Coming Soon to FolioFox: Special Editions With Sprayed Edges

Now more than ever, books aren’t just a tool for reading. These parcels of stories are increasingly becoming a way for communities to connect with each other, for interests to be shared, and for audiences to treasure these physical works of art as keepsakes long after the story is over. With a growing interest among writers and readers of crafting books that double as mementos, special edition books are becoming more popular than ever. Now, FolioFox is getting on board this shift in market trends by offering authors the chance to meet the special edition demand thanks to our brand-new sprayed edge printer.

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The Rise In Popularity Of Special Edition Book Printing

There’s an interesting trend unfolding in the book publishing and printing industries at the moment. While the average Australian might be reading less than ever before, the amount of physical book sales continues to climb. This is because the culture around books is becoming more than just the experience of reading - printed books are becoming a way to intentionally keep, collect, display and share physical products that hold the potential for more meaning than just the words that fill their pages.

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At the forefront of this shift in readers’ buying behaviour is the special edition book. Whether it’s a hardcover adorned with foil stamping, a paperback with unique lamination, or even a book that contains sprayed edges, special edition books are becoming a feasible way for self-published authors and independent publishers to create a product that readers can’t substitute with anything on a screen. 

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At FolioFox, we see this shifting of the tides in the book industry as an opportunity for growth for self-published and indie authors. It opens up the doors for a range of possibilities for writers to turn their stories into keepsakes, and ultimately into a treasured product that readers are hungry to get their hands on. One of the biggest trends worth paying attention to in Australian book printing is the incredible demand for sprayed edge printing. Now, our investment in this new printer technology helps authors achieve just that.

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What Does ‘Sprayed Edged Printing’ Mean?

While the name might not be familiar to you, sprayed edges (also called book edging or spredges) is a book printing customisation you’ve no doubt come across. Think: the gold-sprayed edges on a religious text, or the detailed illustrations at the edge of a romantasy book’s pages. In short, sprayed edges in a book refers to the colour, patterns or designs created by the page edges of a book when the book is closed. Just like book designers can add details to a book’s spine, the edges of a book’s pages can also be experimented with to become a work of art in and of itself.

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Sprayed edges have been utilised in book design for hundreds of years, although recent book printing activity has seen a reasonable uptick in this embellishment thanks to the rise of special edition books which has been propelled by book communities (like BookTok). At the crux of this rise in popularity, though, is a real human desire to appreciate the beauty of a book. While it’s true that it’s what’s on the inside of a book that counts, with such a mammoth amount of ways to consume stories and content through digital means in our current age, printing and publishing books now is as much about the aesthetic value of the book as ever before. Sprayed edges aren’t just about making a book look pretty - this innovative technique is at its core about turning a story into something that can be treasured forever.

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How to Print a Book with Sprayed Edges in Australia

If you’ve ever tried to print a book with sprayed edges in Australia, you’ve probably had a hard time with it. With such few printers offering this service in the country, indie authors and publishers have had to outsource their sprayed edge printing to companies offshore, which comes with a range of limitations around time, cost and the size of a print run.

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However, from August this year, FolioFox is introducing sprayed edge printing to our printing services, available right here in Melbourne. For the first time, authors can get their books locally printed with spredges.

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This means you’ll be able to craft a book with sprayed edges through FolioFox, whether it be for hardcover or paperback books, opening up new opportunities for authors, publishers and brands to print their projects locally, flexibly, quickly and with exceptional quality. This new technology takes the stress out of the printing process for anyone wanting to print their book with special embellishments or designs, with short-run prints available and expert consultation along the way. While FolioFox will begin printing in August, feel free to reach out to us now to chat about the process and how we can turn your book from a story into a collector’s item, and have it ready to start printing as soon as August comes around. 

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In an industry that has seen a wide variety of changes as it attempts to keep up with new technologies and a shifting market, the rise in demand for special edition physical prints is a silver lining for the book industry and the authors, publishers, printers and readers that the industry is made up of. Now more than ever, books are more than just words on paper - they’re keepsakes to be treasured. 

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‍‍To learn more about our book printing and sprayed edge printing services for self-published authors and get started on your printing journey, get in touch with our team today. We're here to help you navigate the evolving world of printing with confidence.