Book Size & Finish Options
Choose the trim size, binding, paper, printing, and cover finish that give your book the right look, feel, and price.
The Details Shape the Finished Book
Your choices affect more than appearance. Trim size, binding, paper, print quality, and cover finish can influence page count, production cost, retail price, shipping, and the overall reader experience.
Explore Your Book Production Options
Outskirts Press offers a range of professional production options so you can create a book that fits your content, audience, and publishing goals.
Plus eBook and audiobook formats to give readers even more ways to enjoy your book.
How Book Specifications Can Affect Your Bottom Line
Your book's physical specifications influence more than its appearance. Trim size affects page count and weight. Page count, paper, binding and print quality all influence what your book costs to manufacture. Those costs, in turn, can affect your retail price and potential earnings from each copy.
The goal isn't simply to make your book cheaper. It's to choose the specifications that give your readers the right experience while keeping your book competitively priced.
Choose Your Binding Style
Your binding helps determine your book's appearance, durability, price and how readers experience it.
Perfect Bound Paperback
A professional softcover book with your full-color cover printed on 80# cover stock. Pages and cover are securely glued together at the spine.
Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, memoirs and most general-market books.
Casebound Hardback
A durable hardcover with your full-color cover image printed directly on the laminated case. Available with a glossy or matte finish.
Children's books, cookbooks, textbooks and books where durability is especially important.
Dust-Jacket Hardback
A blue casebound hardcover with a textured linen-style laminate, wrapped in a removable full-color dust jacket available in glossy or matte finish.
Fiction, nonfiction and books where a traditional premium hardcover presentation is desired.
Outskirts Press produces industry-standard books and does not offer metal, comb or spiral bindings.
Paper, Printing & Cover Options
Paper
Black & White Books:
- White 50# matte paper
- White 70# matte paper, available upon request
- Crème 50# recycled matte paper*
Crème paper provides a softer reading experience and is often preferred for fiction. White paper is generally better for nonfiction and books containing images, charts or graphics.
Color Books:
- White 70# matte paper
*Crème paper is not available with every trim size and binding.
Cover Finish
Glossy
The familiar shiny finish commonly seen on commercially published
books.
Matte
A rich, smooth finish with a softer feel and understated appearance.
Paperback covers and dust jackets are printed in full color on 80# cover stock.
Print-on-Demand With Less Waste
Print-on-demand technology allows books to be produced as they're needed rather than printing thousands of copies in advance. Outskirts Press also offers recycled paper-stock options featuring 30% post-consumer product.
Why Your Book's Trim Size Matters
Trim size is one of the most important production decisions you'll make because it affects both the reader's experience and the economics of your book.
Cost & Pricing
Trim size affects page count and book weight. Those factors can influence printing costs, shipping costs and the retail price needed for your book.
Reader Expectations
Readers expect different genres to look and feel a certain way. A novel, cookbook, workbook and children's picture book shouldn't necessarily have the same dimensions.
Page Count
A larger trim size can fit more words on each page, potentially reducing page count. A smaller size may increase page count. Formatting choices also play a role.
Available Book Sizes
Available sizes vary according to whether your book is black & white or color and whether you choose paperback or hardback.
Black & White Paperback
- 4 × 7 — Mass Market Paperback
- 5 × 8
- 5.5 × 8.5
- 6 × 9
- 6.14 × 9.21
- 7 × 10
- 8.5 × 11 — Workbook Size
Minimum: 18 pages. Maximum: approximately 1,050–1,200 pages, depending upon trim size and paper selection. Spine text is not available below 48 pages.
Black & White Casebound Hardback
- 5 × 8
- 5.5 × 8.5
- 6 × 9
- 6.14 × 9.21
- 7 × 10
- 8.5 × 11 — Workbook Size
Minimum: 18 pages. Maximum: approximately 1,050–1,200 pages, depending upon trim size and paper selection.
Black & White Dust-Jacket Hardback
- 5 × 8
- 5.5 × 8.5
- 6 × 9
- 6.14 × 9.21
Minimum: 18 pages. Maximum: approximately 1,050–1,200 pages, depending upon trim size and paper selection.
Full-Color Paperback
- 5 × 8
- 5.5 × 8.5
- 6 × 9
- 6.14 × 9.21
- 7 × 10
- 8.5 × 11 — Workbook / Portrait
- 8.5 × 8.5 — Square
- 11 × 8.5 — Landscape
Minimum: 18 pages. Maximum: 900 pages, except 11 × 8.5 landscape, which has a 400-page maximum. Spine text is not available below 48 pages.
Full-Color Casebound Hardback
- 5 × 8
- 5.5 × 8.5
- 6 × 9
- 6.14 × 9.21
- 7 × 10
- 8.5 × 11 — Workbook / Portrait
- 8.5 × 8.5 — Square
- 11 × 8.5 — Landscape
Minimum: 18 pages. Maximum: 840 pages, except 11 × 8.5 landscape, which has a 400-page maximum.
Full-Color Dust-Jacket Hardback
- 5 × 8
- 5.5 × 8.5
- 6 × 9
- 6.14 × 9.21
Minimum: 18 pages. Maximum: 840 pages.
Should You Publish a Hardback Edition?
Adding a hardback can give readers another way to experience your book and may be particularly valuable for certain audiences and genres.
What Size Is Right for Your Book?
There isn't one perfect book size. The best choice depends on your genre, content, audience and goals. If you're publishing a series, we generally recommend using the same trim size for every book.
Fiction
Fiction books are typically 5.5 × 8.5, 6 × 9, or 6.14 × 9.21 and are rarely larger.
For a hardcover fiction edition, a traditional dust-jacket hardback is generally a better fit than a laminated casebound cover.
Poetry
Poetry books tend to be 5.5 × 8.5 or 6 × 9, providing a comfortable balance of page space and intimacy.
As with fiction, a laminated casebound hardback generally isn't our first recommendation.
Nonfiction
Nonfiction books are commonly 6 × 9, 6.14 × 9.21, or 7 × 10, although some subjects work well at 8.5 × 11.
Binding depends heavily on the subject. Cookbooks, for example, often work particularly well as laminated hardbacks.
Children's Books
Popular children's picture-book sizes include 8.5 × 8.5 square, 11 × 8.5 landscape and 8.5 × 11 portrait.
Children's books can be paperback or hardback, although we often recommend laminated casebound hardbacks because of their durability.
Not Sure Which Options Are Right for Your Book?
You don't need to figure out trim size, paper, binding, printing quality and pricing on your own. Your Publishing Consultant can help you consider your genre, audience, content and goals and determine which combination makes the most sense for your book.
Get Your Free Publishing Consultation
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