Booklets are everywhere—they act as programs for the school play, promotions for local businesses or handouts during training seminars. Whether printed at home or the local print shop, we usually staple booklets together through the outside cover to the centerfold of the book. However, this may not be the most efficient method. There’s a correct way to do it, and a variety of booklet staplers that can do the job.
Before You Start
Before you even start thinking about how to correctly staple a booklet, you have to know how to lay it out. Booklet pages come in multiples of four, folded in half and nested within one another. For example, an eight-page booklet will consist of the cover, and the inside pages will have print on both sides of the four sheets of paper. Page one and page eight will be on the back and pages two and seven on the front of the first sheet. Nested inside it will be a center-folded piece of paper with pages three and six on the back and pages four and five. They sit opposite each other on the front and folded in the middle, forming the center of the booklet.
Choose the Right Tool
Small, thin booklets consist of just a few pages stapled together with an ordinary office stapler and opened flat. With the pages in the right order and the outside cover facing you, staple firmly through the centerfold where the cover’s closed edge will be once you bind the booklet.
Larger booklets made of more pages or bigger paper will need a long reach stapler that accommodates the full width of the pages. Basically, you can fit the booklet all the way under the stapler head with one of these long reach staplers.
If you staple a lot of booklets regularly, you’ll want to invest in a booklet stapler. These have an inverted “V” shaped holder that looks a little like a saddle. As such, the name for this kind of center-staple binding is “saddle-stitched,” even though they use staples and not thread. The pages of the booklet drape over the “saddle” with the cover facing out and the center of the book resting on the inverted “V.” The stapler then fires the fastener through the fold of the back cover, holding the booklet together in the middle.
If you’re not sure how to correctly staple your booklet, contact customer support, and we’ll be happy to help you select the right stapler for your project.