First-Time Children’s Book Author Brings Women’s Empowerment Story to Life with a Unique Hardcover Book

How we brought first-time author’s vision to life.

The Project Background

Gina came to PufferPrint as a first-time self-published author with the ambition to create a beautiful book to support her global “Tears and Tulle” movement.  The book is framed as a children’s book given its large 8.5×11 format and beautiful images, but in reality, it’s a book for all ages about reconnecting with one’s inner child. 

While she had a definite vision for the look and feel of the book she wanted to produce, she had a lot of questions about the process and how to get there. 

We had an initial call with Gina before she even launched her Kickstarter campaign to fund the book project. We gave her a few quotes to help her understand ballpark costs and walked Gina through the steps to successfully crowdfund her self-published book.

Book Construction 

Gina had seen another hardcover book with a look and feel that she really liked. It was a book by the author Kobi Yamada titled What Do You Do With A Problem

PufferPrint was able to get a copy of the book and replicate the paper-weight, paper stocks, and finishes to ensure Gina’s book matched those specs. Most unique about the book was the use of thicker offset paper versus the more commonly-used art-paper:

Book Dimensions

  • Her book would be an 8.5×11” hardcover with a horizontal orientation.  

Interior Pages

  • For interior paper stock, we used a 120gsm (85 lb) offset paper with a matte varnish.
  • Offset paper is typically used in novels versus image-heavy books. However, offset paper is seeing a resurgence in children’s books and using a heavier weight offset paper stock can be a great option for a more unique and organic feeling interior paper.
  • With the proper finishing, offset paper can not only support beautiful, full-color images and show off the colors vibrantly, but it also has a nice “textured” feel to it that’s unique among other children’s books. 
  • As with all of our books, Gina’s books were produced with true offset printing machines by PufferPrint’s expert print team.

Cover Design

  • The cover stock was a 157gsm (105 lb) glossy art paper over a 2.5mm greyboard (our high-quality standard for hardcover books) using a glossy lamination. 
  • To cap it off, Gina also added a dust jacket, which we printed in a thick 140gsm offset paper stock with the same matte varnish as the interior paper.

Binding

  • As with all of our hardcover books, the book was bound with a sewn, case-bound binding. 

With the specs and completed crowdfunding campaign, we requoted Gina’s book with the updated finishes, as well as new quantities based on her successful campaign.  

We also provided Gina with customized dielines based on her book measurement, so her illustration and formatting team could size the covers and interior spreads to perfectly fit the dimensions of the book construction. 

Once Gina submitted her draft files, we delivered a set of digital proof files for her and her team’s approval. Upon approval, we collected her payment via our secure Paypal Checkout, and got her full order of 2,000 books over to our print team.  

About 10 days later, PufferPrint shared some production photos with Gina. 2 weeks after that, her order was shipped. 

Shipping

Not only was Gina’s book custom, but the demand she had generated for the book prior to printing meant her shipping had to be custom as well. 

Gina had a number of advanced orders she wanted to fulfill, and a handful of influencers she wanted to share the book before its official release.

To ensure she had enough books for early promotions and to send out to her Kickstarter backers(and to get the best price on shipping), we opted to split her order and send 300 books by air, and another 1,700 by sea.  

The sea shipping saved her a few thousand dollars off the total cost, while ensuring she had enough books to get out to her Kickstarter backers and to share with her network of influencers.

The Result

Gina went from having just a vision and an inspiring storyline to a finished product that is more beautiful and unique than most of the books on the shelves at local bookstores.

When our customer has a vision we love nothing more than helping to bring that vision to life for a first-time self-published author.

We’re proud of Gina and wish her all the success with her book Tears and Tulle.  It’s one of the most beautiful and unique books we printed in 2020.