Print Finishes That Elevate Your Self-Published Book

Everyone knows that it’s what’s inside of a book that counts, but what if the outside of your self-published book could reflect the quality that is awaiting readers in its pages? In our current reading landscape, print embellishments and book finishes are a key way to elevate your project from a parcel of pages into a treasured book readers are wanting to keep and put on display long after the story is over. Let’s explore why finishes are so important in the current book climate, and which ones you should add to your own self-published book.

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Why Print Embellishments Will Help Your Self-Published Book To Sell

In a market flooded with a million and one book options for readers to invest their time and money in, it’s more important than ever for authors - self-published authors especially - to craft a package for their story that is demanding to be read. 

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While beautifully designed books may grab a bookworm’s attention, it’s the parcels of stories that go that extra mile that will make it into a reader’s shopping cart. With a rise in consumption of digital stories - from ebooks to audiobooks - there’s simultaneously a noticeable rise in readers buying hard-copy books for the purpose of collection. Books aren’t just to be read - they’re a way for readers to display who they are and what they like, reflected in the special editions they collect. 

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Utilising special embellishments and finishes in the printing process of your self-published book means that it opens up the door for your work to become not just something to be read, but something to show off as a collectors item. Whether this be to photograph for social media, display on bookshelves or to gift a special someone, the current trend of aestheticising books offers self-published authors an opportunity to print their works of art with a cover that is in itself a work of art - and thus, helping these special edition books to sell. 

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How Sprayed Edges Can Make Your Book Stand Out

One of the fastest growing trends when it comes to the design of indie books at the moment is crafting books with sprayed edges. Also known as book edging or spredges, sprayed edged books are books with colour, patterns or designs added to the edges of the pages of the book so that when the book is closed, the edges become their own work of art.

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Despite being over a thousand years old, this design technique has recently picked up immensely in popularity over the last few years thanks to readers hungry for special edition books. The advantage of a sprayed edge book is that the book doesn’t only look beautiful from the front cover and the spine, but from any angle that it’s displayed. For book-worms, this is key to curating a beautiful bookshelf of intricately designed reads. While few book printers in Melbourne can provide self-published authors with locally sprayed edged book printing, we at FolioFox have invested in one of the several machines in Australia that can do this service. Feel free to reach out to us if you’re considering embellishing your own book with this beautiful design technique.

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There are also some alternatives to sprayed edge book printing that many innovative indie authors are taking advantage of. These include DIY book edging with their own spray paint setup, and also designing the pages of their book with images around the page border to create a forced edge design.

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Printing Special Edition Books With Embossing, Debossing and Foil Stamping

Other print finishes to consider that can help turn your indie book into a special edition - or just to make it look extra-pretty - are embossing, debossing and foil stamping. While all three of these techniques may sound similar, they each have their own finishing touches and unique attributes.

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When it comes to embossing, what we’re referring to is the texture that you can feel on part of your book cover created by pressing the section of the cover material up from underneath using a custom metal plate. Considered a traditional finishing technique, embossing creates a three-dimensional effect that turns your plain book cover into one of elegant design, making readers want to reach out and touch it - and hopefully take it home, too! Thanks to the raised section of the cover, light falls across this textured surface in a different way, meaning that subtle shadows and highlights are created as the book moves in your hands. While some use embossing for branding logos on their books, other authors opt for this finish to emphasise titles or embellish the cover with decorative elements.

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On the other hand, debossing works in a similar but parallel way. As opposed to raising the cover material up, debossing is all about creating indented designs by pressing a custom metal plate into the cover surface from above, not below. Many authors use debossing if their book is leaning toward a minimalist feel with understated elegance or for creating subtle sophistication in the book’s cover design. For self-published authors printing their book with thick, quality cover stocks, debossing pairs perfectly thanks to the dramatic shadows created by the indentation.

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Next, we have foil stamping. This print finish - also known as foiling - turns any old book into a luxurious work of art, with just a simple addition of a foil stamp. Just as its name hints at, foil stamping involves a metallic or coloured foil being applied to wherever on your book cover you’d like the design to sit, with heat and pressure cementing the smooth, reflective image. This design embellishment is sure to make your book cover stand out, and you can choose your own specifics to match your book. Anything from gold to silver to rich copper tones is available, as well as speciality colours or even holographic options that shift and simmer as your reader handles your book.

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Why and When You Should Consider Lamination For Your Self-Published Book

Another book printing finish to consider to elevate your self-published work is lamination - also known as laminate. One of the most cost-effective ways to give your book a professional look and premium feel, lamination provides a book with durability thanks to the thin plastic film that is applied to the cover of the project with heat and pressure.

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The best thing about the lamination design technique is that you can tailor the laminate finish to suit the needs of your own specific work. Gloss lamination is one of the most popular options as it suits vibrant colours and makes imagery jump off the page with its lovely shine. Matt lamination is another common go-to, providing a book cover with a matt, non-reflective finish while still ensuring the cover is protected against scratches, fingerprints and scuff marks. 

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Another kind of lamination includes velvet lamination, a lamination which engulfs your book cover in a velvety suede-like texture and a barrier of protection against scratches. Velvet lamination offers greater durability and is often more resistant to wear and tear than matt lamination, as well as mutes colours ever so slightly to really give the cover that understated look. Next, rough lamination is exactly what the name sounds like - a gritty, non-reflective surface that gives the book cover a coarse texture that could be compared to sandpaper for a unique tactile finish. On the opposite end of the texture spectrum is soft-touch lamination. This method of laminate is more similar to velvet lamination but prioritises the colour vibrancy of the book cover, allowing the ink of your book design to stand out.

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All in all, there’s no right or wrong choice when it comes to selecting which print finish or special embellishment is the right choice for you and your self-published book. But in a book printing and publishing landscape that values special edition works highly and provides book-buyers the opportunity to turn their next read into a collectors item, these special design flourishes are becoming more popular than ever.

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‍To learn more about our book printing finishes and special embellishment services, get in touch with our team at FolioFox today. We're here to help you navigate the evolving world of self-published book printing with confidence.