Perfect Bound vs Saddle Stitch Booklets: Your Complete Guide
Perfect Bound vs Saddle Stitch: In general if you are doing a smaller booklet on a limited budget, then saddle stitch binding is a great option for you. However, if your book is larger and you need a more professional-looking publication, then you might want to go with perfect bound.
To help with your decision, click on the following sections:
If you are looking for a reliable printing company that is experienced in both saddle stitch and perfect bound processes, contact us.
Perfect bound vs saddle stitch: learn which is the best option for your printing project
1. Perfect Bound vs Saddle Stitch: A detailed description of both
To help you make your decision between perfect bound vs saddle stitch binding, here is a more detailed description of the two styles.
Perfect Bound:
Perfect bound refers to the process of grouping pages of booklets or books together and binding them with a thermal adhesive. Once all of the pages are bound together, more adhesive is applied to the spine and then the cover is wrapped around them.
This booklet printing and binding process provides a crisp, clean, and extremely professional-looking finished product. It is a popular choice for softcover books, thicker magazines, and booklets.
Saddle Stitch:
Saddle stitch binding is one of the most common methods for booklet printing and binding. To do saddle stitch binding, each page of your booklet is printed on both sides and then all of your pages are stacked together in page number order.
The pages are then folded in half and stapled through the fold with a specially designed saddle stitch stapler.
Saddle stitch binding is done with a specially designed stapler
2. Advantages of Perfect Bound
Perfect bound binding offers you many great advantages including:
Easy storage: Perfect bound books are easy to stack because of their box-like, uniform shape. This also means that they will stand up nicely to display or store on a bookshelf.
Title visibility: Not only can you print the title on the front of your book, but you can also print it along the spine for better visibility.
Durability: You can also choose to have your cover clear-coated to give it extra durability. The perfect binding process will give you a high-quality product that will last for years.
Clean cuts: Perfect bound books will give you clean cuts and perfect edges on all 3 sides for an extremely professional-looking appearance.
Perfect bound books are very durable
3. Advantages of Saddle Stitch
Saddle stitch binding also has a number of great advantages. These include:
Lay flat: A great feature of saddle-stiched booklets is that the pages will lay flat when you open up your booklet and turn the pages.
Quick turnaround: Because saddle stitch binding is a relatively simple process, the turnaround is usually quite fast, making it a good choice if you are in a hurry.
Choice of covers: You can choose to have a heavier weight of cover for your booklet or you can make it a self-cover booklet (where cover is the same weight of paper as the rest of the pages), which can save you money.
Choice of sizes: Saddle stitch can be done on a wide variety of projects from a tiny pocket-sized booklet to a large road atlas.
Add holes: If you would like your booklets to be stored in a binder, you can have holes punched along the spine.
Lightweight: Saddle stitch booklets are lighter in weight than perfect bound, making them a great option for mailings.
Saddle stitch lets your book lay flat as you turn the pages
4. Perfect Bound vs Saddle Stitch: Price comparison
Saddle stitch is the more affordable binding option. If you are on a budget, then this may be the best option for you. It is an excellent, cost-effective way to get your printed materials bound and if you choose to work with a reputable printing company, the result will be an appealing booklet that hasn't broken the bank.
Perfect bound does cost more than saddle stitch, however, it is far less expensive than having to put a hardcover on your book. If you are reselling your book, then choosing perfect bound will enable you to charge a higher price as it will look better and will merit a higher cost than a saddle-stitched book. If you want a more professional looking result, then perfect bound may be worth the extra investment.
5. Perfect Bound vs Saddle Stitch: Page Count Constraints
Another big factor when comparing perfect bound vs saddle stitch for your bookbinding is the number of pages you have.
Saddle stitch: In general saddle stitch works best for books with smaller page counts. Saddle stitch booklets can be as small as 8 pages and as long as 92 pages depending on the thickness of your paper. You want to make sure that your pages can fold properly and that you still have a nice flat appearance.
If you choose thicker paper, then you might find that 64 is the maximum number of pages you can have. In addition, saddle stitch page count needs to be in multiples of four because the sheets are folded. A printing professional will be able to advise you on the best thickness of paper for the number of pages that you want.
Perfect Bound: Perfect bound is your better choice if you have a longer book to be printed. Perfect bound can be done anywhere from 28 pages long and up to 2 inches thick including the cover. 100 to 300 pages is the most common range for perfect bound books.
The number of pages you want will help determine which binding process you need
6. Saddle Stitch uses
Here are some of the many uses for saddle stitch binding:
Thin catalogues and magazines
Anniversary/Event books
Workbooks
Organization by-laws
Membership booklets
Programs
Newsletters
Calendars
Pamphlets
Direct mailers
Comic books
Children’s books
Saddle stitch is a great option for calendars
7. Perfect Bound uses
Perfect bound can be used for many types of printing projects including:
Larger magazines and catalogues
Journals
Travel guides
Handbooks
Books
Novels
Mass producing books that are larger than magazines
Manuals
Textbooks
Looking for Professional Perfect Bound & Saddle Stitch Services?
If you are looking for the best perfect bound and saddle stitch services out there, contact JH French.
JH French is a printing company that has been in business for over 120 years! We are a family-owned and operated business with a rich printing heritage. In fact, our current owner’s father and grandfather all worked in printing.
We offer a wide range of printing products and services for individuals, unions, and businesses, large and small, across Hamilton, Ontario, and throughout all of Canada.
We will work closely with you to help determine your wants, needs, and budget, and we help you get top-quality printing products every time.
To learn more, contact us now.
What our customers are saying…
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“Excellent experience, have used them for about a year. Always clarifying info, always meets deadline[s], manages expectation[s] and quality printing products. Will continue to use them! Very friendly and professional.”