Typesetting
The page is the last thing between you and the reader.
Print-ready interiors and covers at publishing standard — including right-to-left Arabic set the way Arabic is actually set, not a Latin template with the text poured in backwards.
Why right-to-left costs more
An Arabic page is not a mirrored English one. The line breaks differently, justification stretches words rather than spaces, harakat sit above and below the line and change the leading a page needs, and a footnote marker in a bidirectional paragraph has to attach to the right word in the right direction. Most tools get this approximately right, which is another way of saying wrong. We set Arabic with an engine built for it, and we charge a stated 30% for the extra work rather than pretending it is free.
How it runs
From a Word file to a printer's PDF
The same pipeline every time, parameterised to your trim size.
- 01
Structure the book
Your file is parsed into a structured model: chapters, headings, block quotes, footnotes, and language runs. Direction is tagged per block, so a vocalized Arabic hadith inside a Spanish paragraph stays a first-class citizen.
- 02
Choose the template and trim
One of three interior styles, parameterised by trim size, margins, and bleed. Your printer's spec drives the numbers rather than a default.
- 03
Set the type
The model is compiled to a print PDF with real hyphenation and justification, proper footnote handling, running heads, and chapter openers. Arabic uses a Naskh face chosen for harakat rendering.
- 04
Check the machine's work
Overfull lines, bad breaks, widows and orphans, and missing glyphs are caught by parsing the compiler's own log and asserting on the result — then a person looks at the pages.
- 05
Cover and spine
The spine width is calculated from your page count and paper stock, and the wraparound cover is produced in the same job. Art is generated without text; the type is set on top.
What you receive
- Print-ready interior PDF, PDF/X, at your trim size
- Full wraparound cover PDF with a calculated spine
- EPUB for the same book
- A proof PDF for reading on screen
- The typeset source, if you ever want it re-run
- A QA report: breaks, overfull lines, and glyph coverage
The difference
The same paragraph, twice
Left, as it arrives from a word processor. Right, as it leaves. Same words — the setting is the whole difference.
The mosque was not merely a place of prayer. It was the first school, the first court, and the first assembly hall of the community; and the man who swept its floor held a station its patrons could not buy. To build one, the early jurists held, was to leave behind a thing that would go on earning long after the builder had been forgotten.
Default face, ragged right, no hyphenation, no measure. The line length wanders with the window.
The mosque was not merely a place of prayer. It was the first school, the first court, and the first assembly hall of the community; and the man who swept its floor held a station its patrons could not buy. To build one, the early jurists held, was to leave behind a thing that would go on earning long after the builder had been forgotten.
1On the station of those who serve the mosque, see the chapter on sweeping and its reward.
Justified with real hyphenation, a fixed measure, a first-line indent, old-style figures, and a footnote behind a short rule.
Questions we actually get
Can you match a book we have already printed?
Usually yes. Send a PDF of the existing book and we rebuild the template to match its measure, leading, and openers, so a new volume sits on the shelf beside the old one.
Do you handle fully vocalized Arabic?
Yes. Harakat change the leading a page needs and not every face renders them well, so we choose the face per book and check the result rather than trusting a default.
What about a bidirectional book — Arabic inside Spanish?
That is the sample book in our portfolio: vocalized Arabic hadith running inside Spanish pages, with honorific glyphs inline in the Latin text. Direction is tagged per block, so both scripts keep their own rules.
Will it pass my printer's requirements?
We produce PDF/X at your stated trim, margins, and bleed. Send the printer's spec sheet and we set the parameters from it. If they reject a file we fix it at no charge.
Can I supply my own cover?
Yes. Supply artwork and we set the type and build the wraparound with a correct spine, or we generate the art from the title. Covers for religious titles never depict people.
Price your book.
Upload the book and the calculator counts the pages and gives you the number.