Saddle Stitch vs. Perfect Binding

[Fast Learner]

Just plain simple staples.

As already noted, that's what saddle stitching is. What's really cool about it, though, is that large-scale saddle stitching is done with a machine that quite literally stitches with wire, effectively sewing the book. It just happens to look like staples.

 

[Mystic Eye]

We don't normally do very small books and it is acutally less expensive for our printer to do perfect binding over saddle stitch (A.K.A. stapling-heh).
Regardless, I like prefect binding for two main reasons. It has a higher quality look to it and it offers a spine out view of the title. With so many releases coming out these days it is not long before a book goes spine out on the shelf. Even newer ones. It only takes about two weeks to a month at most for a new title to head over to the spine out section of the game store.
The quality of the prefect binding is a key issue for the durability for a book. We have never had one complaint on the quality of our binding. It seems to hold up through lots of use.

 

[davewoodrum]

I prefer perfect binding for the look and when I'm busy working on a project and want to take a quick look at another product for reference or inspiration, being able to grab it off the shelf is alot quicker and easier if I am looking for a perfect bound over a saddle stitched...
however, a few years ago I lost a couple of saddle stitched books due to humidity or something... the glue gummed up and gave way.... the worse of these that suffered was from a company that makes generic rpg sourcebooks, that's all I'll say for fear of being flamed, but for some reason their glue didn't hold well at all under such conditions...
so far, however, all of my d20 books have held up that I'm aware of at least....with the books from WOTC and Mystic Eye Games probably having the worst of the exposure to the heat and elements (as I was carrying them around more)...

 

[davewoodrum]

CORRECTION TO ABOVE: I meant to say that I lost some of my perfect bound instead of saddle stitched... sorry, that's what a mid morning nap will do to ya....

 

[Mystic Eye]

Wow Dave, you carry your MEG books with you..heheh...cool!

I am glad they are holding up. I feel our printers does a good job with their perfect binding.

 

[tensen]

Wow Dave, you carry your MEG books with you..heheh...cool!

Just watch out. He'll start sleeping with them too.
Talk about the nightmares!!!

 

[d20Dwarf]

A book that was perfect bound at less than 64 pages would have an almost unreadable spine title, so I don't think perfect binding below that page count adds any value, and saddle stitched adventures, as someone already mentioned, are easier to use during play.

FFG's new small Legends & Lairs books are 64-pages (hi Kevin! ) and look nice, but I think any smaller and I couldn't read the spines anyway.

 

[Psion]

Just watch out. He'll start sleeping with them too.

THAT'S why nightmares keep seeping into the world of Gothos!

Put your books away! Millions of innocent imaginary beings are suffering!

 

[Fast Learner]

If I had my druthers, everyone would use the type of perfect binding O'Reilly uses with it's computer books. The spine and a bit of the covers are sort-of disconnected from the rest of the perfect bind, allowing the books to lie flat without breaking the spine at all. They're very durable and they always look great and work great.

This type of binding is only realistic for books that exceed 128 pages, though, so it's more of a sourcebook kind of thing.

 

[davewoodrum]

Wow Dave, you carry your MEG books with you..heheh...cool!

I am glad they are holding up. I feel our printers does a good job with their perfect binding.

...Yes, I have. Mystic Warriors has survived the "stuck in a bookbag in the back of a car during 95 degree Virginia summer weather with high humidity and a thunder storm" test.

Poor old Blight Magic has suffered being carried around EVERYWHERE.... yes, including a man's favorite reading room in the house. Nightmares & Dreams as well as Of Places Most Foul are starting to go through the same tests.