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In response to your question about other binding options, have you
ever seen a "semi-concealed wire-o" binding? It's a very attractive
option for creating a spine (with book title) where a spine should
be, and yet it's a wire-o binding, so the book stays flat.
The company I just left a few months ago let me do this for our
manuals, and it worked out great. We had two ~400 page manuals,
a ~180 page manual, and a small 80+ page manual - all were in the
semi-concealed wire-o except for the 80+ pager, which we did in
saddlestitch. It's a nice change from the binding style where the
back cover is longer/folded to create a spine on the page end side of
the book. It's hard to describe, how to design for it, but you have
the size of your book, say 7.5" x 9", and the cover is one long sheet
that's different sizes depending on the spine size. The actual front
and back of the cover, where you put book title, company
name/address, etc., is slightly larger than the page size (so edges
don't protrude); the "play" is in the area where the spine is...your
graphic cover designer may have to do some different sizes, to
ensure that any book size will work. We did 1/2", 3/4", 1", and 1
1/4" spine widths to allow for smallish to large books. (Anything
under 120 pages, was saddle-stitch) I don't know if I've
described it well, but you could ask a reputable print vendor to show
you a sample of a semi-concealed wire-o...when the book's in a
bookcase, it *looks* like perfect binding, but it's much easier to
keep open.
Some tricks/tips:
1. If you go with this style, make sure you choose a *heavy* cover
stock, preferably coated, for a nice gloss. Plus, a heavy cover
isn't going to get crushed when/if you shrink-wrap it.
2. Before you decide on the spine sizes you need, find out from your
print vendor how many pages on both 50-lb and 60-lb paper you can
include in each spine size. This allows you some flexibility if you
estimate a book at 360 pages, but it ends up 408 (you can still use
the same spine size, but you'll have to print/docutech on 50-lb paper
rather than 60-lb).
3. You should estimate the size of your books carefully, because
cramming too many, or too few pages into one of these looks
not-so-good.
4. Be sure to ask your printer how much extra time it takes to bind
this style of book; I think our printer asked for approximately 1 1/2
days extra.
5. If your cover design allows for imprinting, you can print up a
lot of shells on one proof sheet, and therefore save money, by
printing in bulk. Plus, you might be able to use the same spine size
for multiple books, meaning all you have to do is imprint the book
title name (since all other company info you might put on the cover
is static).
Let me know if you want me to try to explain this a bit better...it's
hard to visualize, but it's worth the slightly extra cost/time. Our
users *loved* the new look! (We, too, migrated from binders to a
more polished semi-concealed wire-o) Good luck!
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