Oversaturation: Titles with Heavy Ink Coverage

High ink density titles are those titles where a single or double-sided page(s) within the interior of a book contains a high level and/or area of Black or CMYK ink saturation, which, when printed on Lightning Source printing equipment, ultimately causes curling of pages, wrinkled pages, or may cause streaks. 

Lightning Source may be unable to fulfill a Black & White  or Color print order due to areas of high ink density/heavy ink coverage within these titles. When we identify a title with high-density ink coverage, Lightning Source may, at its discretion, move the title to Ultra Premium Color at no additional charge to the publisher for a period of 30-days. After 30 days, the publisher can elect to either; (i) cancel the title or (ii) agree to a new print cost per unit and continue to print orders as Ultra Premium Color. Print cost per unit to be agreed on a title-by-title basis, as titles are identified, due to the increased manufacturing costs associated with these titles.

To prevent oversaturation, we recommend no more than a 40% difference in front-to-back coverage:

Titles also should not have TAC (Total Area Coverage) that exceeds 240%. Total area coverage (TAC) is the combined value of all CMYK. For example, recommended rich black is:

• C (cyan) 60%
• M (magenta) 40%
• Y (yellow) 40%
• K (black) 100%

When totaled, it equals 240%.

TAC can be viewed in Acrobat Pro by opening the file and going to:

• View/Tools/Print Production/Open
• Select Output Preview
• Check the box for Total Area Coverage
• Change number to 240. This will highlight anything in the file that has a TAC higher than 240. It defaults to lime green, but you can change the color if you like.

Alternatively, you can run a preflight check for the file in Acrobat Pro. We recommend making any adjustments to the original art files and updating those files in InDesign.

These recommendations are based on current production equipment specifications. Each occurrence maybe influenced by a number of design/manufacturing variables. Your results may vary.