FAQ

Printorium Bookworks is the book printing division at Island Blue Print Co. Ltd. Operating under “Island Blue” the company has been in business since 1912. Today it operates 3 divisions; The Art Store, The Reprographics and Digital Print Centre, and Printorium Bookworks.

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

We have been in the copying and printing business for many years; perfect bound book printing was added in 2003.

No, our expertise lies in the print services we offer to publishers and authors. As the publishing company or the individual author, you own the rights to the book. We’re here to simply print your books and ship them to you. After that, you become the marketing arm of your book.

By all means, as the publisher or author the book is yours in its entirety. The only part of the book we hold onto (with your permission) is the digital file for reordering additional books.

Certainly, we will print only what you have sold, but what you have to think about is the increased cost of freight on single book orders. We do have a minimum order of 10 books to make it cost efficient on your freight bill.

No problem. We work with a number of courier companies doing cross border shipping including Canada Post. We shop the most competitive rate for you, depending when you require the books at their final destination(s).

ISBN’s have always been associated with the publisher of the book (you). Getting an ISBN is a painless process and all part of the fun of publishing. You can find more information about ISBN's at our Library and Archive page.

Yes, we send proofs on all book printing orders. All publishers and authors must sign off on the approval of their book before the final printing. The proof copy is exactly the same as the final copies you will receive.

When you make changes in your native digital native file and save as another PDF file we charge you for another book proof. Should you ask us to fix or make changes to your original file, we charge by the hour for this service, and then charge for another proof. In this case we give you a quote before proceeding with any changes. Should there be production errors, we fix the problem at our expense.

This all depends on the type of files you send us and the time you take in proofing your book. With clean files, we ship a proof in approximately 4 working days. We recommend taking your time with the proof. Upon approval of your proof, the final order of up to 100 books is printed and shipped in 4 – 5 working days. Larger orders take an additional 24 hours per each 100 books.

Print only what you need or have sold. Remember you will need extra copies for family and friends. Should you want to market your book, you will need review copies, bookstore copies and even copies shipped to the media. Should you need an additional reprint, with our process we simply recall your digital file store with us, print and ship quickly only at your book cost, plus freight. No waiting or paying for another proof. Please note that delivery within 5% of the ordered quantity will be considered complete. Any overs/shortages will be charged/credited at per unit book price unless other arrangements have been made and confirmed in writing prior to commencement of work.

Yes, we print full-colour picture books, children’s books, art books, photography books, cook books, comic books and graphic novels.

Yes, we can handle the printing of your book requiring a few, or many, colour pages inserted either together or spread throughout your book. Simply give us a separate file for the colour pages.

Printorium Bookworks offers both gloss and matte laminate on covers.

Most books are perfect bound. Where you need a book to lay flat on a desk or counter, we recommend a cerlox, spiro or twin loop wire binding.

Yes, we have specific paper and card stocks we use to produce your book. Because we buy in bulk, we are able to pass the savings on to you. We feel these stocks give us a quality product. For more information on papers and binding types, please visit our Book Options page.

We strongly suggest print-ready PDF files. Supplying us with badly created PDF files or other native file types will increase your proofing fee.

Printorium utilizes a very high standard of print equipment from Xerox. For black & white printing, we use two Nuvera 120 black and white presses thus maintaining consistent quality in the type and photos. All our colour work for both covers and inside pages are produced through our Xerox 800 digital color press. For laminated covers in both the gloss and matte finish, we use a lay-flat material recommended for this process. Our high-end Bourg perfect binder gives a nice square spine and the addition of a scored line within a ¼" of the spine on the cover.

To a new author, no, but to an experienced publisher or someone with a trained eye, they can generally see a slight difference. With the vast improvement in digital print technology, it is often hard to tell the difference between the two. Each process has a natural fit in the book printing industry. Digital print allows for runs of up to 1,000 copies to be printed economically and for larger quantities, offset printing is the better buy. It all depends if you want to warehouse copies. As to turnaround times, digital printing offers a very quick print-to-market process over offset.

That is really up to you. How thick do I want my book to be, how much information will be on my cover and what will the graphics look like? Printorium will print any size of book up to a trim size of 8½" x 11". The cost difference between the different sizes is minimal.

You created the files, so they’re your files. We do hold on to your file in our digital book library to simplify the reprint process. Simply contact your customer service rep and place a new order. At any time you wish us to remove your file, send written instructions or an email stating your request.

Yes, we work with you in getting your books to your required destinations. Why have Printorium send the entire order to you, whereby you unpack and have to repackage and pay a courier again? Why pay double? If we do the distribution, you’re only responsible for the shipping costs.

All proofs are shipped Xpress Post. All book orders depending on quantity are shipped via Canada Post or Loomis Express courier. We always check for the most economical way to ship or find the courier who will meet your deadline. If required, during the quoting process we can give you a very close shipping cost.

Printorium Bookworks always stands behind their finished product. If you are unhappy with the quality of any book or marketing material printed by Printorium Bookworks, please contact your customer service representative with the details of the problem and we will work with you to fix the problem.

Please call us for our updated prices for assorted soft cover book sizes for black and white books or full colour picture books. All our pricing includes a full colour cover with laminate, and perfect binding. Our black and white inside pages are printed on 60lb White Offset paper while the inside pages for our colour picture books are printed on 80lb Matte text. All book covers are printed on 10pt coated one side cover stock.

We would be pleased to provide you with our quote for setup/proofing/storage fee which is based on the type of book and type of digital file supplied. Proofs are provided for black and white books prepared using digital PDF files, and we also provide proof from a native digital file. In addition, proofs are provided for colour books prepared using digital PDF files.

Once your title is in our system and you require additional copies of your book, you are charged only for the cost of the book.

For Orders/Quotes, email us at books@islandblue.com

Professional book printing by the booking printing experts!

Your book printing price is not affected at all. Our pricing to you is determined strictly on the total number of pages in your book and not content. The only effect illustrations and photos have on a book is the file size.

The full balance of your order + shipping costs + taxes is due prior to shipping the books to you. For established publishing companies in Canada doing business for over ten years we do offer credit terms upon applying for terms.

That all depends on your market and what the market will bear. Visit local bookstores to see what a book of your genre is selling for.

No. Selling your book will always be best handled by you, who has a vested interest in its success. We do showcase some books we print at trade shows and book fairs, and should someone be interested in purchasing your book, we would have them contact you.

Yes, Printorium Bookworks can ship books worldwide via a number of courier companies.

Yes, from supplied digital files we can produce marketing items such as bookmarks, business cards, postcards, sell sheets, and posters. You can see our most commonly ordered items on our Promotional Materials page. We are a full service printer so if you have a marketing concept, please feel free to discuss it with your Printorium representative.