Mail clients
Books and guides
Quoted to spec
Guides, reports and books your clients add to a campaign or hand to their customers.
Shipped blind under your name, to one address or many.
Perfect bound or saddle stitched
Price This JobHome › Trade Book Printing
Printing for the trade
Trade Book Printing for Print Brokers, Mail Houses and Agencies
Your client asks for books. You do not run a bindery. We print the job, ship it under your name, and you keep the client and the margin.
Send the spec or your client’s files and a quantity. You get a written quote within one business day, so you can price your client the same week.
The short answer
Columbia Publication is a trade book printer for print brokers, direct mail houses and marketing agencies. We print books, workbooks, manuals and lesson guides from 500 to 250,000+ copies, white label, and blind ship to your client or to many sites under your name. Every job is quoted in writing within one business day so you can price your client fast.
Facts checked November 7, 2026 · Reviewed by Gia Kahn, Lead Editor · Next review February 2027 · How we check
Is this you?
This is for you if
- You run a print, mail or marketing business and a client has asked for bound books, workbooks or manuals.
- Your shop is built for flat work and does not bind books in volume.
- You want to keep the client relationship and the margin, not hand both to another printer.
- You need a firm price fast so you can quote your client with confidence.
Why do print brokers send book work out?
Most commercial and mail shops are built for flat work: postcards, letters, self-mailers, brochures. A bound book is a different machine. Perfect binding, coil, case binding, signature folding and long page counts need their own equipment and people who run it every day. So when a client asks for 20,000 lesson books, the usual choices are to turn the job down, or to hand it to a printer who might call your client directly next year.
We remove that risk. We only work through you.
What we print for the trade
Bindings and formats we run for brokers
Every job is quoted to your spec. These are the formats brokers send us most.
| Format | Typical use | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Perfect bound | Books, guides, catalogs with a spine | Printed spine, any page count |
| Coil, wire-o or spiral | Workbooks and manuals | Lies flat for writing in |
| 3-hole drilled | Books for binders | Often paired with coil or perfect binding |
| Case bound hardcover | Premium and presentation editions | Foil stamping on request |
| Saddle stitched | Booklets and programs | Lower page counts |
| Multi-title sets | Series and curriculum | Matched on trim, paper and finish |
Editions can be printed in any language from your client’s print-ready files. Not sure of the spec? Tell us how the book will be used and we will price two options side by side.
Send a Trade SpecWhat stays private
Will my client ever see your name?
No. Our name is not on the cartons, the packing slips or the books. We never contact your client unless you ask us to, and we do not market to them afterwards. Your pricing, your client list and your specifications stay with us.
Have a bound job on your desk? Send the spec and we will quote it within one business day.
Send a Trade SpecTrade jobs we handle
Common trade jobs
Every job is quoted to page count, trim, binding, quantity and delivery points.
Programs
Workbooks and manuals
Quoted to spec
Workbooks, training manuals and lesson guides for your clients’ programs.
Every title in a set matched on trim, paper and binding.
Coil, wire-o or 3-hole drilled
Price This JobLarge programs
Curriculum and multi-language sets
Quoted to spec
Lesson books, leader guides and student books, in several languages, delivered in waves.
One schedule for every title and every language.
Any binding, any language
Price This JobBefore a single copy prints
- A written quote firstprice per copy, total and ship date, before anything is charged.
- Your client sees a proofa free digital proof of every page; a printed proof on request.
- Your name, not ourson every carton and packing slip.
- Routing agreed before printingevery address and every count planned on one order.
Payment is in full upfront, which books press time and fixes the ship date. Your PO number goes on every invoice.
What you can count on
What comes with every trade job
- Files checked before pressMargins, bleed, fonts and color preflighted, with fixes flagged to you, not your client.
- Blind shippingPlain cartons and your labels and packing slips.
- Delivery to every addressOne site or a full address list, in one shipment or in waves.
- Reprints that matchYour approved specification stays on file for the next order.
How it runs
From spec to the first carton
- Send the specQuantity, binding, page count, trim and ship-to count.Day 1
- Get the written quotePrice per copy, total and ship date.Within 1 business day
- Client approves the proofFree digital proof of every page.Sign-off starts printing
- Printed and checkedBinding checked through the run.Date confirmed with your quote
- Shipped blindUnder your name, to every address.One shipment or in waves
Business Print Inquiry
Send us a trade spec
For organizations ordering in volume. Tell us what you print, how many and where it goes. You get a written quote with price per copy, total and ship date within one business day.
Written quote within one business day. Nothing is printed or charged until you approve it.
Questions
Trade printing: questions brokers ask
What is trade printing?
Printing done for another printing or marketing business, which resells it to its own client. The trade printer stays unbranded. Your client sees only your company, while the files, proof and production run through us, so you can offer books, workbooks and manuals without running a press.
Do you blind ship?
Yes. Every carton and slip carries your name or your client’s, never ours. Packing slips, carton labels and the return address carry your details or your client’s, and nothing inside the box points back to us.
What is your minimum?
Bound runs start at about 500 copies for offset pricing. Smaller runs are quoted too. Every quote shows the price per copy and the total, so you can compare quantities and decide what to offer your client.
How fast is a quote?
In writing within one business day of receiving the spec. It shows the price per copy, the total and the ship date, and if you are weighing several quantities, each one is priced.
Can you ship to many locations?
Yes. Send the address list and the count for each. We plan routing before printing and label every carton for its destination. Each address can have its own count and ship date, all on one order.
How does payment work?
Payment is in full upfront, which books press time and fixes the ship date. Your PO number goes on every invoice. Your written quote states the price per copy, the total and the ship date, with no setup or pre-press charges added later.
Do you print non-English books?
Yes, in any language, from print-ready files. Right-to-left scripts such as Arabic and Hebrew, and Chinese editions, are checked page by page on the proof before anything prints.
What files do you need from my client?
A print-ready PDF with fonts embedded and bleed on any edge that prints to the trim. If the files are not ready, we check them and send the issues to you, not your client, before the proof goes out.
Can you match a book my client printed somewhere else?
Yes. Send the trim size, paper, binding and finish, or a copy of the book, and we quote to match it. A printed proof on the real paper is available on request, billed separately.
Send us a trade spec.
Quantity, binding, page count, trim and how many addresses it ships to are enough to start. Written quote within one business day.
Send a Trade Spec