Some clients come to PPG wanting us to help them design and publish hardcover books they can also sell online. This is possible. But there are limitations with print-on-demand (POD) digitally-printed books, particularly when it comes to endsheets endpapers endleaves. This feature can only be produced using a traditional offset printing press and manual binding process. In this post, I’ll briefly touch on why this is the case. (And I sincerely hope Bookmobile in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is okay with me using their visual examples. I was unable to find any decent public domain stock photos to illustrate what I’m talking about here.)

POD Limitations [Endsheets Endpapers Endleaves]

Here’s another POD limitation. As I discussed in a past post regarding book trim sizes, digital printers can only handle certain paper sizes and weights. Because of that, you’re limited to certain book trim sizes, binding types, and paper stocks/colours if you wish to sell POD books online (which most of us do nowadays). Digital printers simply cannot handle the thicker paper stock that is used to created printed endsheets as illustrated below.

As shown in another earlier blog post about your book binding options, it is possible to produce a POD case-wrapped hardcover. But you cannot print anything on the inside of your book covers. Nor can you insert endsheets with a different (thicker) paper stock than the other pages within the book.

Related reading: 3 Book Printing Tips for Indie Authors: Consider This Before Printing Any Books

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