Hardcover Books

Bound to last.
Bound to make an impression.

Hardbound, case bound, hardback — no matter what you call them, they mean the same things: quality, style and longevity. Hardcover books feel substantial, and are a nice addition to anyone’s collection. Our full-color wrap-around laminated hard cover books are are guaranteed to last for 100 years, and showcase hand-crafted quality from cover to cover.

Why choose a hardcover for your book? If your book will get hard use – like a cookbook, or a children’s picture book, it may benefit from a hardcover book’s strong construction. Hardcover biographies and memoirs can be treasured for years. Businesses use them to create impressive presentations, and artists and photographers often choose to showcase their portfolio in hardcover. See genres of books for more helpful tips.

Our Hardcover Features: The Cover

Our hardcover books come with a professional case bound cover laminated with your choice of a soft-touch matte or a scratch-resistant gloss laminate finish. Your cover art is wrapped around the edges of the bookboard, and adhered under white endsheets that are stronger and heavier than you’ll generally find at other printers. Strong endsheets are critical, along with the other premium materials and adhesives we use, for making a stronger bond — and helping your book last longer.

Interested in options like custom sizes, a linen cover with gold foil lettering, various paper stocks, or a dust jacket? We can help you customize your book any way you want. Start by checking out our custom books page for more information.

Choosing a Size

We offer our hardcovers in 5 of the most popular sizes. 5.5″ x 8.5″ (Digest) is a typical size you’d see used for paperbacks. That makes this small size convenient and portable. 6″ x 9″ (Octavo) is only a little larger but generally used for novels or books that feature a larger type size. 8.5″ x 11″ (Quarto) and 11″ x 8.5″ (Landscape) are generally used to feature artwork, like a journal or photo album, childrens’ picture books or business publications. 8.5″ x 8.5″ (Square) can be used for specialty books that for instance feature poetry, artwork or celebrate events like a wedding or birth.

If you would like to create your book in a different size, you can choose to upgrade it to any size you want up to 12″ x 12″ or even larger for an additional fee. Just specify the size you’d prefer when you fill out the information for your ASAP Price Quote or Instant Pricing. For more information about the custom options available to enhance your book even more, please check out our custom books page.

Standard Trim Sizes

Portrait

Landscape

Square

Standard Sizes: Choose from 5″ x 5″ to 12″ x 12″
Page Count Range: 24-900 pgs

Quality Paper Stocks

Depending on whether you order a book with interior pages printed in black and white or one with interior pages printed in color, we have an optimal paper weight just for you. The quality paper stock we use allows books to open flatter, and last longer while providing superior ink coverage along with durability and flexibilty. Happily, our papers are forested and produced in an environmentally-conscious manner, and contain a percentage of recycled material as well as an FSC certification (Forest Stewardship Council).

Paper Weights

The weight of the paper used for the inside pages in your book refers to how the printing industry measures paper. A paper’s weight is measured in pounds (lb or #) and is determined by the weight of 500 sheets, or a ream of paper, prior to being cut down to size. This usually corresponds to the thickness of the paper. For a novel for instance, which is simply text, we would recommend our 60# text weight paper, while for a book that features graphics we recommend our 80# text weight.

Choosing Paper: Coated or Uncoated?

Coated paper ensures a smoother, “sealed” surface, so tiny details are more apparent, colors pop and blends are more consistent. Photographs and graphics look great. Paper that’s coated protects pages from smudges, dirt and wear and our 80lb coated paper also features a silk finish that cuts down on glare.

While our premium grade uncoated paper stock has a smooth surface, texture is more apparent. The subdued, ecologically-friendly look of uncoated paper is an effect that some people prefer. Without coating there is very little reflective quality to the paper which makes it a good choice for text-based books like novels.

When you order a book from us, we offer a standard set of paper stocks. Like to upgrade, discuss paper stocks with us, or just get a better understanding of your paper choice? Give us a call.

80lb Uncoated White has a soft, textured feel

80 lb Coated White with Silk finish is great for graphics

Customizing your hardcover

We do whatever it takes to make our customers happy. A different kind of binding? Thicker paper? A specific type of cover? A book jacket? One Book at a Time is renowned for its beautiful custom books. Go to our custom books page to see some of the options and upgrades that are possible to make your book something special.

"We absolutely love the books — we’re moving into our first home soon, and can’twait to have the book on our coffee table. We decided to do the family book for this year... we’ll place another order after Christmas."

"A vacation of a lifetime needed an awesome book. The large format was the perfect choice to show off all the details in the photos. Thanks again to the whole team at One Book at a Time!"

"The books are great, I love them and my customers do too. I really appreciate your help and I will be placing another order very soon through you."

"David, Thanks to you, Ann, and your team, again, for the fantastic work for our client and the very quick turnaround. Everyone here was very impressed with the book and it will work well for our client in Asia."