Paper, Weight and Cost

What to print on when the run is thirty copies

Getting thirty copies out the door does not require expensive paper — but the choice still matters, and getting it wrong costs more than the paper itself.

Start With What the Copier Will Actually Take

Most desktop photocopiers and laser printers are calibrated for standard office stock: 20 lb bond in the US (roughly 75 gsm) or 80 gsm in most of Europe. That is the sheet your corner-shop copier expects, and fighting it is rarely worth it. At half-letter format — one letter sheet folded once — this weight feels light in the hand but folds cleanly, stacks well and does not jam. For a short run of thirty, a single ream of five hundred sheets is almost certainly more than enough.

Heavier text stock, around 90–100 gsm, gives a noticeably better feel and holds ink more crisply, but check your machine first. Many office copiers refuse anything above 90 gsm, and a jam on copy fourteen of thirty is its own special misery.

Weight, Texture, Cost

What to print on when the run is thirty copies.

Making & Printing

Going heavier costs more per sheet and per fold. A 90 gsm sheet through a copy shop may cost meaningfully more per page than 80 gsm — small per unit, but it compounds across a run with covers, inserts or colour pages. For a thirty-copy run the total difference is rarely ruinous, so spend up if a slightly thicker sheet matters to the object you are making.

Recycled stock is worth knowing about. It is often cheaper than premium bright-white copy paper, it takes toner well, and the slightly warmer tone suits the hand-assembled aesthetic many zines lean into deliberately. Uncoated is almost always the right call — coated stocks intended for inkjet or offset printing do not take photocopier toner reliably and can strip.

For covers, a 65 lb card stock (roughly 176 gsm) survives saddle stitch binding cleanly and sets a zine apart from a loose stack of pages. Most office-supply shops carry it in small packs; a single pack of fifty sheets covers your cover stock for a run of this size with some to spare.

The Practical Answer

For a thirty-copy run: 80 gsm white or recycled text stock for interior pages; 160–176 gsm card for the cover. Buy from wherever will sell you a small quantity without a minimum order. Keep a sheet of each in your colophon notes — future-you will want to know what it was.