Book Basics: Pages in a Printed Book
As an author, you should know…
- Books have an even number of pages (including blank pages).
- For digital printing (typically short runs, 25-500 books), a page count divisible by 2 is acceptable.
- However for offset printing (typically large runs, 500+ books), the number of pages should be divisible by 4, but better yet, by 16 or 32, which would be more cost effective.
- Even-numbered pages are on the left, and odd-numbered pages are on the right.
- All pages are included in the total page count, but the front matter (title page, copyright page, dedication, acknowledgment, table of contents, etc.) are usually numbered separately with lowercase roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv, v, and so on).
Have a question about publishing, watch for our “Ask the Publisher” call-in sessions that we’re planning for 2014.