InstantPublisher prides itself in offering the most customizable self publishing and book printing service around. I am going to start randomly posting about some of the different book printing options we offer, as many of our customers do not know that we offer so many different configurations in our book printing line and that  many do not know what the terms even mean.  This week I am going to talk about sewn perfect binding.

Sewn perfect binding looks similar to a regular perfect bound (paperback)  book but the book block is actually sewn together before gluing the cover to the book block.   The reason we offer this binding style is that perfect binding by itself is not suitable for long term usage because the glue hardens by alternating cold and hot weather and will eventually break and the pages will fall out. When some people read a book they will tend to try to make the book lay flat by folding the book back onto the spine.  This also tends to break the glue where the book is folded and will cause the pages to fall out.

Sewn Perfect binding is recommended for books that need to last for a very long time or books with a coated stock like our gloss coated papers.  Gloss coated papers do not let the glue penetrate as well as regular text stock so, with gloss coated books with more than 80 pages, we recommend that you take the sewn option.  Sewn books are first glued together, sewn with thread, then they are perfect bound to hide the threads.  The threads can still be seen when the book is opened wide but they are barely noticeable.  The outside of the book will have a slight bulge as well where the thread is but it is not very noticeable.   This is the same binding style that we use in our hardcover book binding to be sure the books last a very long time. See more on this binding style here.