So… you’ve finished creating and designing your zine – amazing!
Now it’s time to get it printed and bound before you work on the all-important distribution.
Long gone are the days of standing over a photocopier creating copy after copy by hand.
Nowadays, online zine printing is the sensible choice.
At Doxzoo we print a wide range of zines -from photography zines to fashion zines and everything in between. Our customers are a creative bunch!
Find out more about your zine printing options here…
1. Zine style & format
Option 1 – Booklet Printing
Saddle-stitched booklet print. The most popular zine style.
The pages are printed in double page spreads and joined with two staples down the spine.
It’s an affordable yet professional style, available in a range of sizes, paper finishes & stocks in line with your requirements.
Booklet printing is perfect for lower page counts (e.g. 8, 12, 16, or 20 pages), but can accommodate up to 76 pages.
We can print booklet zines in portrait or landscape – the choice is yours.
A5 portrait zines are a firm favourite, with 210mm square also proving to be quite popular.
Available sizes: A6, A5, A4, Half Letter, Letter, DL, 148mm square, 210mm square
For higher page counts, a square-back option is also available.
Option 2 – Loose Sheet Printing
Loose sheet printing is ideal for zine creators looking to fold or trim their own custom sized zines. It’s also the cheapest zine printing option.
A loose sheet can be easily folded into an 8 or 16 page mini zine.
Available sizes: A7, A6, A5, A4, A3, B5, Half Letter, Letter, Small Card (55 x 85 mm), DL, 105/148/200/210 mm Square
Option 3 – Paperback Book Printing
This is a premium zine printing option, available for zines with higher page counts only.
Paperback zines are available with a custom printed front cover, back cover and spine. Landscape or portrait as required.
Available sizes: A5, A4, Half Letter, Letter, Demy, Royal, Small Novel, Trade
2. Your zine printing spec
Zine Size
A5 is the most popular zine size. It’s lightweight and compact, perfect for mail distribution and fitting into a rucksack or handbag. It is available for booklets, loose sheets, and paperback books.
If you prefer a square look, 148mm and 210mm square booklets are a great pick.
If you’re not sure what to go for, do a bit of research in your niche. A quick search for ‘<topic> zine’ on sites like Etsy will through up a selection of zines. Look over the listings and see which sizes are most popular.
Colour vs. Black & White
Black & white printing is the most budget friendly option. It’s also great for that old skool vibe, paying homage to the more basic, homemade, photocopier zine era.
If your budget does go further, colour printing is a great choice for image heavy zines. Photo zines, travel zines, skate zines, fashion zines, illustrated zines etc. If you’ve got some top notch creative to show off, do it justice in colour print.
Paper Stock/Thickness
90-100 gsm paper is our standard stock, akin to the type of paper you’d use to print at home or in the office.
If you need something a little thicker, consider 120 – 150 gsm, and for something weightier still, 200 or 250 gsm will do the job.
If your page count is high, we recommend a thinner stock. If your page count is low, you can get away with a heavier stock.
Paper Finish
We offer a choice of 3 paper finishes – matt, silk or gloss.
Matt is uncoated, easy to write on and does not reflect light.
Silk is a great all-rounder, with a finish half way between matt and gloss. It’s perfect for zines with a mix of text and images.
Gloss is the shiniest of the bunch, ideal for photo heavy zines with a pop of colour. It’s reflective and more difficult to write on.
Covers
For booklets, our most popular zine product, an optional 300 gsm card cover is available. If the card cover option is not selected, your chosen paper stock will be used throughout the booklet, providing a consistent look and feel.
For paperback books, a 350 gsm card cover is included in the price by default. The front cover, back cover and spine are are fully customisable.
3. Pagination
Booklets
For booklet style zines, please ensure your page count is a multiple of 4 – e.g. 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 40 pages etc.
The page order will be as follows:
Page 1 – front cover
Page 2 – inside front cover
Page 3 – first right hand facing page
Pages 4 & 5 – first inside double page spread
Page before last page – inside back cover
Last page – back cover
If you have a spread that needs to match up, e.g. an image on one page and accompanying text on the opposite page, please check that they fall correctly (as below).
Paperback Books
If you choose the ‘covers included option’, the page order will be as follows:
Page 1 – front cover
Page 2 – first right hand facing page
Pages 3 & 4 – first inside double page spread
Last page – back cover
The inside front cover and inside back cover are plain white by default. This is not a printable area.
Whilst it is a matter of personal preference, it is conventional to start new chapters or sections on a right hand facing page. If your artwork does not fall this way, we recommend inserting a blank page before the chapter break.
4. Setting up your zine artwork
To ensure your zine looks perfect on paper, please follow the artwork guidelines below.
General artwork checklist
– PDF file
– Bleed – 3mm on each edge, adding 6mm to the width and height of your document
– Crop marks in each corner
– Resolution – 300 dpi or above
– Colour – CMYK
– Fonts & content – embedded
– Flatten all images and layers
– Artwork size matches paper size (e.g. A5 file, choose A5 paper size)
– PDF with single pages only (no double page spreads)
– Consistent page orientation (do not mix landscape & portrait pages)
– Compress your file size
For booklets
– Page count is a multiple of 4
– First page and last page will be front/back cover
– 5mm margin
For paperback books
– Inside covers are blank by default
– 7mm margin
– Optional – each chapter/section starts on a right hand facing page
5. Quantity
Here at Doxzoo, we have no minimum order quantity. We provide both a one off and short run zine printing service – allowing you to order any quantity, from 1 zine or 1,000+, it’s up to you.
To ensure you achieve the desired result, we recommend ordering a single copy (or a few copies with different specs) to act as your sample before committing to a larger run.
Questions about zine printing?
Explore our Help Center or drop us a line on Live Chat.
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Good luck with your zine printing journey!
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