01904 608499

We are more than happy to answer any queries you may have, just drop us a phone call or email us and we will be happy to assist you in any way.

Here are some frequently asked questions that you may have about our services:

Do you only print books? 

Absolutely not! We can help you with many of your printing needs. Just get in touch and we can get the ball rolling.

How much does it cost to print a book?

All books that we print come in different shapes and sizes, paper types, cover lamination and have many different options. If you would like more information and an accurate quote for your specifications then give us a call on 01904 608499 and Chris will be happy to help discuss all of the options with you.

What format do you need my files in ready for printing? 

Print Ready PDF is our preferred format for text files. PDFs should be saved as one single file and be print ready. The file should be set up in page order (excluding the cover or jacket) with fonts embedded or fonts supplied. Please allow a minimum of 10mm of clear white space on all sides unless there are images that you are intending to bleed (go to the edge of the page). Images should be at least 300 DPI (dots per inch) to ensure the best print quality.

Can you help me with design, editing and self publishing? 

Absolutely! YPS printing services can help you through the entire process of self-publishing, removing any obstacles (and because we’ve been in this business since 2010, we know exactly what they might be), so that you can gain better access to success.

What paper shall I have my book printed on? 

This all depends on what type of book you are creating and the desired effect that you are wanting to achieve in your final product. We can advise you on the types of paper that we think would best fit your project. However, there are some genres of books that are better suited to certain weights of paper. For example, a Novel is generally best suited to a Bookwove paper with a gsm of around 80, Family/Local History books are often printed on a white offset at around 100gsm and books containing lots of good quality photos achieve the best results on a 130 gsm coated silk paper.

Do you produce bound proofs?

Yes! Absolutely! We are more than happy to print and send a proof copy to you. This allows you to see and hold your finished book and also helps you make any final corrections or changes should you need to. 

How long will it take to get my proof?

We aim to get your proof copies printed as soon as possible, however we do give a lead time of 5 working days to ensure the best possible quality of all of our print jobs.

When I am happy with my proof,how long will it take to print a run of my finished books?

As our aim is to achieve the highest quality of books, we do ask for a lead time of around 10 working days for runs of up to 500. However, this can depend on the amount of pages that you have in each book, we may be even quicker! 

Below are some terms we may use in the printing industry that you may find useful:

A,B & C PAPER SIZES - Internationally recognised range of commonly used paper sizes, such as A4 etc.

ACID-FREE PAPER - Paper that contains no acid or acid producing chemicals that degrades less over time than acidic papers. 

AGAINST THE GRAIN - Running a sheet of paper through a printing press at right angles to the grain direction of the paper, as opposed to with the grain.

ART PAPER - See coated stock.

ARTWORK - Images and text that make up the file that is being prepared for print.

AQUEOUS COATING - Clear coating to protect printed sheets. It provides a seal to the printed surface, preventing ink from rubbing or transferring. Not to be confused with Varnish.

BACK UP - How an image on one side of a printed sheet aligns with the image on the other side.

BASE LINE - The imaginary horizontal line upon which stand capitals, lowercase letters, punctuation points, etc.

BLANKET - The rubberised surfaced material secured onto a cylinder of a Lithographic press onto which the ink is transferred from the plate and then to the paper.

BLEACHING (ECF & TCF) - A chemical treatment used to whiten, brighten and improve paper pulp prior to papermaking. Using ECF (elemental chlorine free) or TCF (totally chlorine free) processes in paper mills can prevent pollution in the environment.

BLEED - The amount of print that extends outside th page area and will be trimmed off at the binding stage. Normally the bleed is 3mm.

BLOCKING - Processes where a heated raised block is pressed on foil to reproduce the title or other images on the case of a hardback book. The foils are normally gold or silver but colours are available.

BOND - A grade of durable writing and printing paper that is erasable with an uncoated finish.

BOOK DIMENSIONS -The size of a book should be given as the height first, followed by the width i.e. 234mm x 156mm portrait, A4 297mm x 210mm, A4 small 270mm x 200mm, A’format 178mm x 111mm.

BOOK DISTRIBUTION - See Pick Pack and dispatch book distribution.

BOOK SIZES - Book size should be given as the height first followed by the width. Common sizes for commercially produced books by publishers are A’format 178mm x 111mm - B’format 198mm x126mm - C’format 216mm x 138mm - Royal 234mm x 156mm - Royal wide 234mm x 170mm - Crown 246mm x 174mm - Crown quarto 246mm x 189mm – American A4 270mm x 210mm or 280mm x 220mm - A4 297mm x 210mm – Children’s books 200mm x 200mm.

A5 210mm x 148mm is sometimes used as a book size but rarely for professional publishers.

BULK (PAPER)  -A term given to describe the thickness of the paper. The bulk of paper is described as its volume (Vol) the bulk or thickness of paper has nothing to do wit its GSM (grams per square meter, weight)bulky paperis relatively thick in comparison to its weight as it is less compact and will make a book thicker than a lower bulk paper. E.g. 100gsm Vol 0.8 would be a relatively thin coated paper and 80gsm Vol 1.8 would be a thick uncoated Bookwove publishing paper.

CALLIPER - The measurement of the thickness of paper. Measured in thousandths of a millimetre or microns.

CARBONLESS PAPER - Paper that is chemically treated to transfer the impression from the first page to the subsequent pages.

CASE BOUND - Often described as 'hard backed' book, case binding involves thread sewn sections of a book being encased in heavy gauge covers constructed from thick board, with either cloth, leather or printed sheets mounted to the surface - see Paper over Board.

CAST COATED - A paper that is coated and then pressure dried using a polished roller that imparts an enamel like hard gloss finish.

CENTRE SPREAD - The two pages that face each other in the centre of a book or publication.

COATED STOCK - Any paper that has a mineral coating applied after the paper is made, giving the paper a smoother finish.  See Matt, Silk and Gloss.

COATING - see Aqueous Coating.

COIL BINDING - Coil binding is similar to WireO. Books are punched with the holes on the binding edge by the same machine. A wire coil is then wound into the holes and crimped at each end. This is more secure than WireO. Coils come in a large range of colours and do not crush with harsh treatment.

COLLATE - To gather multiple items in a set order.

COLOUR BAR -  Sample colours printed in a band on a part of the page that will be trimmed off. This is used by the print machine operator to ensure the colour quality remains standard throughout the run.

COLOUR GAMUT - The entire range of hues possible to reproduce on a specific system, such as a computer screen, or four- colour printing press. The visible colour gamut of the human eye is much broader than is possible to print in four-colour, or CMYK colour separations.

COLOUR SEPARATION -  Colour print is made by printing varying size dots of ink, Cyan (blue), Yellow, Magenta (red), and Black, referred to as CMYK. Photographs on film are continuous tone and when viewed on a computer they are viewed in RGB, red, green, blue dots. The colours need to be electronically separated and corrected.

CREASED - To ensure your card does not 'crack' when folded, a chanel is stamped on the fold line to give a perfect finish.

CROP MARKS -  Often called tie marks, short hair lines outside the page area that will be trimmed off that indicate the finished page size.

DEBOSSED - As Embossed, where the resulting effect is a subtly depressed area to the surface.

DENSITOMETER - An optical device used to measure and control the density of ink or colour.

DESIGN & LAYOUT - The graphic design process is the visual design, with the final production of the print files. Computer software used for designing includes Adobe InDesign, QuarkXPress, Illustrator and Photoshop. The final file for printing is made into a PDF file (portable document format).

DESKTOP PUBLISHING - Computer software used for creating artwork for printing. Typical applications include Adobe InDesign & QuarkXPress.

DIE CUT - A printed piece that needs to be cut to a specific shape (not square/rectangle) required a die to be made from which the shape is stamped out.

DIGITAL PRINTING -A modern method of printing short to medium runs of black and white and colour jobs direct from computer files. Normally these machines print on relatively small cut sheets of paper. Modern digital printing presses compete very well on quality with litho printing.

DOT - The individual element of a halftone which is produced during the Repogrographic process.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD - When an image, diagram etc is spread accross two adjoining pages. Spreads are often produced by the designer as proofs so that the adjoining pages can be seen together for checking.

DRILL - The process of creating holes in paper other than punching. A specially constructed pillar type drilling machine that uses hollow drill bits to drill through a stack of paper, with a vacuum that removes the waste paper.

DUMMY - An assembled proof, representing the finished printed item.

DUST JACKET - A wraparound printed cover on a hardback book normally but not always laminated. The flaps that fold inside the cover, are used normally for additional information about the book and author.

ELECTRONIC PROOF - A proof version of the file normally in a low resolution PDF file for checking.

EMBOSSED - A defined area of a printed board that is pushed through from the reverse, using a specially constructed die. The resulting effect is a subtly raised area to the surface.

ENDPAPERS - Endpapers are four pages at the front and back of a hard back book. The first, or last sheet is glued to the board of the case. The endpapers can be left blank or printed or a colour paper can be used.

EPS -Encapsulated Post Script. A standard file format used to transfer postscript formatting information between applications. Used for saving images and other graphical elements. 

FINISHING - Post printing, the Bindery Department performs all the processes involved with converting flat printed sheets into the desired finished format.

FLAT BACK BOOKS - Case bound books can be produced with flat backs, spines. The spine can be made with board the same thickness as the case or with thinner material to make a hollow when the book is opened.

FOIL BLOCKED - An area of print where a film like opaque foil is stamped in a defined area of the printed sheet using a specially constructed die.

FONT - The characters that make up a typeface i.e. Times New Roman

FSC - Forest Stewardship Council. An internationally recognised non profit organisation established to promote responsible management of the World's forests. Paper produced under the FSC certified chain of custardy can be traced back to the original source. At YPS printing services we only use FSC certified paper.

FULL CANADIAN - This  uses the Wire-o-binding method and  conceals the wire coil at the front and along the documents spine using a wrap-around card cover.

GLOSS - Coated stock with a semi-gloss or gloss finish. 

GRAIN (PAPER)- Paper is made from fibres and the direction that most of the fibres are laid in, gives the grain direction of the paper. Paper is more flexible with grain direction or resistant to folding against the grain. On thicker paper or board it may have to be creased or perforated to stop cracking.

GRIPPER EDGE - The side of a piece of paper held by the gripper fingers as it passes through a printing press. 

GSM - Grams per square metre - terminology used to determine paper weight.

GUILLOTINE - Large steel blade device for cutting stacks of printed material consistently and repeatedly.

HALF-CANADIAN - As Wire-o-binding, enabling you to create a printed spine, the wire is partially hidden by the cover. The wire is expossed trough the rear cover only, leaving the front cover clear to display the printed image. 

HALFTONE - A black and white or colour image that is electronically converted to give the impression that it is a continuous tone image when it is actually made up of very small dots which vary in size.

HEADBANDS AND TAIL BANDS - Headbands and tail bands are pieces of colored fabric that can be glued to the top and bottom of the spine of a hardback book. Headbands and tail bandsgive books a quality finish. Headbands and tail bands are hand sewn, on hand bound books.

HICKEY - The effect that occurs when a speck of dust or debris (frequently dried ink) adheres to the printing plate and creates a spot or imperfection in the printing.

INK JET PRINTING - A modern method of printing short to longer runs of black and white and colour jobs direct from computer files. Modern Ink Jet machine will compete very well on quality with litho printing. These machines may use similar technology to the domestic printers we print from at home but they run at high speed. They are fed with paper from a large reel, they normally have binding equipment connected in line and they cost millions of pounds.

IMPOSITION - Positioning of the pages electronically by the printer on the sheet of paper that the section of the book is printed on. When the sheet is folded, each page will be in the correct place and position.

ITALIC - Text that slants forward, normally used for emphasis.

JUSTIFIED TEXT - Were the block of text has been spaced and occasionally hyphenation added electronically to make all lines the same length.

JPEG - Method of compression commonly used for digital photography .jpeg files

KERNING - The adjustment of space between different letters nowadays done by the design software to make the spacing look correct.

KEYLINES - Position lines normally red or green, drawn on the artwork but do not print. The lines help the designer fit text or illustrations in the correct position on the page.

KISS CUT - As Die Cutting but the cut only goes partially through - used for labels on a sheet for example.

KRAFT - A course unbleached paper used for packing. Commonly known as Brown Paper.

LAMINATING - Matt & Gloss - a layer of thin plastic film applied to one or both sides of a printed sheet. 

LAID FINISH - A parallel lined paper that has a handmade look.

LANDSCAPE - A book or document that is wider than the height, the opposite of portrait. The size of a book should be given as the height first followed by the width i.e. 170mm x 240mm landscape.

LETTERPRESS - A technique of printing using a direct impression of an inked, raised surface against sheets of paper. Movable type, zinc plates with halftone images and pre moulding lines of lead text are locked into the bed of the printing press, ink is applied, and paper is pressed against it to transfer the ink.

LINEN - A paper that emulates the look and texture of linen cloth.

LITHOGRAPHY - See Offset Printing.

LOCK BOUND - As Perfect Bound, but with perforations along every fold of each folded section. 

LOGO - A company emblem, the design symbolizing their organisation.

LOUPE - A small magnifier used to observe the details on a printed sheet. Sometimes referred to as a Linen Tester.

MAKE-READY - Paper that is used to set up a process before the printing run begins. Or the process of setting up press or bindery equipment to produce a specific product.

MANILLA - Strong, buff(brown)-coloured paper used to make envelopes and file folders.

MATT - Coated stock with a flat non-reflective finish.

MICRONS - Typical description for the thickness of board as opposed to the weight of paper.

MOIRÉ - The unwanted pattern on a halftone caused by an additional screen on a halftone or the wrong screen angles.

NUMBERING - Putting a sequential number on each copy.

OFFSET PAPER - A term sometimes used for uncoated book paper.

OFFSET PRINTING (Lithography) - The most commonly used commercial printing method, where the printed material does not receive ink directly from a printing plate but from an intermediary blanket that receives the ink from the plate and then transfers it to the plate.

OPACITY - Quality of papers that defines its opaqueness or ability to prevent two-sided printing from showing through.

PALLETISED STOCK - Books ordered in larger quantities may be delivered shrink-wrapped on a wooden pallet. This is to enable the use of mechanical handling by forklift trucks. The books on the pallet will be packed in corrugated cartons or in shrink-wrap packs and be individually labelled.

PALLET - In the printing trade pallets are wood they enable the mechanical handling by forklift trucks. There is a standard size used by the warehousing and transport industry –1.2m x 1m. Printers tend to use and recycle lots of other size pallets as their paper is delivered on the pallets, which are made for the size of the paper.

The common pallet known, as the “printers pallet” is 645mm x 910mm. Pallets are recycled until they are past repair.

PAPER OVER BOARD -The construction of paper covered cardboard. The paper outer is ideal for printing photo quality artwork in a variety of finishes. The cardboard provides rigidity to create the product whether it's book covers, ring binders or boxes.

PERFECT BOUND - Binding technique where groups of pages are bound together using adhesive to create a clean, crisp and professional printed product.

PERFORATED - Small consecutive incisions Die Cut into paper or board to allow a piece to easily hand tear.

PICK PACK AND DISPATCH BOOK DISTRIBUTION - This is the distribution operation of books or any other warehouse-stocked product. An order is received from your customer and the book or other item is “picked” from stock held. The item or items are suitably packaged and dispatched to your customer. Distribution systems may take payments from customers depending on their arrangement with you.

PORTRAIT BOOK - A book or document that is higher than the width, the opposite of landscape. The size of a book should be given as the height first followed by the width i.e. 240mm x 170mm portrait.

PRINTED PAPER CASE (PPC) HARD BACK BINDING - This is the name of the binding of a hard back book with the hardcover of the case covered in a printed liner. This type of binding does not normally have a jacket but it can have.

PROCESS COLOURS - The printing inks Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black used in CMYK colour separation.

PROOF -A mock up/ trial impression of the book or document. This enables you to see what the finished product will look like and allows you the opportunity to make any small minor changes before we print the finished article.

PUR BOUND - As Perfect Bound, but using an extra strength glue. See Lock Bound. 

PUBLISHING PAPERS - Types of paper typically specified by publishers and used by book printers because of their high bulk (thickness compared to weight) indicated in the specification by the papermaker as the volume. A high volume paper makes the book thicker a high GSM paper makes the book heavier. See bulk of paper.

RAM BOUND - An alternative to Die Cutting where a stack of printed material is forced through a steel die to form a predetermined outer shape. Typically used for large volume small items.

RASTERISED - Raster graphics are represented as a group of pixels, or points of colour. Rasterised files have limited scalability once created.

READER'S MARKS - A type of shorthand used by editors and proof readers for correcting paper proofs. These are not used much now, as most editors will use track changes on the computer.

REAM - 500 sheets of paper.

RECYCLED - Containing a percentage of post-consumer waste paper.

REPROGRAPHICS - The process of preparing artwork for printing. Including the use of correct imposition, colour separation and placing of colours bars.

RGB - Colour seperation values of images as Red, Green and Blue. Typically used in photography to preview correctly on computer screens, but without conversion to CMYK can render a colour change when printed.

RIBBON BOOK MARK - A Ribbon for the use as bookmark can be bound into the spine of a hard back book these 6mm ribbons come in range colours and add an additional touch of quality to the binding.

ROUNDING AND BACKING - Hard back books can be produced in a rounded and backed binding by a machine this gives them a rounded spine. The foredge of the book is curved inwards and the boards of the book sit flatter on the front and back of the book.

SADDLE STITCHED - Binding technique where folded sections of paper are secured together with two wire stitches (much like staples) along the folded edge to create a multi-page document.

SCREEN PRINTING -Ink is applied to a porous silk screen and passed through a stencil or template to leave an impression. Normally used when printing on fabric and banners and when printing on board that is too thick to pass through a standard press.

SELF-ADHESIVE - Adhesive backed paper stock with backing paper to prevent adhesion where not required.

SHEET-FED - A sheet-fed printing press uses individual sheets, instead of continuous rolls of paper used on a web offset presses.

SHEETWORK - The printing of two different images on two different sides of a sheet of paper by turning the sheet over after the first side is printed and using the same gripper and side guides but with new plates.

SHOW THROUGH - When the printing on one side of a sheet is seen from the other side, a frequent problem with thin papers.

SIDE LAY - The guides on the sides of a printing press that consistently positions the sheet sideways as it is fed through the press.

SIGNATURE - A printed sheet with multiple pages on it that is folded so that the pages are in their proper numbered sequence, as in a book.

SILK - Coated stock with a silk sheen finish. Sometimes branded as Satin.

SPIRAL BOUND - System of binding multiple leaves of paper, using a row of punched holes with a simple plastic or metal coil - see Wire-o-binding

SPOT COLOURS - Solid colours that are created using a specific premixed ink, usually based on Pantone Matching System (PMS) colours. Pantone colours are standardized, and each one is assigned an individual number and name, which designers and printers in different locations can use to easily identify the same exact colour.

SPOT UV VARNISH - UV cured, glass like varnish effect, that can be applied in defined areas over the printed sheet.

STOCHASTIC SCREENING - In the stochastic screening method, the frequency of dots being applied is increased or reduced in relation to the tonality of the image which results in higher quality prints.

THREAD SEWN - Sections are sewn with a cotton thread before the covers are glued or 'drawn' on. The most secure method of binding for books requiring long term archiving. 

TEXT PAPER - A high quality lightweight printing paper.

TIFF - Tagged Image File Format. Computer file format for storing rasterised images.

UNCOATED -A grade of paper with an uncoated, slightly rough finish.

VARIABLE DATA PRINTING -A digital printing process that you can use to create individualized direct mail pieces in a single run based on one or more of data elements you have about a customer or prospect.

VARNISH - A clear oil based coating added to printed material as a protective layer for improved scuff resistance and usually to increase the gloss finish - Not to be confused with Aqueous Coating.

VECTOR - The use of polygons to represent images in computer graphics. Vector graphics are based on vectors, which lead through locations called control points. Vector line illustrations can be enlarged greatly without loss of quality.

VELLUM- A finish of paper that is somewhat bulky and is slighly rough.

VIRGIN FIBRE - Paper or board pulp fibre which is being used for the first time and not recycled fibre.

WAREHOUSING AND STORAGE BOOKS - An arrangement can be made where some or all of your printed books can be stored with your distributer. This is normally a separate cost and will be charged per box or pallet of books per month.

WASH-UP - The procedure of cleaning a particular ink from the rollers of a printing press.

WATERMARK - A translucent mark or image that is embossed during the papermaking proces, or printed onto paper, which is visbible when the paper is held up to the light.

WIRE-O-BINDING - Holes are punched along the spine of a book and a C shaped wire is inserted and closed using our closing machine. This binds the pages securely together but also enables the pages to turn 360 degrees. 

WOOD FREE - Paper created exclusively from chemically extracted pulp (rather than mechanically) containing only the cellulose fibres of wood, which is less susceptible to yellowing. Not to be confused with Recycled Papers.

WORK & TUMBLE - As Work & Turn, but pivoting from the centre of the short edge.

WORK & TURN - Process that prints both sides of the paper using one set of plates showing both the front and back of a printed piece. One side of the paper is printed then the sheets are turned, pivoting from the centre of the long edge and printed again making sure both front and back elements back up.

WOVE - A smooth paper with a gentle patterned finish.