It might be somewhat confusing to set up a book’s Printing page arrangement. The booklet arrangement follows a set order.
For booklets that will contain content within them (eg magazines, novels, textbooks, etc); there is a common order of the pages, which goes as follows:
- the preliminary matter (or front matter)
- the main text, and
- the end matter (or back matter)
Additionally, there is a general rule about page order: the page number on the right (recto) page is always odd, while the page number on the left (verso) is always even. This will be useful when we talk about page numbering later.
How Do I Arrange My Booklet To Print?
When printing booklets, printing businesses often arrange the pages in three main ways.
Printer spreads or reader’s spread, often known as numerical order, could be the cause.
Numerical Order (Reader’s Spread)
In two-page spreads, readers’ spreads display successive pages. For someone to read the booklet, they are in the right order.
Every page is arranged numerically and provided in the precise order that it will appear in the final publication.
If your booklet is 32 pages long, for instance, you would make a single file with all 32 pages—even blank ones.
Because it allows you to see exactly how the final page layout will appear once the book is bound and finished, this is frequently the suggested way for organizing your booklet for printing.
Printer Spread
The booklet’s pages are shown on printer spreads as they will print side by side on a sheet. The spreads are not arranged numerically or in consecutive page order.
Rather, they are arranged so that, when the pages are folded and bound, they will ultimately appear in the proper numerical order.
Printer spreads provide several benefits over reader spreads, such as improved alignment for large images that don’t fit on a single page, even if they might not be as common.
Page Count Explained By Binding Type
Depending on the binding option you use, determining the page count for your book can become challenging. Although saddle stitch is the most popular, the number of pages will vary depending on the type of binding used.
Let’s get right into it:
Saddle Stitching
Comic books, magazines, and brochures are typical volumes that employ the saddle stitch technique. Single sheets of paper are folded in half, one inside the other, and then “stitched” through the fold line using wire staples in a technique known as saddle stitching.
Your booklet’s page count must be in increments of four because the pages are folded in half. Saddle stitching has a minimum of 8 pages and a maximum of 92 pages.
It is one of the most popular and least expensive bookbinding techniques.
Perfect Binding
Perfect-bound booklets are frequently found in periodicals, textbooks, and novels.
When single sheets of text-weight paper are printed on both sides and stacked one on top of the other in page number order, this is known as perfect binding. After cutting the sheets to your desired trim size, the edges are ground down.
Page counts must be in increments of two, and there is a minimum of 28 pages with a maximum thickness of 2 inches.
Spiral Binding
Books with spiral binding are frequently used for notebooks, school assignments, and book mementos.
Single sheets of paper are printed on both sides, trimmed to trim size, and then collated in page number order to create spiral binding. The sturdy spiral coil is inserted through the holes drilled on the binding edge.
The pages must be in increments of two, with a minimum of eight pages and a maximum thickness of two and a half inches. Additionally, since the spine of this type must be pierced to let the spiral coil through, printing on it is not possible.
Wire-O Binding
Common examples of wire-o binding include maintenance instructions, reports, and cookbooks. Single sheets of paper are printed on both sides, trimmed to trim size, and then collated in page number order to create wire-o binding. The binding edge is perforated with holes, and the pages are bound through the holes with a polished metal wire.
The minimum page count is eight, and the maximum thickness is one and a half inches. Pages must be added in two-page increments.
The spine is perforated, so printing cannot be done on it, just like with spiral binding.
Numbering Of Inside Pages
Knowing where to place the page numbers for the internal pages is another challenge when printing booklets.
Placing odd page numbers on the right side (recto) and even page numbers on the left (verso) of the page is the simplest method of determining which edge (recto or verso) the page numbers should be on.
It’s also crucial to keep in mind that the number of pages in the print-ready PDF on your computer does not match the inside-page numbering.
How To Choose Print Settings For Booklets
When you’ve figured out your booklet arrangement and chosen your preferred binding type, it’s time to get down to printing.
- To assist you in printing a PDF booklet from your computer, follow these steps:
- Go to the print settings. Launch your preferred PDF reading application and navigate to the main screen.
- To upload your PDF file to the app, click the “open file” button and choose the “File” tab.
- Once your content has been uploaded, choose the print option to bring up the print menu.
- Choose the printer and page size that work best for your booklet from the “Print” menu. Next, pick “Booklet” from the “Print Mode” menu.
- Click on the booklet subset option to select your booklet subset from the booklet configuration. Select the “print on both sides” option.
- Click on the “Booklet” tab to select your preferred binding option.
- Lastly, after you have customized every setting to your liking, locate the print button and click it.
Conclusion
If you’re printing a booklet for the first time, it’s normal to panic, but hopefully, this article demystifies booklet printing page arrangement.
Also, if you want to ensure that your page count is correct, you can use an online booklet design tool to visualize what your book will look like once printed and determine whether your binding type is suitable for your page count.
