Free design proof on every custom order: no templates, no stock SKUs
A custom magazine breaks free of the fixed 4/8/16-page templates. You set the page count, trim size and stock, and the layout is built around your actual content rather than the other way around. Suited to catalogs, lookbooks, investor decks and anything else where the standard sizes don't quite fit.
The standard 4, 8 and 16-page counts cover most needs, but not all of them. A product catalog with 34 SKUs, a lookbook built around a specific signature count, an annual report with a fixed page budget from the board. These need a page count that fits the content, not the other way around. Custom magazines start from your actual page count and trim size rather than rounding up to the nearest standard option.
Binding follows page count and how the piece gets used. Saddle-stitching (stapled through the fold) is the standard for anything under roughly 60 pages and lies flat cheaply; past that, or for a magazine meant to look and feel premium, perfect binding (glued, flat spine) is worth the extra cost. It's also the only option that gives you a spine to print on for shelf or rack display.
Stock choice affects both feel and cost more than most people expect. A lighter text-weight paper keeps a longer piece from feeling like a brick and costs less per copy; a heavier cover stock on the outer wrap adds durability and a more considered first impression without paying that premium on every interior page. Interior pages can mix coated (glossy, better color saturation, good for photography) and uncoated (matte, easier to write on, better for long text) stock within the same run if a section calls for it.
Final page count, trim size and a sense of binding preference get you the most accurate quote. Beyond that: whether any pages need a different stock than the rest (a cover wrap, an insert), and your quantity. Magazines have real setup cost per run, so pricing per unit drops meaningfully as volume increases, which matters if this is an annual or recurring piece rather than a one-off.
A magazine is usually two stocks, not one. The cover runs heavier so it protects the block and survives handling, and the text pages run lighter so the publication does not become a brick. Using one stock throughout is possible and it always shows. Either the cover feels flimsy or the interior feels stiff and refuses to lie open.
What is a self cover? Cover and interior on the same stock. It is cheaper and perfectly acceptable at short extents, but past sixteen pages the cover starts to feel underweight.
Full color throughout is the norm. A magazine with black-only interior pages reads as a newsletter regardless of what it is called. The point worth planning for is that pages are printed in groups on large sheets and folded, not printed individually, which is why the page count has to be a multiple of four and why color consistency is managed across a whole signature rather than page by page.
Why must the page count be a multiple of four? Because one folded sheet gives four pages. Anything else leaves blank leaves you have paid for.
Saddle stitching (folded sheets nested and stapled through the spine) is what almost every magazine at this extent uses. It lies genuinely flat when opened, which matters for spreads, and it is the cheapest binding there is. Its limit is thickness: past roughly sixty-four pages the outer pages start to protrude and the spine stops holding cleanly, at which point perfect binding takes over.
When does saddle stitching stop working? Around sixty-four pages, depending on stock. Beyond that the spine bulges and creep becomes visible at the fore-edge.
The cover is the only surface that gets handled repeatedly, so it is the only one where finish earns its cost. Gloss lamination lifts photographic covers and resists the scuffing that makes a magazine look old within a week. Matte and soft-touch read as more considered and photograph better. Uncoated covers are a deliberate editorial choice rather than a saving.
Is laminating the cover worth it? On anything that will be picked up more than once, yes. The cover corners are where wear shows first and fastest.
Beyond the fixed 4, 8 and 16 page presets. Any extent in multiples of four, a trim size that is not letter, a different stock for cover and text, or a page count heavy enough that perfect binding rather than saddle stitching is the right answer. The constraint that does not move is the multiple of four, because that is imposed by folding rather than by us.
Can I have any page count? Any multiple of four. Ask for eighteen and you are paying for twenty with two blanks, better to plan the content to the extent.
Ask for a dummy (an unprinted mock-up in the actual stocks) before a long run. Bulk and how it opens are impossible to judge otherwise.
A bonded film on the cover only. It is the single most cost-effective addition to a magazine, because the cover takes all the handling and unprotected corners scuff white within days of distribution.
Folded sheets nested and stapled through the spine. It lies genuinely flat, which is why spreads work in a stitched magazine and not in a perfect-bound one at this extent.
Raised gloss varnish or metallic foil on the cover. On a matte-laminated cover a spot UV masthead is visible only as it catches light, which is an effect worth more on a shelf than an extra color would be.
The finished block is trimmed on three edges. On thicker stitched extents the inner pages push outward as they nest, so page margins are adjusted to compensate. Otherwise inner pages trim narrower than outer ones.
Same family, genuinely different jobs. Your current selection is highlighted.
| Magazine | From | Extent | Order it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Page Magazines | $280 | One folded sheet, unstitched | A single announcement or program |
| 8 Page Magazines | $390 | Two sheets, saddle stitched | It should read as an edited publication |
| 16 Page Magazines | $450 | Four sheets, contents page viable | Several features and real structure |
| Custom Magazines | $310 | Any multiple of four, your trim | The presets do not fit the content |
Any multiple of four, because one folded sheet produces four pages. Ask for eighteen and you are paying for twenty with two blank leaves. It is nearly always better to plan the content to a valid extent.
Around sixty-four pages, depending on stock. Past that the spine of a stitched book bulges, the outer pages protrude and creep becomes visible. Perfect binding also gives you a printable spine, which stitching cannot.
Yes, and it is one of the better reasons to go custom. An unusual trim distinguishes a publication immediately. Check mailing costs first if it is posted, since unusual sizes can change the postal bracket.
Yes, and on anything above eight pages we would usually recommend it. They are handled separately in production, so the additional cost is smaller than most people assume.
Pricing for custom magazines starts at $310 and moves with quantity, size, material and finish rather than sitting on a fixed list. Setup is shared across the run, so the per-unit price drops steeply as the quantity rises: the gap between a few hundred and a few thousand is usually the significant one. Send the size, quantity and what it has to do and you get a firm figure back, not a range.
There is a practical minimum rather than a hard one. Every run carries artwork checks, a proof and a press setup, so a very small quantity of custom magazines prices poorly per unit even though we will still make it. If you are ordering a small batch, ask for pricing at two or three quantities at once: the curve usually shows that a modest increase costs very little more in total.
The clock starts when you approve the proof, not when the order is placed, which is the part most people are surprised by. You get a proof first: a digital proof of every page plus, where the extent warrants it, a folded and stitched dummy so you can check the reading order and how the spreads actually sit. Nothing prints until you approve it. Turnaround after approval depends on the finish: anything laminated, foiled or die-cut adds a stage that cannot be compressed without causing problems later. Tell us the date you actually need them and we will work backwards from it rather than quoting a generic lead time.
Print-ready artwork with bleed and a safe margin, supplied as a PDF, AI or EPS. Photographic elements should be supplied at the resolution the finished size needs, not the resolution that looks sharp on screen. If your file is not print-ready, say so when you order. We would rather fix it before the proof than after the run.
Yes. Your extent and trim is the standard build, and the dimensions around it are yours to set. A size that sits efficiently on the press sheet often costs no more than a standard one, while an awkward proportion that wastes half the sheet does. Ask before you commit and we will tell you whether a small change to the dimensions saves a disproportionate amount.
In most cases they are the same product under a different name: the trade uses several terms for it depending on the region and the supplier. What actually defines this one is the build: any multiple of four, your trim. Order it when the presets do not fit the content. If you have seen it called custom magazines printing elsewhere, describe what it has to do rather than which name you found, and we will match the specification.
Yes. We provide free samples, and on custom magazines it is worth asking for one, because the difference between silk text and gloss text is obvious in the hand and invisible on a screen. Most orders run on silk text, but ask for whichever you are weighing up. You also get a free design proof before anything goes to press, so nothing is printed that you have not seen.
The usual choices are cover lamination, saddle stitching, spot uv and foil. Finish is not decoration on this product so much as a decision about how long it survives and how it reads in the hand, so it is worth choosing against the job rather than the budget. Tell us where the finished piece ends up and we will say which finish is doing real work and which is only adding cost.
Yes, and that is what almost every order here is. Nothing in this catalogue is a stock item: custom magazines are manufactured to the specification you give us, with your artwork on them. Send your logo as vector artwork where you have it, since that scales to any size without softening. If all you have is a low-resolution file, tell us and we will say what it needs before it reaches the press.
Yes, and a repeat run is simpler than the first one. We keep your approved specification on file, so a reorder skips the setup decisions and goes straight to production. If nothing about the artwork or the specification has changed, there is nothing to re-approve. Tell us the previous order and we will match it rather than starting the specification again.
Yes. Regalo Print has been producing custom commercial print for businesses across the USA and Canada since 2008, and every order ships tracked. The tracking number reaches you the day the job leaves, not the day it arrives. If you are working to a fixed date, say so when you order so the production schedule is built around the delivery date rather than the other way round.
