Ross Baker’s first message to us was a quote request, and its most important line was not about paper at all. Under extra comments he asked for Troll’s Amazing Day to be well printed and robust, with a binding “strong enough to prevent pages coming loose after multiple readings”. Then, just as firmly, he ruled out staples. Other children’s books with 32 inner pages didn’t use them, and he didn’t like the look.
That told us who the book was for before we had seen an illustration. A picture book gets read to a child, then by the child, then again the following night. Troll’s Amazing Day is Ross’s rhyming story, illustrated by Mat Sadler, about a troll who lives beneath a wooden bridge and the goat who wanders up to it. Ross had already published a picture book elsewhere, and his emails between November 2020 and June 2021 show an author who knew which questions mattered. The sections below borrow them.
Strong enough for night after night of reading
Ross wanted a square 210 x 210mm book that would survive small hands. Rather than describe binding styles in the abstract, we posted him a paper sample pack and a finished picture book we had printed, Wander by Shelley Jayne. He went through it properly. “It’s been really useful seeing the other children’s books you’ve printed”, he wrote, noting that Wander had 30 inside pages, was PUR bound and felt robust, so his 32 pages ought to be stronger still.
A real book settles more doubts than a spec sheet. If durability worries you, ask to handle something similar before you commit.
Matt or gloss, and what PUR actually means
His next email asked for the spec of Wander, and whether he should go for a gloss cover. Mike sent the full spec and explained that the choice between matt and gloss lamination came down to looks alone: how glossy and immediate Ross wanted the cover to be. Ross also asked whether perfect bound and PUR were different things. They are not: PUR is the glue used to perfect bind a book, and Mike apologised for the “ludicrous print jargon”.
In the end he went for silk throughout: 300gsm board for the cover under a matt film, and 170gsm for all 32 inside pages. Look at the finished cover and you can see why matt suits it. Most of the artwork is deep forest shadow, a frame of dark trunks opening onto a sunlit glade where a bald troll in a white vest walks barefoot beside a golden goat. The film keeps those darks soft and free of glare, and the hand lettered white title stands out clean against them.
A title on a slim spine, “something I would regret not having”
In April 2021, with files from his illustrator ready, Ross raised one more detail. The book would be roughly 3mm thick, and he really wanted the title printed on the spine. We were straight with him. It is a standard option, but on a spine that slim the lettering should be no more than 1mm to 1.5mm high, so the slight movement every binding run has can never push it round onto the front or back cover. It would be small and hard to read, Mike warned. Ross went ahead, because it was something he would regret not having on the finished product, and asked his illustrator to keep the lettering to 1.5mm.
Stack the finished books and the decision makes sense. Troll’s Amazing Day By Ross Baker and Illustrated by Mat Sadler run in small pale type along every dark spine, legible from copy to copy. If your own book will be under 5mm thick, keep spine type small and centred, and leave plenty of space at each end.
Four questions on a PDF proof
Ross’s print files arrived in May. Our preflight check showed the inside pages had been set at 250 x 250mm against a 210 x 210mm cover and order, and the sky on pages 2 and 3 stopped short of the full 3mm of bleed along the top edge. His illustrator resized and extended them by the next day. On the proof we flagged one more thing: the title on the first page sat at only 87dpi, while the cover lettering was perfectly sharp.
Ross brought his own questions to that proof, and they were good ones. Slivers of the neighbouring page showed at some page edges; we confirmed they sat outside the trim box and would never appear in the finished book. He also suspected that the picture on page 5 crept into page 4. We cropped both pages to their trim lines, sent him screengrabs, and pointed out that a perfect bound book hides about 2mm either side of the spine in the gutter, so readers would see slightly less of the goat’s bridge, not more. An hour later Ross replied: “Thanks so much for that. That really helps!”
We also offered one printed copy ahead of the full run, explaining that it would show the feel of the book but not final colour, because the run itself would go on our litho press. He chose the PDF proof, approved it, and the books went on press.
Billy Goat, the bridge and a fun filled day
Open the book and the smooth 170gsm silk carries Mat Sadler’s painted skies without a blotch. On pages 2 and 3, Billy Goat chews hay in a meadow, then trots down to a wooden bridge and its hand carved sign, with the rhyming lines set in a classic serif straight onto the clouds. A few pages on, the troll hauls himself over the side of the bridge, all crooked teeth and pitch black nails. Later, troll, goat, a pig, a sheep and a hare stroll into the woods under red spotted toadstools to play hide and seek. Setting text into calm stretches of sky, as Mat did, keeps every spread full bleed without boxing the words off, a layout habit any picture book author can borrow.
When the books arrived, Ross wrote back the same afternoon:
They look great, so pleased with them! Thanks so much for all your help with this.
Ross, author of Troll’s Amazing Day
By December 2022 he was reading his books to every year group on an author visit to Aldborough Primary School. If your own picture book needs a binding that can take that kind of use, start with our square picture books with glued spines, read these tips on perfect binding a picture book and this note on how far a picture must run past the trim, then cost a 32 page square picture book in a couple of minutes.
PaperbacksA5, 44 pages, perfect bound£246for 100
Product cataloguesA5, 28 pages, stapled£166for 100
