5 Advantages of Offset Printing When Self-Publishing a Book

“Don’t judge a book by its cover” is an excellent motto for the opinions we make of others.

But, if you’re publishing your own book, the quality of the cover and interior images are absolutely critical in helping readers make the decision to choose your book amongst the thousands of other books out there.

After all the time spent writing, illustrating, and formatting your book, you want to choose the best printing method that elevates all of your hard work.

In the world of book printing, there are 2 general options when it comes to printing methods — digital printing and offset printing.

Digital book printing involves the use of large-scale and highly advanced copy machines. If you’re choosing a print on demand (POD) option like Amazon KDP or Ingram Spark, you’re going to be getting a digitally printed product.

PufferPrint offers only offset printing because we focus on ensuring maximum print quality for your self-published book — so you can be proud of your project.

Learn more about offset printing and why your next book should be created on our offset printing press. From its exceptional results to its cost-effectiveness — you’ll get everything you need for your self-published book printing!

How Does Offset Printing Work?

Offset printing — also known as offset lithography — got its name because the ink is not transferred directly onto the paper.

The offset printing process entails creating aluminum plates for each image to be printed. Each plate is then coated individually with ink from each of the (CMYK) colors and then printed onto the page — this combination brings the image to life.

The plate is then transferred to a rubber roller, which feeds the paper into the press. The roller stamps or “prints” onto the paper to create the final image.

Because of the need to create these plates, and the time required to let the ink dry, it’s a more labor-intensive process, but one that results in a better image for your book project!

Types of Offset Printing

There are 2 types of offset printing machines used for publishing today — sheet-fed and web-fed offset printing. While web-fed is ultimately quicker, sheet-fed printing is still a solid option when you want to print your own book.

1. Sheet-fed Printing

Produces smaller quantities of paper since they’re fed individually.
Still considered a quick printing option.
Can produce up to 24,000 sheets an hour.

2. Web-fed Printing

Mostly used for printing newspapers and boxes.
Can produce up to 80,000 identical sheets an hour.
Ideal for producing large quantities at a fast pace.

Both types of offset printer options lead to rich, accurate color reproduction and an overall professional-looking print. Plus, you’ll appreciate all the other benefits of offset custom book printing.

Advantages of Offset Printing

1. High-Quality Print Jobs

Offset printing produces the most consistent high image quality, with sharper images and type than other forms of printing—the use of 1c black when printing enhances the sharpness of your text as well.

Because offset presses use ink instead of toner (digital printing), the result is much more vibrant.

2. It Costs Less

Offset printing is the most cost-effective printing method to produce high-quality products in large quantities — perfect for self-printing books — where the price will decrease per unit as quantity increases.

With PufferPrint’s pricing structure, larger quantities will almost always result in a lower price per book.

3. Your Colors Will Pop

When using color in your books, an offset lithography press offers the best color match to your file.

Digital printing will simulate color, whereas offset printing directly uses Pantone® ink, giving you the most accurate colors.

Offset printing also allows you to use custom colors, such as metallics, which may be much more expensive or not even offered at all with digital printing methods.

How to format your files for optimal offset printing >

4. You Have Customization Options

The customization possibilities are endless with offset printing, which allows you to print on almost any medium — this includes cardboard, art paper, and offset paper — a type of wood-free paper.

We also aren’t bound to any particular size dimensions of the book. Our offset printing process can handle nearly any book sizes that you envision!

Adding customizations to your book is the best way to make it stand out visually and creatively from other books on the shelf.

5. It’s Speedy!

Due to the use of plates for each color, the print team will only need to create the plates once, which can then be used for almost a million copies!

Most of the time our print team spends creating your books goes to binding and adding special features such as Spot UV, embossing, or foiling.

We can actually move 1,000 children’s books through an offset printing process in under 15 minutes!

Need Guidance With Your Printing Project?

Our goal at PufferPrint is to give you the best quality book for the best price. Offset printing is largely what allows us to do this, along with our attention to detail and endless customization options for your book.

Take a look at the wide range of quality books we’ve printed for your fellow authors, and request a quote today to begin your wonderful self-publishing journey!