Get great results with your home printer
We’ve designed our eBooks to be beautiful and easy to read on your computer screen. But we know you’ll probably want to print out parts—if not all—of your eBooks, so we’ve put together this handy-dandy tutorial for you.
If “Quality” is your middle name...
Ella eBooks offer you the highest quality in photography, text and design. If you’re the Donald Trump type who only wants the best, follow these tips for generating printed copies that would impress even The Don himself.
Print your eBook on photo paper to enjoy stunning images and superb text quality (pictured above). You can even buy double-sided photo paper.
Consider presentation paper. Glossy or matte, single- or double-sided, heavy or lightweight, presentation paper is specially coated to produce vibrant images and crisp, clear text. If you opt for a thinner paper weight, think about mounting your eBook pages on cardstock for stability before binding them together.
Print on paper that's recommended for your specific printer. Printer manufacturers design their inks and papers to work together for maximum quality and longevity.
Invest in a decent printer. From personal experience, we can recommend the Epson Artisan 700 or 800 models. (While the ink cartridges can be somewhat expensive to replace, you can usually get a good deal here.)
Create your own eBook library by assembling your pages in a three-ring binder, using a professional photo-book creator, or trying a do-it-yourself tool like the Bind-it-All. See all of these options in our Alter Your eBook article.
If Scrooge McDuck is Your Uncle...
You may be more concerned about cash than print quality, and that’s fine! Here’s what you need to do to keep your pennies in your pocket where they belong:
Don't print your eBook at all. Our high-resolution files have been optimized for easy on-screen viewing.
Only print the pages that you know you'll want to refer to later, and collect them in an "inspiration binder" or folder.
Print your eBook on smooth-finish white cardstock.
Print your eBook on regular copy paper and slip the pages back-to-back into page protectors inside a three-ring binder.
Print your eBook on regular copy paper and adhere the pages to both sides of cardstock sheets from your paper stash.
Keep individual eBooks together by with a stapler (pictured above), a three-hole punch, or by slipping loose pages into a folder.
No Matter What, Do Not...
Sure, we've given you lots of great tips already, but what kind of people would we be if we didn't take a moment to warn you of a few common pitfalls? Trust us on these—this is the voice of experience speaking! Please, learn from our mistakes.
Don't print on colored paper (pictured above), as the paper color will affect the colors in the printed images.
Avoid printing double-sided on copy paper or other lightweight papers. The ink will bleed right through and muddy up the image on the other side.
Don't print on both sides of single-sided photo paper, unless you want a big mess.
Never print an eBook late at night, near a window, when there's a full moon rising. (Just seeing if you’re paying attention).
Quick Tutorial
How to print double-sided
These steps may vary depending on whether you have a Mac or a PC, or whether you're using the free Adobe Reader (get it
here) or an upgrade like Adobe Acrobat. Play around with the menus and options you see to make this work for you.
- Choose paper that's designed for two-sided printing and load it into your printer's paper tray.
- Open an eBook in Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat.
- Go to File < Print and look for the Subset drop-down menu. Change your selection from "All Pages in Range" to "Odd Pages Only." Hit Print. (If you can’t find an option that remotely resembles this, skip to the Alternate Instructions below.)
- Retrieve the printed pages from the printer, paying attention to the direction they were facing when they emerged from the printer (e.g., is the top of your page to the right or the left?).
- Reorganize your printed pages in numerical order, with page 1 on top, and place the stack back in the paper tray, printed side up, making sure they're facing the same direction they were when the emerged from the printer.
- Go to File > Print and look for the Subset drop-down menu again. Change your selection from "Odd Pages Only" to "Even Pages Only." Hit Print.
- Pat yourself on the back. You just learned a new skill and helped to save the rain forest. Go, you!
Alternate Instructions
Print your pages one at a time. In your "Page" or "Page Range" field, specify just page 1 and hit
Print, then specify page 3 and hit
Print. Continue until you’ve printed all the odd pages. Organize your odd pages as specified in steps 4 and 5 above and reload them into your printer, then print your even pages one at a time.
Note: For help solving technical printing issues,
click here.
