What is the difference between “POD” and “regular” book printing?
Regular book printing (offset printing) is done either by a sheet-fed press or a web press. Sheet-fed presses use a stack of large sheets of paper that will later be folded and trimmed to make a “signature.” Signatures are groups of pages that books are made of. Each signature has a certain number of pages, always divisible by 8. The number of pages in a signature depends on the size of the book. Smaller books may be printed in signatures of 32 pages, larger books as few as 8 pages. Sheet-fed presses use printing plates and ink, and are best suited to medium-sized press runs, 500 to 7,500 copies. Web presses also use plates and ink but the paper comes off huge rolls and is cut to sheet size after being printed. Then the sheets are folded and trimmed as sheet-fed output is. Web presses are very fast and are best suited to long press runs, more than 7,500 copies. POD as it is incorrectly termed, is really better called “digital press.” Digital press is best suited for short-run work. The
