Litho Printing Company

Stapled zines and booklets are with you in 3 working days, perfect bound books in 5 and hardbacks in 7, counted from approval of your print-ready artwork, with free tracked UK delivery. Lead times depend on run length and print spec. Longer litho runs and premium cover finishes take longer, so if you're working to a hard deadline, tell us the date and we'll confirm we can hit it before you commit. On a 1 to 20 copy job, staples or perfect binding alike, we check your artwork thoroughly and send it straight to print; 21 copies and over, and every hardback, get a PDF proof to approve first.

All commercial printers use CMYK ink (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black). RGB is great for viewing on screen but when it comes to printing, all of the colours in your images will be made using the cmyk gamut.

Yes, we have a 5th duct on our presses which can be used to print a Pantone Spot colour. Back in the 90s and early noughties this was a common request to have a Pantone included on the artwork to achieve a specific brand or logo colour.  Increasingly as the cost if CMYK has fallen sharply, the need for Spot Colours is less frequent and we only get asked once or twice a year for it now.

Unfortunately what is seen on an RGB, backlit screen is never going to be the same as it appears on paper in cmyk.  It's just impossible to achieve that and no printer could.  You will have to allow for some difference in the colours between the two mediums but having something tangible in your hands and seeing the images on paper gives the publication a charm that just sending out a pdf wont do.

The old print industry mantra is that it is possible to have two of these when you send a job to print. Stop Press! At Ex Why Zed we have changed the rulebook and are confident we can now offer all three! The highest quality printing, for the best prices and delivered when you need it.

We are in England’s oldest town, Colchester.

Ready to place an order? Brilliant, you'll need to upload the files using www.wetransfer.com sending them to hello@exwhyzed.com and in the comments box let us know the number of copies you're going for and the best address for delivery. We'll then give your artwork a free preflight check to highlight any potential issues and will email with any advice or recommendations before going to production.

Once you approve your print ready artwork, stapled jobs are with you in 3 working days, perfect bound in 5 and hardbacks in 7. If you are working to a crucial deadline, PLEASE allow more time. There's no harm in getting the artwork to us early so we can deliver a few days before your deadline 🙂

For the purposes of our quoting, we call a page one side of content.  So, a sheet of paper has two pages: a front and a back.  If you ask for a quote for 40 inside pages, that will be 40 pages of content, 40 pages in your artwork file / pdf and in the book 20 leaves printed on both sides.

Yes, ‘text’ pages is our common term for the inside pages of your publication. They can be filled with illustrations, photography, full colour artwork…or just text if it’s a poetry book.

Check out video guide here and we’ll talk you through the options with examples printed on each of the finishes.

Still uncertain? Jump on our sample pack form and we’ll get some paper choices in the post asap.