The MSU Libraries Publishing Services helps make self-publishing more accessible and affordable for both the academic and public communities. Services include book interior and cover design, paperback book printing, booklet printing, binding loose pages, consultation about document formats and publishing options, and training in book design software.
The Publishing Services office is located on the second floor of the west wing of the MSU Main Library, within Hollander MakeCentral.
Staff will review interior and cover files to ensure print readiness. If the files are properly formatted, the interior pages and the cover are printed on a professional grade printer. A perfect binding machine applies a thin layer of hot-melt glue to adhere the interior pages to the cover to make a library quality paperback book. Finally, the newly bound book is trimmed to the desired specifications.
Yes! Staff are available to demonstrate the printing and binding equipment. Please make an appointment to schedule your visit.
Yes! There is a dedicated staff member available to help you with book formatting and to answer publishing questions. Quick advice is always available; there are fees and limitations for some services. Please refer to our pricing page for more information.
A single book or booklet can be printed and bound in about ten minutes during a scheduled appointment once the files are fully prepared for printing and the equipment is warmed up. Small orders may be printed during an appointment; however, printing times for larger orders vary case-by-case. If you are planning a large bulk order or using specialty paper, please advise the Publishing Services Coordinator at least three weeks prior to submitting your files to ensure enough supplies are available and to estimate the lead time needed to meet your deadline.
Book interior and cover templates are available upon request. Please email us your book specifications, and we will provide a custom template. Please include the size of your book (width and height) and any design considerations to include. For cover templates, please also provide the total number of pages in your book. Interior templates are available in MS Word or Adobe InDesign. Cover templates are available in InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, or PowerPoint.
You can request information from the Publishing Services staff or visit the manufacturers' websites. Interior pages and the cover are printed on a Xerox Versant 180. The interior pages and cover are bound using a Sterling Digibinder perfect binding machine and then trimmed with a Triumph 6660 programmable cutter.
Library patrons print a wide variety of books including anthologies, art books, biographies & memoirs, blank books/notebooks/journals, class projects, comic books, cookbooks, dissertations & theses, drawings, game guides, genealogies, gift books, government documents, scans of handwritten books, inspirational books, legal documents, zines & magazines, manuals, maps, Open Educational Resources, photography & picture books, playbills, poetry, portfolios, programs, books of quotations, reports & essays, textbooks, user guides, yearbooks, and more. If you can PDF it, you can print it (as long as you have copyright permissions).
- Self-published, original works custom formatted, written, and designed by the author.
- Books in the public domain are available through many sources including Google Books, Hathi Trust, Project Gutenberg, and other outlets.
- Books from Open Access or Open Educational Resources repositories.
- Books with written permission from the copyright owner.
- A single copy of an electronic book for personal use with proof of purchase.
Yes! If you have loose sheets of paper, whether blank sheets, hand written notes, drawings, or printed documents, we can bind them into a paperback book with a plain unprinted cover for $5.00.
Yes! We can print staple-bound booklets and zines. The maximum page size is 8.5 wide x 11 tall (8.25 x 10.75 with bleeds), but we can make smaller booklets too. Please send your print project as a single PDF with the individual pages (not spreads) in reading order and ensure all the pages are the same size and orientation.
For our purposes, a book is a glue-bound paperback book. Book interior pages are printed on 8.5x11 sheets, glue is applied to the spine edge, and the pages are adhered to a cover sheet that wraps around all the pages. The book is then trimmed down to the final book size.
A booklet is made by printing, folding, and stapling sheets of paper together. Booklets can be printed on 11x8.5 sheets and folded down to 5.5x8.5, or they can be printed on 17x11 sheets and folded down to 8.5x11. In either case, booklets can be trimmed to smaller dimensions. Please note that booklets, printed double-sided and folded in half, would have four document pages printed on each sheet of paper.
Anyone! You don't have to be an MSU student, faculty, staff member, or alumni to take advantage of the services offered at Michigan State University Libraries. You don't even have to live in Michigan. Contact us so we can help you tell your story.
There are a variety of publishing options available at Michigan State University. The Michigan State University Press provides scholarly publishing of books and journals. The MSU Libraries Short Edition platform is a short-form publishing option for works of less than 8000 characters. The MSU Libraries also hosts an Open Textbook Publishing platform using PressBooks for Open Educational Resources. For digital publications with at least one MSU contributor, the MSU Libraries hosts a Manifold platform at Pub Hub. Additionally, MSU Commons is an open access repository for sharing scholarly work (MSU netID is required). Print-on-demand (self-publishing) is available through the MSU Libraries Publishing Services.
Publishing Services staff offer free book design workshops. Information about the workshops is posted on the Book Design Workshops page. Groups of five or more may request a workshop, or you can schedule a one-on-one consultation with the Publishing Services coordinator. Instructional videos and additional resources are available for using Microsoft Word or Adobe InDesign.
Yes. If you have an Amazon account, we can help you list your book on Amazon KDP and ensure the files meet Amazon’s requirements. A $40/hour consultative fee would apply.
If you are an MSU faculty or staff member and you have a nonfiction book that you want to publish on Amazon KDP but do not want to use your own Amazon account, the MSU Libraries can list your book for you. You will need to sign a publishing agreement granting the Libraries permission to publish your work. No royalties will be paid. You must supply print-ready interior and cover files for publication. Design availability for university accounts is limited to one hour if needed for minor revisions.
Bowker is the official ISBN Agency for publishers physically located in the US. You may purchase individual ISBNs or blocks of 10, 100, or 1000 ISBNs from Bowker. Once you have purchased an ISBN, you can assign a title to the number and provide additional descriptive information to the database.
Bookow can provide a free barcode for your ISBN. The barcode is a machine-readable version of your ISBN and optionally may include the retail price of your book. A barcode may be required on your book's back cover in a retail setting.
US Copyright Law automatically grants copyright protection to original works of authorship. However, you can register your copyright ownership with the US Copyright Office. Have more questions about copyright? Visit the US Copyright Office FAQ.
The information provided on this page is for general informational purposes only and does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice.