A catalog is the one piece of print that still gets kept. A flyer goes in the bin the same week, but a well-made product catalog sits on a buyer’s desk for a season and gets picked up every time they need to order something. Graphink prints custom catalogs in Doral and delivers throughout Miami-Dade and Broward, from short digital runs of fifty to offset runs in the thousands.
Catalog printing starts at $150. Send us the page count, quantity and trim size and we will come back with a firm figure.
What We Print
- Product catalogs — wholesale, distributor, and retail line sheets
- Parts and equipment catalogs — heavy page counts, long shelf life, frequent reprints
- Look books and portfolios — fashion, interiors, architecture, photography
- Program books and yearbooks — schools, churches, galas, conferences
- Menus and service guides — restaurants, spas, marine and auto services
- Real estate and development brochures — property packages and unit collections
Catalog Sizes and Page Counts
The three sizes that cover most jobs are 8.5 x 11 inches, 8.5 x 5.5 inches (half letter), and 6 x 9 inches. We run more than a dozen sizes beyond those, including square formats and oversized tabloid catalogs, and we can trim to a custom size if the piece needs to fit a particular rack, envelope or shelf.
Page count matters more than most people expect, because it decides how the book can be bound. Saddle-stitched catalogs have to fall in multiples of four — 8, 12, 16, 20 and so on — since every sheet folds to make four pages. If your layout lands on 14 pages, you either add two or cut two. Perfect binding needs enough paper to make a spine, generally around 40 pages or more depending on stock.
Binding Options, and How to Choose
Saddle stitching
Folded and stapled through the spine. It is the most economical option, it lies reasonably flat, and it suits catalogs up to roughly 64 to 80 pages depending on paper weight. Past that the book starts to splay and the inner pages push outward — an effect called creep, which we compensate for in imposition by trimming the inside pages fractionally.
Perfect binding
Pages are glued into a square spine, like a paperback. It looks considerably more substantial on a desk, and the spine can be printed with your company name so the catalog is findable on a shelf. It needs sufficient bulk to work — a thin book cannot hold a spine — and it does not lie flat when open, which matters if people will be reading it hands-free.
Wire-O and spiral
The right answer for anything used as a working reference — parts books, price lists, training manuals. It opens completely flat and folds back on itself, which saddle stitch and perfect binding will not do. It costs more per unit and the spine cannot be printed.
If you are unsure, the practical test is what happens to the catalog after it is handed over. Something read once and filed can be saddle stitched. Something that stays on a counter and gets used weekly is worth perfect binding or Wire-O.
Paper Stocks and Finishes
Most catalogs use a heavier cover stock with a lighter text stock inside. Coated gloss makes product photography snap and is the usual choice where colour accuracy sells the item. Matte and silk coatings are easier to read across long stretches of text and do not throw glare under showroom lighting. Uncoated stock takes pen and pencil, which matters if buyers write order quantities directly on the page.
- Gloss, matte and silk coatings on covers and text pages
- Spot UV on logos, product shots or cover titles for contrast against a matte background
- Soft-touch and aqueous coatings for a premium hand feel
- Heavier cover weights, with optional scoring so the cover folds without cracking
Digital or Offset
We run both, and the deciding factor is quantity. Digital printing has no plate setup, so short runs — fifty catalogs, a hundred, a few hundred — come out cheaper and faster, and you can reprint a corrected version without eating a whole plate charge. Offset costs more to set up but the per-unit price falls away as the run grows, so once you are into the high hundreds or thousands it becomes the cheaper choice, with a slight edge on large flat colour areas.
Tell us the quantity when you ask for a price and we will quote whichever method is actually cheaper for that run rather than defaulting to one.
Turnaround, Including Same Day
Standard turnaround on catalogs and brochures runs two to seven business days depending on page count, binding and finishing. Bound work takes longer than flat work, because folding, stitching and trimming are separate passes.
We do offer same-day printing on standard stock when the order is in before 1pm, generally in three to five hours. It is subject to what is already on the press that day and it suits simpler pieces rather than heavy bound catalogs, so call before you count on it. If you have a trade show or a sales meeting with a fixed date, tell us the date rather than the deadline you think we need.
What a Catalog Costs
Every catalog is quoted individually, because the price moves with five things: quantity, page count, trim size, binding method and paper stock. A hundred copies of a 16-page saddle-stitched booklet and two thousand copies of a perfect-bound catalog are different jobs on different presses, and a range that covered both would be useless to you.
What we can tell you before you call:
- Minimum order is $150 across all Graphink print work
- We take a 50% deposit on approval of the estimate, with the balance on completion
- If we build the artwork from scratch, design is $120 per hour — most catalog layouts are quoted as a flat fee before any work starts, so you know the number in advance
- Quotes are free, and if a different binding, quantity or print method would come out cheaper we will say so rather than quote what you asked for
Send the page count, the quantity and the trim size and we will come back with a firm figure rather than a range.
Setting Up Your File
- Supply a print-ready PDF in CMYK, not RGB — screen colours do not survive the press unchanged
- Include 0.125 inch bleed on every edge where colour or images run off the page
- Keep text and logos at least 0.25 inch inside the trim edge
- Images at 300 dpi at final printed size
- Supply pages as single pages in reading order, not as spreads — we handle the imposition
- Embed or outline all fonts
If you do not have artwork, our in-house designers can build the catalog from your product photos, copy and logo, and send a proof before anything goes to press. We would rather fix a layout on screen than reprint a thousand books.
Delivery Across Miami-Dade and Broward
Our shop is in Doral, and we deliver catalogs throughout Miami-Dade and Broward — Miami, Coral Gables, Hialeah, Kendall, Doral, Aventura, Fort Lauderdale and the surrounding areas. Pickup is available if you want them the moment they come off the line, and for larger runs we can split a delivery between a warehouse and a showroom so your sales team is not driving boxes around.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the minimum quantity for catalog printing?
There is no hard minimum on digital printing. We regularly run fifty catalogs for a trade show or a single sales territory. Offset runs need higher volumes before the setup cost makes sense, which is exactly the conversation we will have with you when we quote.
How many pages can a saddle-stitched catalog have?
It has to be a multiple of four, and it works well up to roughly 64 to 80 pages depending on paper weight. Beyond that the book stops closing cleanly and perfect binding is the better answer.
Can you print a catalog with a printed spine?
Yes, with perfect binding. The book needs enough pages to produce a spine wide enough to carry type — typically around 40 pages or more, depending on the stock. Saddle-stitched and Wire-O catalogs cannot have a printed spine.
Do you print catalogs the same day in Miami?
Same-day printing is available on standard stock for orders placed before 1pm, usually within three to five hours, subject to the production schedule. Bound catalogs with finishing generally need longer, so call us at (305) 468-9463 to confirm before relying on it.
Can I get a printed proof before the full run?
Yes. On a run of any size we recommend it. A digital proof shows layout and content; a printed proof shows how the colour and the stock actually behave, which is the part people are surprised by.
What is the difference between a catalog, a booklet and a brochure?
In practice it is page count and purpose. A brochure is usually a single folded sheet. A booklet is a small bound piece. A catalog is a bound book built around a product range, normally with a contents page and item numbers. We print all three — see our booklets and brochures page for the shorter formats.
Ready to price a catalog? Call Graphink Printing and Promotions at (305) 468-9463, visit us at 8850 NW 13th Terrace, Unit 103, Doral, FL 33172, or contact us for a free quote. Tell us the page count, the quantity and the date you need them, and we will come back with the binding and print method that costs least for that job.
