guideline templates can be found by clicking here . Before using our templates, please read the “read me” file first.
When creating your artwork, please take into account:
- Artwork must be supplied at the correct size and contain 5mm of internal and external bleed.
- Artwork should be supplied as a 1-Up multiple page file with the correct number of pages (preferably a press ready PDF file) with the front cover as page one, and the back cover as the last page. For example, a 12 page magazine should be supplied as one file with 12 pages – NOT as 12 separate files. If your design has less than the number of pages you are ordering, please add blank pages to make up the number of pages.
- We don’t recommend that images or especially text be supplied across the spread due to the possibility of slight shifting.
Please do not supply artwork set up as multi-page spreads, pages imposed 2-Up or separate files for each individual page.
Saddle Stitch Magazine Design Service
For affordable Saddle-stitched Magazine Design services please contact our Design department to request a quote here.
If you still have questions, or cannot find what you are looking for in the resources provided above, please contact us by clicking here and one of our team will get back to you promptly.