: Recommend binding for book to stay open I would like to self-publish a book with a binding that allows for the book to stay open if you put it down on a desk. What would be an affordable

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Generally there is one called Perfect Bound which is a lay flat binding.

CreateSpace.com (selfpublishing arm of Amazon) uses this and I've had good results with those books laying flat and being longlasting.
I write technical books and my book Launch Your Android App - amazon link is published by CreateSpace and available in that format and it does indeed lie flat.
See more about Perfect Bound binding at createspace : forums.createspace.com/en/community/thread/7810
Also to see the numerous sizes that you can publish your book in at CreateSpace, check out : www.createspace.com/Products/Book/InteriorPDF.jsp?sitesearch_query=interior%20sizes&sitesearch_type=SITE
O'Reilly Technical books uses a special version of Perfect Bound called RepKover, which they believe makes the books lie flat even better.
See more at: www.oreilly.com/pub/pr/1149

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You don't really have many options, I think. If you print a book then when it comes out of the printer, the pages will want to close unless it has gone through a lot of wear and tear in the past. What I'd try, for keeping the book open, would be Wire Bindings or Wire-O Bindings, as others call them. They sound about right for the dimensions of your book, but they won't really assist in making it look like a 'book'. They'll more make it look like an organiser or notebook, so be warned of that.

Off the top of my head, they're the only things that can keep the book open.

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