How Much Does It Cost to Print a Hardback Book in the UK? Real Prices from Our Press
Ask us how much a hardback costs and we will give you a number, not a shrug. We have case-bound thousands of books in Colchester over the last decade (novels, photobooks, children's picture books, degree-show catalogues, fashion lookbooks) and hardback book printing has grown from a tenth of our bound work in 2019 to almost a third today. So the prices below are not estimates from a calculator. They are what people paid.
The short answer
For a typical A5 hardback (100 full-colour inside pages on 130gsm silk, a printed paper case over 2,000-micron greyboard with a matt laminate, plain endpapers) here is what a run cost across our 2024 to 26 orders:
| Copies | Per copy | For the run |
|---|---|---|
| 1 proof copy | £124* | £124* |
| 26–50 | £10.32* | £258–£516* |
| 51–100 | £6.14* | £614* for 100 |
| 101–250 | £5.36* | £1,340* for 250 |
* Median of what customers paid for this specification across our 2024 to 26 orders: a guide, not a quote. Prices checked October 2026.
Move up to A4 (twice the paper, a bigger case) and 128 pages full colour came in at £8.50 a copy* at 101–250 copies and £4.79 a copy* at 251–500.
- ✓No VAT to add. Books, booklets and zines are zero-rated.
- ✓UK delivery included.
- ✓A file check by a real person and your proof are included: the four things a headline price from a gang-run website never mentions.
Ready for a number on your book?
Tell us the size, pages and quantity and a real person replies with a real price.
Why the first copy costs so much, and the fifth so little
Hardback pricing has a shape that surprises people, so it is worth seeing. Here is what our instant calculator charges for an A4 hardback at 1, 2 and 5 copies, from 32 to 200 inside pages:
| Inside pages | 1 copy | 2 copies | 5 copies |
|---|---|---|---|
| 32pp | £178 | £182 | £197 |
| 64pp | £204 | £210 | £230 |
| 100pp | £233 | £242 | £268 |
| 200pp | £315 | £330 | £373 |
Instant calculator prices, checked 22 October 2026: A4, full colour, 130gsm silk inside, plain endpapers, UK delivery included.
Read across a row and the story is obvious: the second copy adds just £4 to £15, and each copy from the third to the fifth adds roughly £5 to £15 more. That is because a hardback is made, not just printed. The cases are cut, wrapped, pressed and dried as a separate job from the text block, and that make ready is the same whether we do it once or fifty times. It is why a single proof copy of an A5 hardback is £124* while the hundredth copy is £6.14*.
A hardback is made, not just printed. The second copy is almost free.: Mike, Ex Why Zed
If you are thinking about three copies for the family, price five. And if you are thinking about fifty for a launch, price a hundred: per copy, the drop from 26 to 50 to 51 to 100 copies is nearly 40%.
The seven things that move a hardback price
1. Size
A4 uses twice the paper of A5 and needs a bigger, heavier case. A5, 210 × 210mm square and 210 × 148mm landscape are the sweet spots for cost; A4 earns its keep for photography and art where the images need the room.
2. Page count: and the spine that comes with it
More pages means more paper and a wider spine. Our minimum spine is 9mm, which covers 28–40 inside pages, and it grows by roughly 1mm for every 8 pages after that. Page counts run in multiples of four; if you are one section over the next spine step, cutting four pages can save more than you would think.
3. Inside paper
130gsm silk is our default for anything with images: vivid, opaque, doesn't cockle. A text-only novel or memoir reads better and costs less on 100gsm uncoated. Heavier art stocks (150 to 170gsm) push both the price and the spine. We send paper samples free, so choose with your fingers rather than a spec sheet.
4. The cover
The standard case (your artwork printed on 170gsm silk, laminated and wrapped over greyboard) is the most cost-effective route and the one most of our customers choose. Cloth, linen and buckram cases with foil-blocked titles are beautiful and priced accordingly; our guide to linen hardcover book printing walks through the options.
5. Endpapers
Plain 170gsm uncoated endpapers are included. Printed endpapers (a map, a pattern, a photograph) are a small premium and one of the best-value flourishes a hardback can have.
6. Finishes
Matt or gloss laminate is included. Spot UV and foil are extras; a ribbon marker is a small one. We can make a dust jacket, but we rarely recommend one: they get tatty quickly, cost a lot more and hide the cover you designed. The rule we give everyone: one flourish, done well.
7. Colour
Full colour throughout is the norm for photobooks and picture books. A novel printed black-and-white inside with a colour cover is the cheapest hardback we make, and often the right one.
Hardback or paperback? The same book, both ways
Take that A5 book above (100 inside pages, full colour) and print 100 copies:
| Binding | 100 copies | Per copy |
|---|---|---|
| Paperback (perfect bound) | £394 | £3.94 |
| Hardback (case bound) | £614* | £6.14* |
The hardback premium at 100 copies is a little over £2 a copy. Whether it is worth paying depends on what the book is for. For a keepsake, a photobook, a children's picture book that will be read two hundred times, a degree-show catalogue that has to survive a gallery table, or a first edition that will be sold at a higher price, it almost always is: hardbacks are now nearly a third of all the bound work we print, up from a tenth in 2019. For a novel you want to sell cheaply and often, paperback usually wins. Our article on hardbound vs paperback goes deeper; if you want both, we can print a short hardback edition alongside a paperback run from the same files.
Hardbacks we have printed, and what they cost
Nothing explains a price like a real job. Each one links to its case study, so you can see the spec and the finished book, not just a number.
Dominic Marley's photography book
See the case study →
Treble Champions: Bath Rugby's photography book
See the case study →
Ted Baker AW25 hardback lookbook
See the case study →
Makiko Nakamura's exhibition catalogue
How to keep the cost down without it showing
- ✓Print a single proof copy first. £124* for an A5 hardback buys certainty on colour, paper and spine before the run.
- ✓Round up the run. Because the make-ready is fixed, 100 copies cost far less per book than 50.
- ✓Choose A5 or square unless the pictures need A4.
- ✓Stay under the next spine step. Trim four pages rather than pay for a wider case.
- ✓Put the money in one place. Printed endpapers or a foil title, not both, unless the book demands it.
- ✓Send print-ready files. Our free file check catches problems, but artwork set up to our hardback set-up guide never needs a second proof.
Print-on-demand, short-run digital or litho?
Print-on-demand
Amazon KDP and the like will make you one hardback at a time with no upfront cost, in a handful of sizes on a handful of papers, with no printed endpapers, no cloth, no foil and no human looking at your file. It is a reasonable way to test whether anyone wants your book.
Short-run digital
From a single copy to a few hundred, printed on an HP Indigo, case-bound in-house, every option above on the table, and a person on the phone. This is where most self-publishers, photographers, schools and galleries land.
Our hardback book printing →Litho
Starts to pay at around 500 copies and up, when the plate costs are spread thin enough. If you are there, tell us: we will quote both routes and show you the crossover.
How long does a hardback take?
Longer than a paperback, because the cases are made and pressed separately and need time to dry flat. Digital hardbacks, up to 500 copies, are with you in 7 working days. Litho hardbacks with section sewing or a premium cover take longer, and our busiest time runs from September, when everyone is aiming to have their book before Christmas, so allow 4–8 weeks then. Email us your spec and we’ll give you a turnaround, and tell you exactly when we need your artwork to hit your date.
Artwork in
Send your files and we run our free file check.
Proof
You approve a proof before anything is printed.
Print & case-making
Text block printed, cases made, pressed and dried.
Delivery
UK delivery included, to your door.
Ready to price your book? A real person replies with a real price.
Tell us the size, pages and quantity, usually the same day. Or explore our hardback book printing service to see the specifications, finishes and books we have made. Prefer to talk it through? Paper advice is a third of the calls we take, and we are happy to give it.
Frequently asked questions
One finished A5 hardback with 100 full colour pages is £191 on our instant calculator, and a single A4 hardback runs from £178 (32 pages) to £315 (200 pages). Most of that is the case making, which is why the second copy costs only a few pounds more. A proof printed at cost alongside a bigger run is about £124*. Our page on printing just one copy sets out how the two differ.
No. We print single hardbacks every week, from final major projects and dissertations to family memoirs and proof copies, and the same care goes into one as into a thousand.
Books are zero-rated, so there is no VAT to add. UK delivery, a file check and your proof are included in every price we quote.
An A5 or square book, black-and-white inside on uncoated paper, printed paper case with matt laminate, plain endpapers, in a run of 100 or more. That recipe gets a hardback under £5 a copy* without it looking like a compromise.
Your printed cover, laminated, wrapped over 2,000-micron greyboard: the rigid, dense board that gives a hardback its weight. Cloth, linen and buckram are available with foil-blocked titles.
Yes, though we’d steer you away from a dust jacket. They get tatty quickly, cost a lot more and hide the cover you designed. Printed endpapers are the best-value addition, and ribbons are priced per job.
At 100 copies the difference is a little over £2 a copy*. For keepsakes, photobooks, children's books, catalogues and first editions it usually is; for a mass-market novel, print the paperback first.
Digital hardbacks, up to 500 copies, are with you in 7 working days. Litho hardbacks with section sewing or a premium cover take longer: from September onwards, when everyone is aiming to have their book before Christmas, allow 4–8 weeks. Email us your spec for an exact turnaround. Hardbacks do take longer than paperbacks, because the cases are made and dried separately.
Only if you plan to sell through shops or online retailers. UK ISBNs come from Nielsen; put the number and barcode on the back cover and the copyright page. For a private edition you can skip it.
Yes: same files, two bindings, often in one order. Many of our authors run a short hardback edition for launch and a paperback for volume.
Before you order a hardback
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You've got the know how, so now let us do it for you. From first zines to 500 copy hardbacks, we've printed it all since 2006: beautifully bound, every file checked by a real person, and delivered on your deadline.
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