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Magazine Printing
At QinPrinting, we specialize in magazine printing with custom sizes, premium paper stocks, and eye-catching cover finishes—all at highly competitive prices. Our website provides instant online quotes, while our professional team responds within 24 hours, ensuring a superior experience. With unwavering commitment to quality, let us help you produce a magazine that reflects your brand and meets your budget.
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Magazine Instant Quote
Common Magazine Sizes
We can print any size magazine you want, but remember that unusual custom prints cost more than standard sizes because of the extra pre-press work and setup involved.
- The standard, most common magazine sizes in the US are 8.5" by 11" and 5.5" by 8.5".
- In Europe and Australia, the standard magazine sizes are 210 mm x 297 mm and 148 mm x 210 mm.
From a commercial perspective, it may be in your best interests to hold to these formats. They're established, inexpensive, ideal for mailing, meet customer expectations, and reduce set-up time, leading to a faster turnaround. But you could also try a larger 7.3" by 11" tabloid magazine, or switch things up with a landscape rather than portrait orientation. If you want it, we'll print it!
Magazine Paper Options
The paper you choose for your magazine has a significant impact on its appearance, quality, and the cost of production. If you print the interior of your magazine in black and white, you can use lightweight, uncoated paper, while if you have lots of photographs or other graphic elements, then heavier, coated paper will give the best results. We'll be happy to guide and advise you on the most appropriate paper choices for your project and your budget.
While the specifications depend on your magazine design we recommend 80 gsm / 54 lb, 105 gsm / 70 lb, 128 gsm / 86 lb, 157 gsm / 106 lb coated paper or 80 gsm / 54 lb, 100 gsm / 68 lb uncoated paper for magazine interiors as they give a pleasing, vibrant finish to any photography or artwork while leaving the text easy to read. Choosing magazine interior paper depends on the size of the publication and its thickness, too. We typically recommend thinner paper for the interior. Thinner paper can be opened flat easily, which is best for a smaller magazine. If the interior paper is too thick, magazines can be harder to open and browse.
If you've chosen to print your magazine at 8.5" x 11" or larger, we recommend using thicker paper for the inside pages. For example, 128 gsm / 86 lb, 157 gsm / 106 lb coated paper or 100 gsm / 68 lb uncoated paper. If it's a slim magazine with 32 pages or fewer and you want perfect binding, then 200 gsm / 135 lb coated paper will be needed to reach the required minimum 3 mm spine width.
You can download a magazine cover template to check the spine thickness according to different paper types and page amounts here.
Your magazine's cover paper depends on which binding style you choose. We make magazine covers from heavier, gloss cover paper—the clue is in the name! But as a cheaper option, you can use the same paper as your interior. We refer to this as “self-covered”. Saddle stitched or perfect bound bindings are the most common and—honestly—the best options for magazines you want to look truly professional, be durable, and still stay simple to store and mail out.
Paperback Cover Paper
- 200 gsm / 74 lb gloss cover paper
- 250 gsm / 92 lb gloss cover paper
- 300 gsm / 111 lb gloss cover paper
- 350 gsm / 129 lb gloss cover paper
- 200 gsm / 74 lb matte cover paper
- 250 gsm / 92 lb matte cover paper
- 300 gsm / 111 lb matte cover paper
Interior Paper
- 80 gsm / 54 lb coated text paper
- 105 gsm / 71 lb coated text paper
- 128 gsm / 86 lb coated text paper
- 157 gsm / 106 lb coated text paper
- 200 gsm / 135 lb coated text paper
- 80 gsm / 54 lb uncoated text paper
- 100 gsm / 68 lb uncoated text paper
- 120 gsm / 81 lb uncoated text paper
Bindings for Magazines
While occasionally clients choose to “self-cover” their magazines, the binding you choose often reflects the genre, page numbers, reader expectations, and your available budget. The most popular options for newsstand quality magazines are “saddle stitching” and “perfect binding”.
This means that we make the magazine of folded sheets stacked inside each other, typically with a cover sheet of glossy art paper, and then stapled together down the curved edge. The name comes from the original process of sewing the pages together with binding thread, but this is rare and mostly unnecessary these days. Saddle stitch binding is only functional with a page count divisible by four, up to a maximum of 64 pages. But to make sure the magazine is neat and lies flat, we recommend a limit of 48 pages or fewer for this style of binding.
This is the binding used for standard paperback books. We collate the interior pages into a block, glued together, and then glued into a wrap-around cover made of heavier art paper or lightweight card stock. This is far-and-away the best, most popular, and most cost-effective option for binding magazines which have over 48 pages or rely on high-definition photography on almost every page.
Self-covers are the most inexpensive option if you're really squeezed. Saddle stitch is the next cheapest, but has limitations in terms of page counts. Perfect bound costs more in base price, but if your magazine has lots of photography—so needs thicker paper and more pages—it often works out less expensive. The final cost always depends on the materials, size, length, and number of copies printed in a single run.
Magazine Advertising Special Features
Advertisements are often a vital element of any magazine, and many magazine publishers seek to offer as much advertising space in their magazines as possible. Commercially produced magazines often rely wholly on advertisements for their profit margin, while others use them to offset production costs. After consulting with our clients and design team, we've come up with a perfect solution to maximize advertising opportunities in your magazine. At QinPrinting, you can choose to add multiple covers to full-color custom magazine print runs. Each cover can carry different advertisements within the same issue of the magazine. All you need to do is design the multiple covers that you want to be a part of your magazine, and we will print and bind each one. When you're designing your advertising spaces, keep the following ideas in mind:
To make an interior advertisement stand out, use glossy or matte lamination on both sides of the interior advertisement pages. We can insert 4-page or 8-page counts with glossy or matte lamination on both sides into the interior of the magazine. This method really makes interior advertisements stand out.
Select different paper for the interior pages to make the individual advertisements more eye-catching.
Insert advertising sheets which are smaller than the size of the magazine.
Choose perforated sheets for interior adverts at the end of the magazine, so readers can tear them out. This is great with adverts that include discounts and coupons, for example.
Add your most costly advertisement spaces to the front and back covers of the magazine.
Insert an extra advertising booklet into the magazine.
Our experience, and the feedback from our clients, shows that these helpful tips can increase your advertising income significantly. Before selecting a special design, please contact our team, who will advise you on the best ways to maximize your profits.
Magazine Dispatch and Delivery Services
Did you know we do much more than just print your magazine? We also offer a comprehensive mailing service to handle the timely dispatch and delivery of your magazines to wherever you want them to go! Using this service saves your time and costs of having the magazines delivered first to your storage facility and then sending them on to your recipients. Why do that when we can deliver them directly once they're printed?
After you have approved the proof, the fastest standard delivery time which we can guarantee is 72 hours. If you have an urgent order, contact us and we'll pull out all the stops to get your magazines where they need to be when they need to be there.
Why Choose QinPrinting to Print Your Magazine
With QinPrinting, you get top-notch quality, affordability, and reliable service to bring your magazine vision to life.
Premium Quality
Advanced printing ensures vibrant, professional magazines.
Reliable Support
Free file checks and responsive customer service.
Affordable Pricing
Cost-effective solutions with no quality compromise.
Flexible Customization
Wide options for paper, finishes, and binding.
QinPrinting Rated Excellent for Magazine Printing
FAQs
You can get an idea of your magazine printing costs by checking out at-a-glance price charts.
Saddle Stitch Magazine Printing Price Chart (8.5" x 11")
| Quantity | 100pcs | 500pcs | 1000pcs | 2000pcs | 5000pcs | 10000pcs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16pp + 4pp | $2.05 each $205 total | $0.57 each $285 total | $0.35 each $352 total | $0.26 each $522 total | $0.22 each $1,077 total | $0.20 each $1,968 total |
| 32pp + 4pp | $3.07 each $307 total | $0.86 each $431 total | $0.55 each $547 total | $0.41 each $818 total | $0.34 each $1,682 total | $0.31 each $3,111 total |
| 48pp + 4pp | $4.09 each $409 total | $1.17 each $583 total | $0.74 each $743 total | $0.56 each $1,114 total | $0.46 each $2,316 total | $0.43 each $4,282 total |
- Cover: 200 gsm / 74 lb coated cover paper with matte lamination
- Interior: 105 gsm / 71 lb coated text paper, full color printing
- Please note that all prices are EXW our facility and do not include shipping costs.
Paperback Catalog Printing Price Chart (8.5" x 11")
| Page count | 100pcs | 500pcs | 1000pcs | 2000pcs | 5000pcs | 10000pcs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 48pp + 4pp | $4.42 each $442 total | $1.26 each $628 total | $0.79 each $791 total | $0.60 each $1,205 total | $0.51 each $2,555 total | $0.47 each $4,742 total |
| 64pp + 4pp | $5.46 each $546 total | $1.56 each $779 total | $1.00 each $997 total | $0.76 each $1,522 total | $0.64 each $3,220 total | $0.60 each $6,032 total |
| 80pp + 4pp | $6.50 each $650 total | $1.86 each $930 total | $1.20 each $1,204 total | $0.92 each $1,840 total | $0.78 each $3,913 total | $0.73 each $7,322 total |
| 96pp + 4pp | $7.53 each $753 total | $2.17 each $1,083 total | $1.41 each $1,410 total | $1.08 each $2,158 total | $0.92 each $4,579 total | $0.86 each $8,583 total |
- Cover: 250 gsm / 92 lb coated cover paper with matte lamination
- Interior: 128 gsm / 86 lb coated text paper, full color printing
- Please note that all prices are EXW our facility and do not include shipping costs.
Feel free to share your artwork with us through email, Sprend, or WeTransfer to [email protected]. Or send us a share link via Dropbox or Google Drive.
No. Website images are generally low resolution. For high-quality magazine printing, images or photos should be at least 300 dpi to ensure clear, crisp results.
For printing purposes, we require artwork in high-resolution PDF format, which includes 0.125 inches / 3 mm bleed.
Offset printing uses the CMYK color space.
You can get acquainted with our quality, products, and paper stocks by ordering a sample pack from here.
Let's Talk!
If you're a business, an entrepreneur, a business, a small press, a news agency, a non-profit, or an independent creative wanting to print a magazine — and only the finest product and unbeatable customer service at the best prices will do — 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 your magazine printing project into a dream come true!