Booklet Printing With Lulu: Fast, Flexible, and Inventory-Free
Booklets are, essentially, just books. Often shorter and commonly using saddle stitching, booklets are an affordable and effective way to share your content with your audience.
If you need short runs, frequent updates, or global delivery, print-on-demand (POD) is the best option for you. Lulu’s booklet printing gives you professional results with no inventory and no waste. You create the PDF. We print and ship where you need it.
Why Choose Booklets Printed by Lulu
Booklets are the sweet spot between a flyer or pamphlet and a full-length book. They feel substantial and look professional. But they aren’t overwhelming. And with Lulu’s easy file management and print-on-demand, it’s incredibly easy to update your booklets.
With Lulu, you print your booklets on demand. That means no warehousing or managing inventory. No guessing print quantities. And no fees or surcharges for on-the-fly updates to your print files.
We print each order from one of our international printers as close to your delivery address as possible. This ensures your clients, customers, or team members get their booklets as quickly as possible.
If you run a business, booklets support onboarding, training, field guides, catalogs, and conference handouts. Creators use them for lookbooks, magazines, and programs. Schools and nonprofits use them for course catalogs, orientation packets, and event guides. With Lulu’s global network of digital printers, we can handle one copy or many copies without delays or drastic price differences.
Print-on-Demand vs. Offset: Which Book Printing Method is Right for You?
Offset shines at high volumes with a single design. If you plan to print many copies (like 10,000 or more), offset’s per-unit cost can be lower. But this method does require a larger up-front investment, and you’ll need to plan for storing and warehousing the books once your order arrives. That too can be pricey. Finally, there’s a good chance you’ll have to do a second round of shipping books to get them from your warehouse to your audiences.
Perhaps most challenging is that offset printing assumes you can predict demand. It’s simply not cost-effective to use offset unless you’ve got:
- A clear sense of how many books you need (and that amount is in the thousands)
- A warehousing system in place
- The ability to manage shipping individual orders from your warehouse
Print-on-demand is perfect for small and mid-size or short runs, rolling releases, and distributed delivery. If your content changes often, print-on-demand is great for avoiding excess outdated stock on hand. With Lulu, you upload a PDF for your book and place orders. If anything changes, just upload a new PDF. It’s that simple.
Lulu can send your entire order to individual clients or your team by automatically routing orders to our international network of printers. We print exactly as many booklets as you need. We also offer (at no additional charge) order importing, allowing you to upload a CSV with all of your recipients and the booklets they need. We’ll print each booklet and ship them directly, cutting out the need for a warehouse solution and additional packing/shipping.
With all of these advantages, print-on-demand is ideal for your booklets if:
- You need to make updates to your booklets often
- Your print run will be under 10,000 copies
- You don’t want to deal with warehousing and fulfillment for your booklets
Core Booklet Specifications
Start with the Lulu Calculator to check size, page count, binding, and paper. For the majority of booklets, the most popular booklet formats are Half Page/Digest (5.5" × 8.5") and US Letter (8.5" × 11"). Most booklets are under 40 pages and use saddle stitch for a clean, easy-to-lay-open booklet, which is often critical for training manuals, guides, and checklists.
The Digest size is great for compact guides and programs. US Letter is generally used for training and manuals. Letter-size booklets are often used for image-heavy designs that need more space on the page to highlight your graphics.
You can always opt for any of our book sizes for your custom booklet.
File Prep Made Simple
Great print starts with a great PDF. If you’re considering using Lulu for your booklets, start with our PDF Creation Settings to learn how to best set up your files for print.
Here’s a quick list of some important factors to consider:
- Size your pages to the final trim size
- Be certain to add a 0.125" (3.18 mm) bleed on all sides of your print-ready PDF
- Export images at sufficient resolution (300+ DPI) and embed fonts
- Keep your page count to a multiple of four for saddle stitch (with a maximum of 44 pages)
If you’re new to printing PDFs, Lulu’s help articles cover setup, bleed, margins, and export settings. Or you can review our in-depth Book Creation guide.
Book Creation Guide
Includes PDF specifications, spine guides, and formatting terms to help you print your book.
Business Workflows and Automation
If you need to regularly order your booklets or sell booklets through your site, you can use Lulu’s integrations to automate the process.
Lulu’s Print API lets you send orders directly from your app, LMS, CRM, or storefront. You can personalize content, route orders by region, and ship automatically. The API uses the same global print network Lulu leverages for all of our print orders. You can fully automate book printing and shipping, allowing your team or clients to quickly and easily get your booklets.
For creators and small teams selling direct, Lulu Direct integrates with popular ecommerce platforms like Shopify, Wix, and WooCommerce. You sell your booklet. We print and ship under your brand with white-label packing slips. No stock. No packing. Just fast fulfillment for your booklets.
Use Cases You Might Not Have Considered
Event programs. Festival guides. Catalogs and lookbooks. Safety manuals. Course catalogs. SOPs. Visitor guides. The list of commonly printed booklets is long.
If you produce recurring content—magazines, newsletters, or annual reports—print-on-demand opens the door to short-run periodicals. You can launch a new publication without the risk of a large offset order. As your readership grows, your process stays the same. Upload a new PDF. Print and ship worldwide.
How to Get Started Today
- Visit Lulu’s booklet page to learn more about our printing options.
- Pick a size and binding. Review the spec details and print prices.
- Create an interior PDF and a cover PDF (or use the Lulu cover creator).
- Upload and publish, then order a proof. If necessary, update your print files and upload them.
- Order your booklets!
That’s it. You can create professional booklets without inventory, while Lulu handles printing and fulfillment. You can update content as needed with no additional fees.
