A zine and a magazine are the same job to us: one PDF, a page count you can divide by four, then staples or a glued spine. Stapled copies leave here three working days after your file is ready, and perfect bound ones two days after that, delivered free in the UK and zero rated for VAT.
A hundred A5 copies at 32 pages come to £188. There's no minimum, so a single copy to hold first is fine. Prices and printed examples are on our zine printing and magazine printing pages.
Zine or magazine? Same machines, same rules
Folded sheets stapled through the middle, or glued into a cover with a square spine once the page count climbs: that is the whole production story, and whether you call it a zine, a mag or a fanzine makes no difference to the price. Size, pages, paper and how many you want set it, roughly in that order.
Prefer to watch? Mike answers the stapled zine questions we hear most: how many pages, which paper, and whether the cover will bounce open.
Decision 1: staples or a spine
| Binding | Page count | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Stapled (wire stitched) | Any total from 8 to 72 that divides by four | Three working days. Lies flat on the table, so spreads look their best, and it's the cheaper of the two. |
| Perfect bound | 32 pages upwards: 28 inside, and the cover makes four more | A square spine that carries a title, and it stands on a shelf like a paperback. Five working days. |
With 32 to 72 pages both are on the table. Past about 40 pages a stapled magazine starts to bounce open on the table, so that's the point where most titles move to perfect binding. Longer issues, like Outset Magazine at 134 pages, are perfect bound every time. Our binding guide has the full picture.
Decision 2: size
A5 is the zine size, and A4 is the magazine size, because both come straight off our presses with no waste. Add 210 × 210mm square and you have the three sizes that cost least. Custom sizes are welcome: 170 × 240mm is a lovely in between for a photo zine, and we've printed Nature Zine at 240 × 170mm. Stapled zines go up to A3 portrait. We always give sizes height first.
| Size | Height × width | Usually chosen for |
|---|---|---|
| A5 | 210 × 148mm | Most zines. Cheapest to print, fits a bag and a letterbox. |
| A4 | 297 × 210mm | Most magazines. Room for big photography and two columns of text. |
| 210 × 210mm square | 210 × 210mm | Photo zines and art zines. Still cut without waste. |
| Custom | Up to A3 stapled, up to A4 perfect bound | 170 × 240mm and landscape formats cost a little more but stand out on a shelf. |
Decision 3: paper
| Choice | Our usual pick | When to choose it |
|---|---|---|
| Inside pages | 130gsm silk | The safe all rounder. Colour stays crisp and nothing shows through from the other side. |
| Inside pages | 120gsm uncoated | Natural and matt. Suits writing, illustration, photography with a calmer feel. |
| Inside pages | 130gsm gloss | Maximum punch for photos, with a bit of shine. |
| Cover | 300gsm silk or uncoated, matt laminated | Lamination stops the ink cracking on the fold. |
| Self cover | Same paper as the inside pages | The classic zine look, and a few pounds cheaper. |
Paper is hard to judge on a screen, so ask for the free sample pack. Our paper guide compares every house stock.
The page count rules that catch people
- Count every printed side, cover included: a sheet is two pages, so a 32 page zine is 28 inside pages wrapped in a cover that counts as four.
- Stapled zines go up in fours. On 30 pages? Go to 28 or 32. A blank page or an extra image usually solves it.
- Perfect bound magazines start at 32 pages and go up in twos. Under 40 pages the spine is slim (2 to 3mm), so keep spine text small or leave it clean.
- In a thick stapled zine the middle pages sit further out and get trimmed a touch narrower. That's creep. Keep page numbers 8mm or more from the outer edge.
The file we need
| Binding | What to send | The cover |
|---|---|---|
| Stapled | One PDF, each page separate and in the order they'll be read, 3mm bleed included | Inside the same file: the front cover is page one and the back cover is the last page. Nothing separate, and no spine width to work out. |
| Perfect bound | Two PDFs: the inside pages, one per PDF page, and a cover file | A single spread reading back, spine, front from left to right. |
Perfect bound? Get the inside pages final before you touch the cover, because every page you add or cut changes the spine width. Our spine calculator gives the width and the cover file guide shows the layout.
For both: 3mm bleed where colour touches the edge, words 5mm inside the trim, images around 300dpi, fonts embedded. Already exported spreads? Our free Spread Splitter turns them into single pages in about a minute. The Artwork Hub covers the rest, and we check each file by hand before anything is printed, at no charge.
Build each page 6mm bigger than the finished size (an A5 page becomes 154mm wide × 216mm high) and download it as PDF Print. That gives us the bleed Canva can't add.
Roughly what it costs
Three jobs we printed this year show the range. Quantity is the biggest lever, then size, pages and paper.
Checked against our September 2026 price cards · your quote confirms the figure. Delivery to a UK address is in, and VAT isn't charged.
A one off copy at A5 and 32 pages is £63. Unit cost falls fastest in the stretch from 50 copies to 250, which is why it pays to quote two run lengths side by side. Planning to sell your copies? Our guide to zine pricing sets these figures against what zines fetch on the shelf. For runs of 20 or fewer, the instant calculator shows the figure as you build the spec. Anything bigger goes through the quote form, which takes half a minute, and the price lands the same day. Black ink only inside? Tell us, it brings the price down.
How long it takes
Allow three working days for staples and five for a glued spine, counted from the moment your file passes its check (or from proof approval, which applies from 21 copies upwards). Tracked courier delivery is free in the UK. Launch night booked, or a stall at a fair with a date on it? Say so at the quote stage: we'll be straight about whether it's doable and schedule the job to land in time.
Issue two, three and sixty
We keep your spec and artwork on file, so the next issue is one email: the new PDF, the quantity and the address. So Young has run to 60 issues this way. Your price holds for 90 days, and reprints of a sold out issue come off the same files.
Sixty issues of So Young have gone through here. Not one of them needed a new brief.
Four first timer mistakes
Fix: Add or lose a page before you design the cover.
Fix: Export as pages, or drop the PDF into the Spread Splitter.
Fix: 3mm of background past the trim on anything that touches the edge, or white paper shows after the cut.
Fix: Keep words 6 to 8mm from the spine, and 10 to 12mm on the first and last pages where the cover is glued on.
Quick questions
Can I print just one zine?
Yes. No minimum here. One copy lets you check the paper, the staples and the layout before the full run goes ahead. Our print one copy page explains how.
Is there VAT on zines and magazines?
No. Zines, magazines, booklets and books are all zero rated.
Can I have different covers in one run?
Yes. We can split a run between cover designs while the inside pages stay the same, for example 200 copies as four covers of 50.
Do you print on kraft or coloured paper?
Honest answer: we'd rather you didn't. Printing on a brown or coloured sheet mutes your artwork, and the stock alone can double the bill. A kraft texture from our free library, placed as the cover background and printed on white, gives the look without the compromise.
Can you do a foiled or spot UV cover?
Yes, from £280 a run. The Signal has silver foil on a matt laminated cover, and the matt surface is what makes the foil read as metal.
Do you ship outside the UK?
Yes, anywhere in the world, and we pass the courier's rate on without a mark up. Customs or import charges, where they apply, are collected at the other end.
Two more short videos on the staples or spine question:
3:23Got an issue in mind? Let's price it.
Send over the size, the pages and how many, and a price is on its way within the working day. Still deciding? Pick up the phone and talk it over with Harriet or Mike.
