Disclaimer: Whilst the following information is given in good faith, we do not claim to be professional advisors on the topics covered and cannot accept responsibility for the consequences of any reliance on our advice or suggestions. All pages on this site are covered by our general website Disclaimer.
Copyright: Copyright is an important issue but the conditions relating to reproductions for local use are very reasonable and in most cases easy to meet. Provided that booklets are not sold, that the place in which they are to be used is printed on the front cover or first page, and that acknowledgement is made in proper form of the Archbishops' Council's copyright, local editions can in most cases be undertaken without application to the Archbishops' Council for copyright permission. The acknowledgement will typically take the form of 'Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England, material from which is included in this service, is copyright © The Archbishops' Council 2000'. Copyright information can be found on page 817 of the main Common Worship book, and the text of 'A Brief Guide to Liturgical Copyright' is available from the Church of England's website.
Having decided on the content for any booklet, the next stage is to prepare the artwork from which it will be reproduced. It cannot be overstressed that a good quality end product is entirely dependent on starting with good quality originals. If an original is not absolutely clear and clean there is no magic process for improving afterwards. Any defects and blemishes will usually be exaggerated by the reproduction process.
For producing artwork many people including ourselves use desktop publishing (DTP) software on a home computer. If you don't have it yourself, you probably know someone who is running a version of Microsoft Publisher on their computer. We use another budget DTP package, PagePlus 7 by Serif. If you do not have DTP software available, modern word-processing packages such as MS Word are capable of producing most of what is likely to be required.
Format: The most popular format for locally produced booklets is A5, created by printing on A4 paper in landscape orientation and then folding in half.
For an A5 publication prepare your originals on A4 landscape sheets, two pages to a sheet. Unless your DTP software does it automatically, you will have to plan the pagination carefully. It is worth making a quick mock up booklet to get the pagination correct. For example, in our Communion booklet pages 6 and 15 need to be side by side on one A4 sheet. This is one of the areas where DTP software has clear advantages; pagination is not straightforward if you are using Microsoft Word.
Layout: is important so that the text is easy to follow, and looks professional. Be careful about page breaks, avoiding short sections of prayers, etc being split over two pages.
Typeface: Choice of typeface needs some care. At first glance many typefaces can look very similar but they are not. For the body text we recommend a typeface which is not intrusive and will stand the test of time. Some faces are much easier on the eye and clearer to read than others. Some are also much more compact that others.
It is worth preparing a typical page of your proposed booklet and printing copies in different typefaces to compare. Printing just a line or two is not sufficient to judge the overall appearance created by a particular font. We have used Verdana, a clean compact sans serif typeface which is supplied with most versions of the Windows operating system. For body text 9 point Verdana has worked well, but a slightly larger size may be needed with many other fonts. Widely used sans serif typefaces include Arial, Helvetica and Univers. The most widely used serif typeface is Times Roman or Times New Roman.
Printing the Artwork: As mentioned above, the quality of the original artwork is critical. We have been advised that this should generally be produced with a printer capable of printing at no less than 600 dpi. A laser printer will usually produce a better quality original than inkjet.
The two main printing processes available for actual booklet production are high speed photocopying or offset litho. For shorter runs, the economics tend to favour photocopying but this needs to be balanced against other considerations.
If a booklet is to be used more than once or twice then a card cover is virtually essential. Card can be obtained in a variety of tints from retail outlets such as Staples and Office World. The maximum weight of card most photocopiers can handle is 160 gsm. If you plan to print on the inside of the front and/or back cover, avoid a dark tinted card as the type will not be easily legible.
We found the most competitive photocopying quote at our local branch of Office World (Stanway Tollgate, Colchester) and Staples prices are probably similar. Other places providing a similar service have been much more expensive so it is worth shopping round. When seeking quotes we recommend that you specify the quality of card and paper (suggest 90gsm minimum for paper) required and remember that folding and stapling will incur additional charges unless you plan to do this in-house. A word of caution about in-house finishing - folding of A4 sheets to A5 format, and stapling, needs to be accurate if the final result is not to look amateurish. Regarding photocopying costs, bear in mind that most or all pages will be printed double sided and that each side will be charged as a separate photocopy.
One of the limitations of the photocopying option is the number of pages you can put inside a cover before it becomes noticeable that they extend beyond the outer edge of the cover. Three to four sheets of folded A4 90gsm paper inside the cover is about the maximum for a satisfactory looking booklet.
When discussing the specification for our communion booklets, the liturgical committee discussed the possibilities of a more durable 'glossy' cover as the Communion booklet will receive regular weekly usage. Initially we thought the cost of this was likely to be prohibitive.
When obtaining quotes we did seek one from a small local printing company which had been recommended to us, Owl Printing Company of 4 East Street, Tollesbury, Maldon CM9 8QD, telephone 01621 - 869201. Owl Printing took the trouble to telephone with a number of suggestions and to offer quotes for alternative specifications. They do not offer high speed photocopying, but their offset litho facilities makes it possible to use heavier weights of card for the outside cover. They suggested the use of 240 gsm card for the cover and 100 gsm paper for the inside pages. Alternative finishes were offered for the cover. One was a varnish finish, which consists of a very thin coat of varnish applied to the outside of the cover after it has been printed. The other, slightly more expensive, was laminated involving the application of a very thin plastic film to the outside of the cover. In both cases the cover is first printed with a background tint (if required) of any colour in the Pantone range, then the cover text, before the varnish or laminate is applied.
We considered the specification suggested by Owl Printing had a number of advantages over the high speed photocopying option and they have produced our booklets with a varnished outer cover. A heavier varnished card cover and heavier paper will make for a more durable and attractive booklet receiving regular weekly use. Unlike a photocopying process, with offset litho there is no risk of print lifting off the page. The professional finishing included guillotining which results in a neat outer edge. This is impossible with individual A4 sheets staples into a booklet, however carefully folded, unless the outer edges of the booklets are subsequently guillotined. The Owl Printing quote was a little over twice the price of the cheapest photocopying, but we feel the quality of the end product and service received made the extra cost well worthwhile. With three churches to provide for, the print run was of reasonable length and the booklets have cost substantially less than £1 a copy. Pricing is very much influenced by the length of print run as the costs incurred in making plates and setting up are the same regardless of the number of copies printed.
Our Holy Communion booklet has 20 x A5 pages including the covers (equivalent to one sheet of A4 card and 4 sheets of A4 paper, printed both sides and folded).
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