Book shipping after printing and binding
Authors are anxious about book shipping, to deliver books quickly.
Book shipping follows a process. First, we print, and that means we are printing signatures on press. You might ask, “What is a signature?”
Printing on press.
When books print on commercial printing presses, a number of pages print on a large sheet at the same time. Depending on the dimensions of each page, the page count is usually in multiples of four. You could have a 16-page signature with 8 pages printing on one side, and 8 pages on the reverse side.
Then, the signatures are grouped together to form the text block. And don’t worry, we handle the imposition of pages. Authors and designers do not have to worry about that! We also are not ready yet for book shipping!
In the bindery.
The book interior text block are then bound. Actually, the binding process can also happen on press, if the printer has that equipment and capability on their presses. However, a lot happens in bindery.
The bindery is where all the goodies are applied. Often, the author may choose options that need to be done by hand. Our vendors in Asia are especially set-up for these custom details.
Custom made cartons for books.
And you thought we bought boxes in standard dimensions! USA printers and print on-demand providers will buy standard size cartons, much of the time. However, our partners in Asia custom manufacture boxes to fit the dimensions of your book.
We plan on no more than 40 pounds in any one carton. The number of books varies in a carton not only because of size, but also the number of pages and thickness of the stock. Yes, we focus on details.
Pallets, manifests, labels … oh my! This is part of book shipping.
The cartons are then loaded on pallets. If you print 1,000 32-page children’s books, they will fit easily on one pallet. We’ve also delivered full container loads. That’s an entire cargo container loaded on a semi-truck!
A manifest is created. Split shipping is no problem, but please tell us before the books print. We are printing the book’s information on the cartons, and making labels when shipping directly to Amazon, or your distributor.
But, before book shipping …
Before you have book shipping to your location, when they are ready to leave the warehouse, we send you five advance copies. Read about it at 5 Advance Copies.
