Choosing book paper

Paper gives print books their unique character. It may be so subtle, we don't even give it thought, but with every turn of the page, paper influences what a book feels like in our hands. The feel of it under our fingers. Its weight, its color, and contrast against the ink. Even the sound it makes as we rush to the next chapter.

It is paper that takes the intangible world of words and ideas and fixes them in front of us in physical form. That's undeniably special, don't you think? As an author, you may never have given much consideration to paper. But paper is the thing that is going to help give your book its life.

If you're using a print-on-demand (POD) service such as Amazon KDP or Ingram, you'll be offered fairly limited options when it comes to choosing your paper. That actually makes things considerably easier, but there's still a choice to make.

Paper color

Your book's paper can be any color you like, as long as that color is white. Colored paper in books is almost unheard of, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for plenty of variation. One glimpse at a paint color chart is enough to remind us just how many shades lie between cream and bright blue white.

A crisp blue white paper communicates a no nonsense, technical feel. It is perfect for images, illustrations, small details and reproducing color faithfully on a page. Many consider off white and cream tones to be easiest on the eye, especially when reading for long stretches at a time. These tones offer naturally reduced glare and softer contrasts compared with pure white paper. They also have a slightly warmer, friendlier quality, and because of this, they're often the go to choice for fiction.

With POD, the choice is much simpler. For a typical black and white book, you're usually choosing between white and cream, while color interiors are printed on white paper.

Opacity and thickness

Another aspect that's well worth considering is the paper opacity. Opacity is the amount of light that can pass through a single sheet of paper. Text and images muddling on the page because of print on the other side not only interferes with the reading experience, it also makes a book feel poor quality.

Opacity is naturally influenced by the paper thickness, also known as caliper. Heavily pressed paper is thinner, smoother, and floppier. Lightly pressed paper is thicker, rougher, and stiffer. Think rolling dough to make cookies.

The thickness of the paper has a big effect on how the book feels. Very thin, floppy paper can feel cheap and a little greasy under your fingers, but thick paper, on the other hand, can be difficult and awkward to turn.

It also determines the thickness of the spine. A 500 page book contains 250 actual leaves of paper. If each leaf is 86 microns thick, 250 x 86 gives us 21,500 microns, or around 0.85 inches. So, your book, without covers, will measure just under an inch thick.

With POD, you won't normally choose the exact thickness separately. It comes with the particular paper stock, but your cover designer still needs that information to calculate the correct spine width.

Weight and finish

Heavy papers make heavy books. This can be an issue for the person carrying and holding the book, but also when it comes to shipping and postage.

Finish refers to the way the surface of the paper feels and takes ink. A smoother surface may feel more exclusive and cool with its sharp line and text reproduction. A rougher surface, on the other hand, can add a more tactile and natural character.

With POD, most of these decisions have already been narrowed down for you. Ingram, for example, offers 50 lb / 74 gsm cream and white paper for black and white books, with heavier white stocks available for color printing. You won't usually get to choose independently between a huge range of weights and finishes either. The paper weight and surface come as part of the stock and printing option you select.

Sustainability and lifespan

POD has one obvious advantage here: books are produced as they're ordered rather than thousands being printed in advance and potentially left unsold. You won't usually be choosing the exact recycled content or sourcing of an individual paper stock, so if those things are particularly important for your project, it's worth checking what your chosen printer offers.

A book's arch enemies are time and damp. Over time, acid content in paper can cause a book to deteriorate, which is why acid free paper is preferred for books expected to have long term value. If archival life is particularly important to your book, it's another specification worth discussing with your printer.

Putting it all together

All these paper attributes are interrelated. Change one, and you'll change another. Increasing thickness improves opacity but increases the weight, while changing paper stock can affect everything from the feel of the pages to the final spine width.

It can feel confusing and hard to know what to prioritize, but in reality, your options will get whittled down quickly. It's less of a huge room full of choices, and more a kind of funnel. Once you've selected your binding and trim, decided to print in color or grayscale, and chosen your print service, you'll probably only have a few suitable papers left to choose from.

Now for most of the authors we work with, POD means you won't be making most of these decisions, you'll be limited by the options available to you. Which, by the way, isn't a bad thing. The POD printers have a few defaults for good reason, they're the best for most cases. But we still think it's a topic worth understanding. Pick up other books from your shelf and you'll start to notice why one feels heavier, why another feels warmer to read, or why images look sharper on a particular stock. And if you ever move on to a larger print run, whether for this book or another, choosing from a wider range of papers suddenly becomes much less daunting.

Visit our book formatting services page to see how we can help take your finished book through production and into print. We'll help you understand the paper options available and choose the one that works best for your book.