Printing your book for yourself
Three ways to hold your book in your hands: order one copy online, use a local copy shop, or print at home — with paper and binding tips.
Made a book just for yourself or as a gift? You have three good ways to turn your exported files into a physical book — from a same-day copy shop run to a bookstore-quality single copy delivered to your door. Books created with the “For myself & gifts” purpose export with equal margins on both sides and a simple front-cover PDF, which is exactly what these options expect.
Option 1: order one printed copy online (best quality)
Print-on-demand services print a single softcover book from your PDFs and ship it to you. A 40–60 page black-and-white 8.5″ × 11″ book typically costs a few dollars to print plus shipping.
- Lulu (lulu.com) — prints one copy, ships worldwide from facilities in the US, Canada, UK, France and Australia. Upload your manuscript PDF as the interior; use their cover wizard or a designer template for the cover.
- Mixam (mixam.com) — US and UK production, no minimum order, instant online quote.
- Doxdirect (doxdirect.com) — a UK service with worldwide shipping, good for European readers.
- The Book Patch (thebookpatch.com) — US-based, no setup fees, instant price calculator.
Two things to check before ordering: most services need 32+ interior pages for a glued (perfect-bound) spine — shorter books can be stapled (saddle stitch) or spiral-bound instead; and pick uncoated paper, which takes crayons and colored pencils much better than glossy photo paper.
Option 2: a local copy shop (fastest)
FedEx Office, Staples and most local print shops accept an uploaded PDF online and have it ready the same or next day. Ask for:
- Single-sided printing — coloring bleeds through thin paper;
- 28–32 lb (105–120 gsm) paper if available, cardstock for the cover;
- Coil (spiral) binding — it lies flat while coloring, which kids love; comb binding works too but is more fragile.
A 40-page coil-bound book usually runs $12–25 depending on the shop.
Option 3: print at home
- Print single-sided on the heaviest paper your printer takes (24 lb minimum);
- Print the cover on cardstock, or use the first page as a title cover;
- Bind with a long-arm stapler (up to ~20 sheets), or take the loose stack to a copy shop for a $3–5 coil bind;
- In your printer dialog choose “Actual size”, not “Fit to page” — the PDF is already sized to your book format.
Which files to use
From the Export step, download the manuscript PDF (your interior pages) and the cover PDF. For personal books the cover file is a single front page — copy shops can print it on cardstock as the first sheet, and online services will place it on their cover template for you.