Frequently Asked Questions

Our minimum print run is generally 500 copies.  Friesens has digital print capabilities using the Xerox Xeicon platform and can print as few as 100 copies.

Domestic turnaround time (Friesens) is typically 4-6 weeks plus shipping. Shipping times can vary depending on the final destination, but will average 3-5 working days.  The fall season is the busiest and schedules can be extended from August-December.

Our overseas (Golden Cup) production cycle is 2-3 months for door to door delivery, depending on the final shipping destination (shipments to the Western U.S. will deliver a full week earlier than those to the Eastern U.S.).  High season for overseas production is mid summer through fall.

Commercial projects, such as catalogs, placed through Spectrum Printing, LLC usually print, bind, and ship in one to two weeks.
 

Yes, we are happy to have you come for a press check whether at Friesens or Golden Cup. Friesens offers corporate apartments for your stay at the plant and Golden Cup also offers on site accommodations.
 

With the exception of certain odd trim sizes, the page count of your book should be divisible by eight, 16, or 32 pages. Friesens black and white text books run in 48 page signature configurations on a large format Timson press for 6 x 9” and 5.5 x 8.5” trim sizes.
 

Standard terms are Net 30 days for Friesens and Net 60 days for Golden Cup.  First time jobs usually require 50% payment to start the job with the balance due upon proof approval (Friesens) or when the books are completed (Golden Cup). We are happy to review a credit application to establish terms, whether for the first title or subsequent titles. We accept check payments and Friesens accepts all major credit cards with the exception of American Express.
 

Standard Industry Trade Customs are provided in this PIA (Printing Industries of America) pdf document.
 

Spectrum PrintGroup manages your project once it is print ready. But, we have a number of designers that we recommend including:

• Amy Inouye
• Future Studio
• 5558 N. Figueroa Street
• Los Angeles, CA 90042-4120
• P (323) 254-4565
• F (323) 254-2010
• futurestudio [at] sbcglobal [dot] net

• Scott Idleman
• Blink
• 835 Kansas Street
• San Francisco, CA 94107
• P 415 875-9211
• scott [at] blinkdesign [dot] com
• www.blinkdesign.com

• Kristina Kachele
• Kristina Kachele Design, LLC
• 926 Adams NE
• Albuquerque, NM  87110
• P (505) 977 3767
• Kekachele [at] earthlink [dot] net

• Robert Marcus
• Robert Marcus Graphics
• 1691 Burnside Rd
• Sebastopol, CA 95472
• P (707) 829 2572
• F (707) 317 0084
• rmarcus [at] sonic [dot] net

• Terri Wright
• Terri Wright Design
• 2969 Valencia Drive
• Santa Barbara, CA 93105
• P (805) 682 6639
• F (805) 682 9223
• twright [at] west [dot] net
• www.terriwright.com
   

GSM is grams per square meter and is the weight measure used for designating paper weight in all countries outside of North America.  Basis Weight is the term used for North American paper weights and refers to the weight in pounds of 500 sheets of paper cut to the basic parent size sheet.  Typical paper equivalents between basis weight and gsm for text papers include 50lb/75 gsm, 60lb/90 gsm, 70lb/105 gsm, 80 lb/128 gsm, 100lb/157 gsm. For cover stocks, the equivalents include 10pt/210 gsm, 12pt/ 260 gsm, 15pt/310 gsm.

Yes.  The grain direction is determined by how the fibers become aligned during manufacturing the paper and how it is folded during the printing process.  Grain direction is critical to folding and how well a book will lay flat when it is opened.  Whenever possible, folding should be “with the grain”, or parallel to the spine of the book.

Referred to as the caliper or ppi (pages per inch).  Caliper is measured in millimeters. For ppi, a paper with 400 ppi implies that a 400 page book using that text stock will be one inch thick.

Woodfree paper contains no lignin and is an overseas term used to describe uncoated paper.

Acid-free paper has a neutral PH and is made from pulp containing no acid.  Almost all book papers are now acid free.

There are a number of organizations now that monitor paper making and the forests from where pulp is derived.  The most common include the Forest Stewardship Council http://www.fscus.org/, the Green Press Initiative http://www.greenpressinitiative.org/, and the SmartWood/Rainforest Alliance http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/forestry/certification. One of the many functions of the Smartwood/Rainforest Alliance is that it acts as an FSC certifier.  The Green Press Initiative was formed to “advance sustainable patterns of production and consumption within the U.S. book and newspaper industries and within the paper industry at large.” The Forest Stewardship Council provides certification indicating that a book has been produced utilizing a fully FSC certified manufacturing chain (including the printer and the publisher) that is in keeping with the stringent FSC environmental standards for sustainability.  Both of our manufacturing partners, Friesens and Golden Cup, are FSC certified.

For recycled papers, many uncoated papers are both 100% recycled with post-consumer waste and are FSC certified. This is the most desirable combination for “green” paper stock. It continues to be difficult to source both 100% recycled and FSC certified coated papers. In this case, and in our experience, the FSC certification is considered more environmentally sound than any increase in recycled content that can be gained without the FSC certification.  New Leaf Paper Company http://www.newleafpaper.com is one paper company that provides coated FSC papers with some of the highest post-consumer waste content in the industry.

Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of "original works of authorship," including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works.

Copyright protection can be obtained through the U.S. Copyright Office: http://www.copyright.gov/
 

The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a unique 13-digit number that identifies one title, or edition of a title, from one specific publisher and is unique to that edition.  R.R. Bowker, the official ISBN
Agency for the United States, is responsible for the assignment of the ISBN Publisher Prefix to those publishers with a residence or office in the U.S. The U.S. ISBN Agency cannot assign ISBNs to publishers and self-publishers located outside the United States and its territories.

To order an ISBN, visit the product identifiers page from the RR Bowker web site: http://www.bowker.com/index.php/identifier-services/book-title-identifie...
 

A CIP, or Cataloging in Publication record, is a bibliographic record prepared by the Library of Congress for a book that has not yet been published. When the book is published, the publisher includes the CIP data on the copyright page thereby facilitating book processing for libraries and book dealers. Click here for more information: http://cip.loc.gov/.
 

A bar code is the graphic with vertical lines that encodes numerical information for scanning purposes. The ISBN is simply a number.  The ISBN number generally rides at the bottom of the bar code.  You can obtain a bar code from any number of sources including one of our print partners when you go to press.  Another option is to obtain a bar code from RR Bowker at the same time as your ISBN at:  https://www.myidentifiers.com/index.php?page=barcode_packages.
 

The European Article Number (EAN) is used by virtually every other country while most retail products in the US are marked with a UPC symbol. To provide worldwide standardization in the sale and handling of books, a special EAN prefix of “978” has been assigned exclusively for the book category within the EAN system.  An EAN which begins with the 978 prefix is called a Bookland EAN bar code and is used on books and book related products internationally. The 978 prefix precedes the first 9 digits of the ISBN and then a new check digit is calculated in order to form a 13-digit ISBN number which is then encoded to create the bar code symbol used on books.

• PDF files from Acrobat 4 or greater
• Quark Xpress 4 or greater
• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe Illustrator
• Adobe PageMaker 6.5 or greater
• Adobe InDesign 2 or greater

• All placed graphics must be in TIFF or EPS format.
• We recommend that images be at least 300 DPI.
• All colors should be assigned a CMYK value. Type should be designated black.
• Files with multiple pages should be created as a single layout file.
• All fonts need to be included and placed in a separate folder.Include both screen and printer fonts.
• When using Illustrator, create outlines for all text. Illustrator files do not need to have fonts created as outlines, although this can help eliminate font problems.
• Provide full size laser or color proofs.
• All artwork, graphics, and links need to be included and placed in a separate folder. The book can be supplied as separate files for each chapter, but what we want to avoid for example is a 128 page book consisting of 128 separate layout files.

File Preparation Terminology

• FTP (File Transfer Protocol) – The platform used to move large files over the internet.
• PDF (Portable Document Format) – A file format that cannot be edited which locks and compresses the Postscript information into the file.
• Tiff (Tagged Image File Format) – This is a file format used to store images from scanners and video devices.
• EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) – A file format that contains all of the code necessary to print a file including images and PostScript commands.
• JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) – A 24-bit compression format for images.

The primary colors of red, green and blue are used for creating color in monitors and scanners. CMYK , or cyan, magenta, yellow and black are the four process colors used in printing to create color images.  All RGB color images need to be converted to CMYK color images for printing purposes.

An ICC (International Color Consortium) Profile is the established set of profiles that define the key characteristics for monitors, scanners and proofing systems as well as paper and press equipment that will produce the printed product.  One of the more common profiles used today is GRACoL.  More information regarding GRACoL can be found at their web site: http://www.idealliance.org/industry_resources/branding_media_and_color/g....

A Printer Profile is the ICC profile used for a specific printing press.

Stochastic screening is a process of representing a continuous tone image by converting to a random pattern instead of the traditional rosette dot pattern of 4 color printing.