Products — Hardcover Books
Case-bound book printing the traditional way: Smyth sewn blocks on 2–3mm binder's board, wrapped in printed paper, cloth, linen or leather — finished with foil, blind deboss, printed endpapers, jackets and slipcases. Factory-direct from Guangzhou since 1995.
One case-binding line covers the whole range — trade fiction to ten-year textbooks to collector editions. Select a format to see it.
A hardcover is a small piece of engineering: board, cloth, thread, paper and glue in the right order. These are the parts we control in-house.
2mm greyboard for smaller trims, 2.5–3mm as format and page count grow — warp-resistant and square at the corners.
Signatures sewn through the fold before casing-in. The book opens flat and the block never parts from its spine. Adhesive-only casing available where budget leads.
Printed and laminated paper, linen and cotton book cloth, buckram, textured papers, PU and genuine leather — matched to grain direction.
140–180gsm uncoated stock joining block to case — plain, tinted, or printed as a design surface of their own.
Rounded-and-backed or square-back spines, with head and tail bands color-matched to cloth, edges or ribbon.
Metallic and pigment foils, multi-level embossing, blind deboss on cloth — brass dies cut and kept for your reprints.
Matt or gloss lamination, soft-touch, spot UV over foil — plus anti-scuff lamination for dark solids.
Sprayed or gilded edges, ribbon markers, printed dust jackets with matched flaps, slipcases and presentation boxes.
Sprayed edges, foiled boards, illustrated endpapers, reversible jackets — what used to be a major-publisher luxury is now the engine of indie publishing, driven by BookTok and crowdfunded editions. A hardcover that costs a few dollars more to make routinely sells for several times the difference.
We produce these runs factory-direct: one bindery for the board, the foil, the edges and the box, with a physical prototype in your hands before you charge a single backer.
See Novels & Special EditionsSolid, gradient and stencil-pattern edge spraying, color-managed against your artwork proof.
Case-stamped artwork under the jacket — the "naked hardback" reveal collectors photograph.
Printed endpapers, reversible dust jackets and interior color plates from the same press sheet discipline.
Prototype before launch, production locked to your fulfilment window, export packing by pledge tier.
Quantities, timelines and the case-binding decisions that actually move the quote.
Typically from around 500 copies, where offset make-ready and case-making setup spread across the run — publishers commonly save 30–50% against local pricing even after sea freight. Below that, we will tell you honestly if a local digital printer serves you better.
Production runs 15–25 days after proof approval. Sea freight adds roughly 3–5 weeks to North America or Europe depending on port; air freight compresses that to days for launch copies. We schedule backwards from your on-sale date and handle export documents.
Smyth sewing stitches the signatures before the case goes on, so the block opens flat and survives years of handling; it is the default for anything meant to last. Adhesive-only case binding costs less and suits lighter books with shorter lives. We quote both when it is a close call.
Printed paper over board carries full-color artwork and lamination — the standard trade look. Cloth and linen take foil and blind deboss beautifully and age better with handling; they cost more and carry imagery only by stamping or tip-on. Many editions combine both: cloth spine, paper sides.
Yes — collector and crowdfunded editions often run 500–3,000 copies. Sprayed edges, foil dies and slipcases carry setup costs, so unit price falls steeply as quantity rises; we itemize every finish so you can decide which ones earn their keep.
Order a sample book of past work in your chosen materials, then a pre-production prototype of your own title — 3–5 days. Check the corner turn-ins, the endpaper joints, and whether the block opens flat. That inspection is exactly why we insist on sending one.
Trim size, page count, cover material, finishes and quantity — or just what you know so far. A factory quote comes back within 24 hours.
info@qicaipress.com