Print your book
The complete printing guide
Any book you make in ColorCraft can become a real printed book, shipped to your door. This guide covers everything printing can do, then walks through an order screen by screen: choosing the format, checking the print preview, shipping, paying and tracking.
What you can print
Coloring books, puzzle books and storybooks, printed professionally on demand. Order a proof to hold before your KDP launch, or copies for family, a classroom or an event, without listing the book anywhere.
- Bindings
- Paperback (32 to 800 pages) or stapled (4 to 48 pages)
- Cover finish
- Matte or gloss, laminated
- Inside pages
- Black and white for coloring and puzzle books; colour for storybooks
- Trim sizes
- 8 sizes, including 8.5 × 11 in and 8.5 × 8.5 in
- Book length
- Up to 100 printed pages (48 in colour)
- Copies
- 1 to 25 per order
- Shipping
- Anywhere in the US: Standard mail, Ground or Expedited
- Preview
- Every page and the cover wrap, exactly as they print, before you pay
- Tracking
- On your Orders page and by email
- Cancelling
- Before printing starts, about 2 hours after you order
For every size and page rule, see Formats & sizes.
Before you start
- Finish the book. Every page that should print needs its art. The print flow checks each page and lists anything to fix before it lets you continue.
- Design a cover. A book prints only with a cover made in the cover editor, which is part of the paid plans (and the free trial). The flow takes you there if the cover is missing.
- Have a US address. We ship within the United States only.
Where to start an order
Every book card on your dashboard has an Order button. It opens the print flow for that book. You can also choose Order printed copies from the editor’s Publish menu.
Your orders and print editions live under Printing in the left menu.
Ordering, step by step
- 1
Choose the format
Pick the binding and the cover finish. The inside pages follow the kind of book: black and white for coloring and puzzle books, colour for storybooks. The size and printed page count come from your book, and an estimated print cost per copy updates as you choose. Only the formats your book fits are offered. Then choose Prepare print files.
- 2
Check your print files
ColorCraft builds print-ready files of your book, and they are checked before anything goes to the printer. When they’re ready you get a full preview: flip through every page, switch to the Cover to see the whole wrap with its spine, and turn on Trim line to see where the paper will be cut. This is exactly how your book will print.
- 3
Choose where it ships
Pick a saved address or add a new one. Addresses are saved to your account for next time, and one can be your default. Tick the box that lets us use your name, address and phone number to print and deliver this order. They’re shared only with the printer and carriers, and only for this order.
- 4
Review and pay
Set how many copies you want (1 to 25) and choose a shipping option. Each shows its price and when it arrives. PO boxes can use Standard mail or Priority mail. Your order breaks the total down: printing, shipping and handling, the ColorCraft service fee, the printer’s sales tax and tax. Pay takes you to Stripe’s secure checkout page, and printing starts once your payment goes through.
How the total is put together is explained in Pricing & shipping.
Leave and come back
After you order
A confirmation email arrives right away. Printing → Orders lists every order, newest first, with its status, the delivery estimate and the total. An order you started but didn’t pay for stays here as Awaiting payment, with Resume payment to finish it.
Open an order to follow it from Order placed to Printing, Shipped and Delivered. Once it ships, the tracking number and the carrier’s arrival window appear on the tracking card. Check for updates asks for the latest status, and Order again starts a new order of the same book.
Every status is explained in Orders & tracking.
Print editions
When you make print files, ColorCraft saves that version of the book as a print edition. It stays exactly as it was, even if you edit the book later. Printing → Editions shows each one with its format, its date and the copies ordered from it. Order copies prints that exact version again, with no new files to wait for.
Preview on an edition opens the same page-by-page preview you saw before ordering.
If something goes wrong
- Changed your mind? You can cancel only before printing starts, about 2 hours after you order, and the refund is in full.
- Damaged or misprinted? Tell us within 30 days of delivery and we’ll reprint or refund.
How to do both is in Cancellations & damaged copies, and quick answers are in the Printing FAQ.
Printing doesn't replace the KDP export
Hold your book in your hands
Pick a finished book, give it a cover, and order your first printed copy.