Ask Before You Upload: Ten Preflight Questions for UK Printers

Send a PDF to a printer and you have started a relationship, not just a transaction. The first email sets the terms. Before you upload a single file, get ten answers in writing. A good UK printer will treat this as normal; a bad one will treat it as an inconvenience. At Foundry Press we would rather ask boring questions than pay for a beautiful reprint.

1. What exactly does the quote include?

Ask for a line-by-line breakdown: paper, printing, binding, finishing, proof, packing, delivery and any file setup. Check whether delivery is kerbside or inside, and whether VAT is included. A single total is not a quote; it is a mood. Red flag: no paper specification and no delivery terms.

2. Can I see the actual stock?

Ask for a paper sample book and a dummy at your page count. A screen swatch is not paper. Check shade under daylight and office light. Red flag: standard paper with no mill, gsm or caliper. If the printer cannot tell you what the sheet is, they cannot tell you how the book will feel.

3. What PDF specification do you need?

Ask for PDF/X-1a or PDF/X-4, 3mm bleed, crop marks, trim size, safe area, embedded fonts and 300dpi images. UK printers often work to FOGRA profiles, but not all will say so. Red flag: just send it and we will fix it. That fix may be a charge, and it may not be the fix you wanted.

4. RGB or CMYK, and what about rich black?

Ask which colour space, which ICC profile and what total ink coverage they want. Ask for their rich black recipe if you have large areas of black. Red flag: no profile and no conversion policy. A printer who says the screen looks fine is not giving you a colour workflow.

5. What proof will I get?

Ask whether the proof is a PDF soft proof or a hard-copy contract proof, and what is guaranteed. A desktop inkjet proof is useful for layout, not for colour matching. Red flag: no proof needed on a colour-critical cover. For a text-only novel, a PDF proof may be enough; for an illustrated book, ask more questions.

6. What are your binding tolerances?

Ask for spine width based on the chosen paper's caliper, plus creep allowance for saddle-stitched books. Ask how they handle crossovers and images across spreads. Red flag: a spine width that is about right with no paper caliper. A millimetre here can become a visible cover wrap error there.

7. What is the minimum run and reprint price?

Ask for 50, 100, 250, 500 and 1,000. Ask what a reprint costs and whether the file is archived. Digital short runs and offset long runs have different economics. Red flag: cheap first run, expensive reprint. A small press needs to know the cost of coming back, not just the cost of starting.

8. What are the lead times and delivery terms?

Get a delivery date in working days from proof approval, not from order. Ask about split deliveries, pallet versus parcel, and who handles damage. Red flag: two weeks with no start date. Also ask what happens if paper is delayed; the answer should be a date, not a shrug.

9. Who owns the files, plates and archive?

Ask if they keep your PDF, for how long, and whether you can get the imposed file. Ask who owns artwork and plates. Red flag: a retention fee you did not agree. You do not need to own the printing plates, but you do need to know what you can retrieve when a reprint is needed.

10. What happens when something goes wrong?

Ask about stock substitution, short runs, colour drift, damaged copies and late delivery. Get the remedy in writing: credit, reprint or refund. Red flag: no named contact and no escalation route. Every print run has a risk; the question is who carries it. If the answers are vague, walk away. If they are clear, save them as your specification sheet, then send the PDF.