Do you want to print and publish your original songs? A collection of your arrangements of traditional tunes? Perhaps a songbook for your choir, church, school, or scout group? Here, we show you how
Are you thinking of making a customized songbook or musical composition book but are not sure where to start? If you're a veteran songwriter or just starting your very first collection of works, this could be the moment to build the song book that fulfils your dreams! There are many reasons you might want to print a songbook: to promote your original compositions, for your students, for your church or choir, or as a wholly commercial proposition. Whatever your motives, in this post we'll go over some pointers and strategies for printing a beautiful and practical songbook to be proud of, whatever stage you're at in your musical career.
Why print your own songbook?
There are several reasons you ought to develop a custom songbook or composition book. If you're an arranger, a composer, or a professional musician, it's an ideal promotional tool that can supplement your income while increasing your exposure in the music business. You can also use it as a valuable promotional giveaway or product at your events. Perhaps you're a private music instructor with your own distinct method? You can organize your pupils' music and exercises into manageable collections graded according to their progress. If you enjoy performing original music, you can collect all your personal favorites into a single location. A songbook can celebrate a significant event such as a wedding, seasonal celebration, or a funeral or to organize an album of songs for worship or a comprehensive song library, or to expand your business.
Is songbook printing a good option for you?
In today's world, you have two core options for distributing your songbook. You may release your work on an online platform or as a digital book for e-readers and tablets, or get it professionally printed to distribute directly to your target audience or via online and offline bookstores, your own website, and at live events. While Internet songbooks are ubiquitous these days, printed versions appear to be more credible and professional and can be used as souvenirs, gifts, event merchandise, and extras to go with record sales. Getting professional copies of your songbook printed guarantees that those who purchase it get a polished product of which you can be proud. Think about producing both a professionally printed edition and a digital version so that your clients can pick which they prefer. But even if you choose to make a digital songbook as well, we still recommend printing a professional hard copy, too.
Cover design for songbooks
Most potential buyers, while they may find digital products useful in some circumstances, still prefer a printed paper copy of a musical score or a song. Getting customers to take your book off the shelf and open it is the first step in selling it. As a result, while it's true that everyone says you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, we all do. It's an excellent strategy to make a cover that provides your readers a decent indication of the type of songs you've chosen for your book. So, you must develop a cover design that reflects the spirit of your work.
Publicly available artwork from royalty-free stock photo sites or the Creative Commons may be an option for you. Depending on your project, finding a free image online that represents your theme to use as the basis for your cover is possible. For more detail on how to search, find, and use images from the Internet without breaking copyright laws, read our other post, How to Get Pictures for a Book. But unless you have knowledge and experience in graphic design, we'd strongly urge you to consider hiring a professional book designer to assist you in creating a really attractive cover.
Songbooks are available in a wide range of categories, for a wide range of instruments and voices, and for solo performers, choirs, and bands. Consider including a description of the music in your book on the cover. Are these tunes written for a solo guitar? Are these duets for two pianists on a single piano? Are they intended for choral use? Are these covers of popular artists' songs? In the latter case, you'll need to think about copyright and legal issues and we'll examine these issues in a moment. But a line or two on the cover that expresses the style and content of your songbook is always a good idea. it will inform your clients about what to expect when they order your book.
Choose the right paper for your songbook
Pick a glossy cover printed on heavy stock and possibly varnished to make your music book stand out! A glossy cover will show your buyers that you're a professional and will entice them to pick up your book and peek inside. UV coating or lamination can also improve and protect your book covers.
Then, once your buyer has your songbook in their hands, make it simple for them to continue reading. This may seem obvious, but it bears repeating: select a font for your cover and internal text that is easy to read and conveys the type of music in your book. Obviously, the notation should be standard and clear to read. Print the interior on good quality coated paper. The only exception would be if you need users to write and add notes in pencil or pen to the pages, which can be the case with “workbook” type songbooks for students. In that case, choose “wood free” uncoated or “offset” paper for the inside pages. You can get detailed information about choosing paper for a book in our helpful post, How to Choose the Right Kind of Paper for Your Book.
How to select the best font for your songbook
Choosing the right font is a must for the accompanying text elements such as an introduction, a biography, notes on the origins of the songs and how to play them, and any acknowledgements and other material you may wish to include. This will make your songbook easier to read and will connect the entire book into a seamless whole. Always choose a bright, clear font with simple easy-to-read forms. Consider Arial, Garamond, Monserrat, or Open Sans, for example.
You should create your songbook with both readers and musicians in mind. While many people who buy your publication will be keen to play the music inside, often fans of an artist purchase songbooks as souvenirs of concerts or just to read the lyrics of their favorite numbers. In the rest of this post, we'll go over some tips for making your songbook the best it can be.
Binding your songbook
To begin, select the finest binding for your book. The most popular and functional bindings for songbooks are:
Saddle stitch binding—with this binding technique, once the sheets are printed, we fold them and stack them inside each other, usually wrapped in a thicker, often glossy, cover sheet, before stapling all the pages together down the central crease. This is an economical and effective form of binding, but only works when the page count is a multiple of four and no more than 48 pages.
Perfect binding—also known as paperback or softcover binding, with this method we collate all the interior pages into a block. Next, we glue the pages together down one side and then glue them into the spine area of the cover sheet, which is made of thicker cover paper and wraps over the block. Last, we cut the cover and the block on the three sides, which are not the spine, which gives the book its “perfect” binding in which the cover and the pages are completely flush.
Spiral binding—also known as coil binding. With this binding method, we perforate the pages by drilling holes down one side and then bind them together using a colored plastic coil twisted through the holes and crimped at the ends to keep it secure. Individual pages are not attached to each other, but they are all attached to the spiral coil.
These are all good options for your songbook. But which you choose will depend on your budget and your end-user's needs. For example, if you have hundreds of songs, then perfect binding will be the most durable, cost-effective, and professional-looking solution. Because plastic coil binding lays flatter than any other style of binding, your book will open fully flat on a piano or music stand. This makes it simple to flip through the pages while listening to or playing the music. You may even turn the pages of coil binding to flip one half of the book over so users can study one page at a time. If you have only a few songs, or just a single composition, in your book, saddle stitch binding can provide a professional look at low cost.
As you know, it's frequently simpler to learn to play a piece if you can hear how it sounds. Consider incorporating audio examples of the music included in your book, whether in hard copy or online. This might be a CD included with your book, digital materials accessible directly from your website, or a link to a third-party vendor's website. This will raise the worth of your goods while also increasing your audience's engagement with your creations.
Think about your audience
As we already touched on, songbooks can serve a variety of functions and appeal to a wide range of audiences. Consider how to create your songbook in the most effective way for your target audience, whether they be students or professionals, instrumentalists or singers, classical players or pop artists.
Are you working on a book for adults or children? If making a songbook for kids, consider choosing larger fonts and adding colorful illustrations and cartoons to enhance the music and text. If you're a music teacher putting out a book for your students, consider incorporating simple text contributions before each song that explain the technical skills your students will gain from studying the piece, as well as any information they should remember when practicing.
Think about adding personal touches to a songbook for a community such as a choir or church group. You could include statements from community members about why they appreciate the songs if you've produced or compiled a songbook for a school or other community. You could do this as a forward to the book, or you could insert a small quotation or two at the beginning of each song. This will help members of the community remember why certain songs are so meaningful and give them a sense of ownership and investment in the work.
Understand intellectual property laws
Whether selecting images for the cover, fonts for the typesetting, or the music itself, it is critical to observe all applicable intellectual property laws when writing and publishing your book. Always add a statement of copyright on the first page of your songbook, along with the rights you're claiming, and the international copyright logo if you're composing your own songs or arranging traditional tunes in the public domain. Note that in the latter case, it's the arrangement that is copyrighted, not the music itself. Be cautious of your country's copyright restrictions if you collect or republish other people's music. These may differ depending on the country in which the book is published and the genre of music you're releasing, so follow local rules. However, even if you compose original arrangements of published songs, you will almost always need to seek the copyright holder's permission and they may only grant this if you pay a fee.
Use an offset printer to create your songbook
Digital “print-on-demand” printing services are popular these days because of their speed and perceived cost-effectiveness. But for a songbook, you really need better quality when printing the minutiae of musical notation. You also get a better range of papers and other materials from which to choose to help make your book as professional as it can be. At QinPrinting, with over 30 years of experience in the industry, we can help you to print the perfect songbook, from design assistance and advice to paper and binding options, and ink and finishing choices, all backed up with the latest technology—the same used by the major publishing houses—and impeccable customer care at every stage of the process.
Talk to us!
If you're keen to print a beautiful, high-quality songbook book — and personal customer service matters to you as much as a world-class product — then we should talk. Get in touch today to chat through your needs or to ask for a no-obligation quote. We can't wait to help you make the songbook of your dreams!
