Whether you’re looking to publish a textbook containing your research, a manual, a workbook for your students, a reference textbook, a fashion, biology, or history textbook, you’re going to need to know how much it will cost to print them.
When you imagine a textbook, you often think of thick, hard-cover books containing 100s of pages of information, which feel and look expensive. And the truth is, printing textbooks can be very expensive. However, printing textbooks can also be extremely affordable!
By looking at the different factors that have varying degrees of influence on the end price, you’ll be able to better understand how much it will cost to print your textbooks and what ways you can minimize the cost as much as possible.
Below are the various factors which are broken down into a few categories to help you determine the end cost of printing textbooks. We’ve even included a few tips on how to cut the costs of printing textbooks.
Quantity – How many textbooks do you need?
The more textbooks you print, the higher the price will be. However, as you increase the quantity, the price per textbook decreases. This is important to remember because if you plan on printing more textbooks down the road, it will be cheaper to order a larger quantity at once rather than separate small orders.
For example, if you were looking to print 100 5.5” x 8.5” 50-page softcover textbooks, the price could be around $6-$10 per textbook. If you were to increase the quantity to 500, the price per textbook would drop to around $2-$6.
If you want to save by ordering your textbooks in bulk, but only need a certain quantity at a given time, ask your printer if they offer inventory fulfillment so they can hold on to your textbooks until you need them, so you don’t need to worry about storing them.
The Cover and Paper of Your Textbook
When it comes to the cover of textbooks, there are paperback textbooks, hardcover textbooks, and cloth hardcover textbooks.
Paperback or softcover textbooks will be your cheapest option with hardcover and cloth hardcover books being around 5-20 times more expensive than paperback books.
While printing paperback books will be your cheapest option, it is important that you choose a heavier or thicker paper for your cover. For example, the inside pages of your textbook need to be thin enough for easy binding, like a 100# or 80# text weight paper. However, if you were to select the same type of paper for your textbook cover, it would lose durability and the inside pages of your textbook would not be protected.
Choosing a thicker paper for your textbook cover isn’t as expensive as you may think either. For example, if you were to print 300 8.5” x 11” 80-page saddle-stitched textbooks with the inside pages and cover both being 100# text weight paper, the cost would be around $8 per textbook. If you were to choose a thicker paper for the cover, like an 80# cover weight stock, the price per textbook would be around $9.
Also, keep in mind, your printer will typically offer a set of house stocks which will be the cheapest option when printing your textbooks. This is because your printer’s house stocks are regularly used by other customers, they always have them on hand, and it’s easier for them to pair your textbooks with other jobs when laying them out on press sheets.
At Conquest Graphics, we offer our “Conquest Preferred” paper. Some of the default preferred stocks we carry include 100#, 80# and 70# gloss and velvet text, 100# and 80# gloss and velvet cover, and 14pt C2S cover paper.
Turnaround Time – When do you need your textbooks?
Turnaround time is the time it takes to print your textbooks and depending on when you need your textbooks, there will be different prices associated with different turnaround times.
The cost to print textbooks increases when you give your printer less time to print your project. This is because giving your printer a small timeframe for printing gives them less time to find similar jobs they can print alongside your textbooks, which saves them paper and time.
For example, if you were to print 100 6” x 9” 32-page textbooks and needed them in 4 days, the price would be around $50-$70 more than if you needed them in 7 days.
To save money on printing your textbooks, always plan ahead so you can choose a longer turnaround time.
Ink and Coating for Your Textbooks
Often textbooks will include imagery on the cover as well as inside pages and printing your textbooks in full color will help drive attention to the information you’ve published. Plus, when it comes to ink, many printers’ default is full-color printing, and opting for black-and-white print will only decrease the price, if at all, slightly.
When it comes to coatings for your textbook, adding a coating to the inside pages and cover, or just the cover will increase the price. Often a coating is not necessary for the inside pages, however, adding a coating, like a UV coating to the cover of your textbook will increase its durability. Because of this, it’s recommended to add a coating to at least the cover of your textbook.
If you were to add a UV coating to the cover of 200 8.5” x 11” 40-page textbooks, the total price would only increase around $30-$40.
When considering a coating for your textbook, keep in mind that UV coatings will be much cheaper than aqueous coatings since it takes a lot less time and resources to print using UV coating.
The Size of Your Textbooks
The larger your textbook is, the more paper or press sheets it will use which translates to higher prices.
Printing smaller sizes like 5.5” x 8.5” or 6” x 9” textbooks is the cheapest choice. However, it’s also important to note that depending on how much information and details you need to include within your textbook, it may need more room so that your published content doesn’t come across as cramped and overwhelming. If this is the case, adding a few more pages will typically be cheaper than increasing the size of your textbook depending on how many extra pages you will need.
For example, if you were to print 500 20-page 8.5” x 11” textbooks, it would cost around $150-$200 more to add 4 more pages while if you were to increase the size to a 9” x 12” textbook, the price would increase around $500-$550.
If your textbook needs to be larger, but you’re trying to save money, selecting a different paper type, turnaround time, page count, or quantity will help you reach your target price.
Page Count for Your Textbooks
Just like how a larger size influences the cost to print a textbook, the page count also influences the cost.
The higher the page count, the more paper your textbooks will require, which results in higher prices.
For example, if you were looking to print 500 5.5” x 8.5” 64-page textbooks, but then decided to increase the page count to 72, the total price may increase around $200-$300.
At Conquest Graphics, we offer textbooks between 8-96 pages. However, if you are looking to print longer textbooks, you can easily contact one of our customer service team members via email or phone at (800) 707-9903.
Textbook Binding Options and Their Influence on Price
There are several textbook binding options to choose from and each method will impact the final cost to print textbooks differently.
The most common binding method for textbooks is perfect binding, however, the cheapest binding method is saddle stitching. Saddle-stitched textbooks are created when pages are laid on top of each other and then folded in nested order. Staples are then punctured or stitched on the “spine” of the folded textbook pages.
Perfect bound textbooks use glue to bind the inside pages to the spine of the textbook cover creating a flat or squared-off spine on which you can print details on. Perfect bound textbooks are great for displaying on bookshelves for this reason, but they are much more expensive than saddle-stitched textbooks.
The other 2 book binding options to choose from include spiral binding and wire-o binding.
Spiral binding uses a plastic spring-like coil that is weaved through uniformly placed holes on the edge of stacked textbook pages. For wire-o binding, the pages and punched-out holes along the spine are set up like spiral binding. However, instead of a plastic coil, it uses a metal c-shaped comb that is placed into the hole openings and then clamped shut. Because of the extra materials used and time spent to create spiral and wire-o bound textbooks, it is more expensive compared to saddle stitching.
To get the lowest price possible for your textbooks, it’s advised to stick with saddle stitching. However, if you’re interested in the benefits of the other binding methods listed above, or need a higher page count that saddle-stitching cannot accommodate, contact us by email or phone at (800) 707-9903.
So, How Much Does It Cost to Print A Textbook?
Publishing a textbook and having a commercial printer print your textbooks is typically the most cost-effective option since they can help ensure your design and published content is set up properly, and they can print, bind, and ship your textbooks directly from their facility.
Depending on the varying factors listed above, when it comes to the cost to print textbooks, it could cost anywhere from $45-$15,000 and beyond.
If you’re interested in taking advantage of printing your textbooks with a commercial printer, click below to check out our booklet pricing calculator to get an idea of how much printing your textbooks could cost you. If you have questions or are interested in a different binding option or a larger page count, please contact us to receive a free quote!
