Children’s Book Printing

Thanks for stopping by. We are here to guide you through the childrens book printing process.

It won’t be long before you experience that super exciting moment when a glorious stack of boxes arrives and you unpack the first book. Yes, your self-published book. Enjoy the feel and the smell of them…you worked hard for this moment.

? Start Your Print Journey! Which step are you at?

➡️ exwhyzed.com/print-journey

At the heart of our process at is the Print Journey. Each of the 5 steps has its own hub where you can enjoy comprehensive guides, illustrated articles, captivating videos and insightful blog posts. These resources empower you to make well-informed decisions about design and styling, propelling your project from an initial idea to a bound children’s book.

We have 45 years of experience with children’s books. They were all we used to read at school and now we print them.

We consider ourselves specialist children’s book, colouring book and educational book printers who will work with you to take your artwork from screen to a wide range of printed outcomes. Our video series will really expand your knowledge on the options available in print and our file set-up guides will make you a better designer.

Request a quote today

It’s 2024 and it has never been easier to self-publish a book. Brilliantly, you don’t even need a publisher anymore. Jump on Kickstarter and start a crowdfunding campaign, tell the world about your great publication and become fully funded before you go to print.

Intriguingly, the scope of Children’s Books has evolved and increasingly we are seeing storybooks to promote a business or brand which can be sold in a gift shop, through an online store or at a trade show.

Why not print a colouring book too?

What an easy solution for repurposing your work.  You have already spent the time creating some magnificent illustrations, so why not drop them into Illustrator, convert them to line art and within a few clicks, you’ve got a colouring book too! Two revenue streams and publications for the time it took you to design one 🙂

There are almost infinite possibilities on size, finishing and papers so we offer expert knowledge and advice before your job goes to press, a competitive book print quote to stretch your budget and a high quality standard of printing delivered nationally throughout the UK and worldwide too. The best thing to do is take a while to watch out video guide and look through our case study portfolio.

For smaller digestible chunks, enjoy: Winning Solutions for designing, styling and printing a children’s book. and Printing a colouring book from your illustrations.

Next up, send the print-ready pdf to Ex Why Zed. Do touch base with us a few months before and we can quote the job so you’ll know how many copies you can print for your budget. We will deliver the finished printing back to you in 4-10 working days (depending on print specs and run length). ‬

We have been doing this a while now and have seen a lot of impressive publications come off our presses.  To give you a head start with your children’s book printing, here are four print specifications which work well (and photos of them, see right).  Each has its own characteristics which have proven to be winning combinations from a production perspective, cost per unit and most importantly, have reader appeal.

If any of our showcase options would work for your project, take a note of the spec and jump on our quote form to receive your bespoke quotation. Or ping us an email on hello@exwhyzed.com if that is easier.

Showcase 1 – a square, perfect bound solution with silk finish:
210x210mm Perfect Bound Books.
4pp Cover onto 300gsm Silk.
Matt Lamination to outer.
40pp Text onto 170gsm Silk.
Four colour print throughout.
As a guide, you could print 200 copies of this for £5.95 per book.

Showcase 2 – a stapled landscape option reminiscent of the Julia Donaldson series (best for longer, litho print runs):
210x272mm Landscape Wire Stitched Booklets.
4pp Cover onto 350gsm Ensocoat One Sided (1 side gloss, 1 side uncoated)
Gloss Lamination to outer.
32pp Text onto 170gsm Silk.
Full colour print throughout.
As a guide, you could print 5000 copies of this for 77p per copy.

Showcase 3 – an impressive, square hardbook version – the more you print, the lower the unit price will be :
210x210mm Case Bound Books.
Cover onto 170gsm Silk.
Wrapped over greyboard case.
Lamination to outer.
2x 4pp End Papers Printed onto 170gsm Silk.
52 inside pages onto 170gsm Silk.
Four colour print throughout.

Showcase 4 – a cost-effective, stapled landscape booklet ideal for low quantities:
A5 Landscape Booklets
4pp Cover onto 350gsm Silk
Matt Lamination to outer
24pp Text onto 170gsm Silk
Four colour print throughout
As a guide, you could print 400 copies of this for £1.30 per booklet.

Tweaks you could consider…
• Reducing the cover to 250gsm which also makes it easier to open.
• Switching to gloss lamination for a shiny aesthetic.
• Increase the size to A5 to save you money and make the publication more ergonomic.
• OR increase to A4 for a larger area of content.
• Increase the weight of the inside pages to 170gsm making it more substantial and impressive for the reader.
• Pick out some content on the cover for Spot UV varnishing or foiling to make it a premium book (this is an additional £280).

For more ideas on children’s book printing and to see examples of other similar books we have printed, do spend five minutes looking through the case studies here

We have done our best to give you a huge wealth of information on this page and in our guides but if here are some frequently asked questions to help you get your work into print.

If you haven’t already seen it, do also watch our feature length Children’s Book Printing Guide which explains visually way better than we could here in word form.