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Square book printing

Square books suit photos, picture books and art. We print 14 × 14, 21 × 21 and 30 × 30 cm, as a hardcover, paperback, photo book or layflat.

See sizes and prices
01
Three square sizes
02
Layflat for spreads without a gutter
03
From one copy
14 × 14 cm21 × 21 cm30 × 30 cm140 mm140 mmA phone, for size
Drawn to scale

Every size and price

Prices for one piece, including VAT. Books with the fewest pages; more pages cost a little extra per page.

Square books you can print

Photo book
Photo book

Heavy gloss or matte photo paper, 21 or 30 cm.

Your design, 5 sizes
From €20.76
Lay-flat photo book
Lay-flat photo book

Thick pages that open flat, so a photo can cross the spread.

Your design, 5 sizes
From €29.99
Hardcover book
Hardcover book

A hard cover in 14, 21 or 30 cm.

Your design, 7 sizes
From €19.99
Paperback book
Paperback book

A soft cover, for a lighter picture book or catalogue.

Your design, 5 sizes
From €14.99

14, 21 or 30 cm

14 × 14 cm

Best for: A baby book, poems or quotes

Good to know

  • Fits in a coat pocket
  • A hardcover on standard paper

Keep in mind

  • Small photos lose detail
  • Up to 200 pages

21 × 21 cm

Best for: Most photo books and picture books

Good to know

  • Every binding, even spiral and stapled
  • A phone photo fills a page sharply

Keep in mind

  • Group photos get small on half a page

30 × 30 cm

Best for: Wedding albums, art and travel

Good to know

  • A spread is 60 cm wide
  • Photos close to print size

Keep in mind

  • Heavy with many pages
  • Needs sharper photos
  • Too tall for most shelves

What a 48-page square book costs

One copy, with the least expensive cover and paper.

Photo book or layflat explains the difference between the two.

Pixels for a square page

Including 3 mm bleed on each side. A spread is two pages side by side, for a photo across the middle.

  • 14 × 14 cm

    One page, 300 dpi
    1724 × 1724
    One page, 150 dpi
    862 × 862
    Spread, 300 dpi
    3378 × 1724
    Spread, 150 dpi
    1689 × 862

  • 21 × 21 cm

    One page, 300 dpi
    2551 × 2551
    One page, 150 dpi
    1276 × 1276
    Spread, 300 dpi
    5031 × 2551
    Spread, 150 dpi
    2516 × 1276

  • 30 × 30 cm

    One page, 300 dpi
    3614 × 3614
    One page, 150 dpi
    1807 × 1807
    Spread, 300 dpi
    7157 × 3614
    Spread, 150 dpi
    3579 × 1807

A 12-megapixel phone photo (4032 × 3024 px) cropped square fills a 21 cm page at about 355 dpi and a 30 cm page at about 250 dpi. Across a 30 cm spread it's about 170 dpi, enough for a landscape but soft for faces.

Photos on square pages

Cropping

Cameras shoot 3:2 and phones 4:3, so filling a square page cuts off a third or a quarter. Crop on purpose, or place the photo with a white border.

The middle of a spread

In a glued book the middle curves into the spine. Keep faces and text on one side, or choose layflat.

Panoramas

A spread is 2:1, the shape of a phone panorama. Save your widest photos for the spreads.

A square picture book

Picture books are often 32 pages.

  1. 1

    Plan in spreads

    A child sees two pages at once. Sketch 14 or 15 spreads plus a title page, then fit the story to them.

  2. 2

    Font size

    16 to 20 pt for reading aloud, 18 to 24 pt for children who read on their own.

  3. 3

    Margins

    Keep text at least 10 mm from the trim and 15 mm from the spine.

  4. 4

    Scan drawings at 300 dpi

    At their size in the book, or higher if you drew them smaller than the page.

  5. 5

    Size and binding

    A hardcover lasts longest. Choose 21 × 21 cm for reading on a lap, 14 × 14 cm for a baby. More ideas in making a baby book.

Mistakes we see in square books

  • A PDF made in A4 or 4:3. We fill the square, so part of each page is cut off.
  • A cover the size of a page. A hardcover cover wraps round the board with 19 mm bleed, so use the cover size from the product page.
  • Photos saved from chats or social media in a 30 cm book. They are compressed and print soft.

How it works

  1. Upload your file

    Choose a product, a size and options, and add your PDF or photo. We check it right away and show you a preview, before you pay.

  2. We print it

    We print your order in the Netherlands on the paper or material you chose, from a single piece. No minimum order, no account needed.

  3. We bring it to your door

    We ship it to every country of the EU, with tracking. The checkout shows the delivery date for your address.

Questions

What size is a square photo book?
We print 14 × 14, 21 × 21 and 30 × 30 cm. 21 × 21 cm is the most common and comes in every binding.
What resolution do I need for a 30 × 30 cm photo book?
For a full page with bleed, 3614 × 3614 pixels at 300 dpi. The minimum is 1807 × 1807 (150 dpi).
Can a photo go across two pages?
Yes. In a layflat book it crosses without a gutter. In a glued book it curves into the spine a little, so keep faces and text out of the middle.
Is a square book more expensive than A4?
At 21 × 21 cm it costs less: a 48-page hardcover is from €27.19 against from €32.19 for A4 portrait. At 30 × 30 cm the same book costs from €42.23.
What does a square picture book cost?
A 32-page picture book at 21 × 21 cm costs from €22.39 as a hardcover, from €24.36 as a photo book and from €17.79 as a paperback.

More ideas and guides

All ideas and guides

Print your square book

Upload your PDF and see every spread and the price right away.

Make your photo book
Shipped to the whole EUFast deliveryFree shipping from €50Order with your AI assistant