Everything people ask before ordering.

Send us three things: what the piece is, roughly how many you need, and the date you need it in hand. That's enough for us to tell you whether Korea makes sense for your project at all.

If it does, we'll ask for specs — trim size, page count, paper, binding, finishing — and come back with pricing and a schedule. If another route would serve you better, we'll tell you in the first email and explain why.

For a firm quote: trim size, page count, quantity, paper stock or a description of the feel you want, binding method, any finishing (foil, embossing, spot UV, die cutting), and the delivery address and date.

If you don't know some of these, say so. Paper and finishing in particular are decisions we can help you make, and the choice moves the price more than most people expect. A rough description — "something like a gallery catalog, matte, substantial in the hand" — is enough for us to propose options.

Yes. A good share of our projects start there, and it's the part most overseas printers don't offer. Our in-house team handles design, editing, layout and file finishing.

In practice the first stage is turning what you have into something printable. See Need More? for how that runs.

Both, though the economics favor organizations. Offset printing has fixed setup costs that only make sense above a certain quantity, so a single author printing a hundred copies is usually better served by a domestic digital printer.

Most of our work is for companies, institutions, universities and museums producing anniversary publications, brand books, catalogs and white papers.

For a straightforward print job with finished files, five to seven weeks before you need it in hand — quote in three business days, production in one week (case binding three), then ocean transit. Case-bound work: seven to nine weeks.

If we're finishing the files too, add a few weeks — we'll give you the exact figure with the quote.

Put our quote next to a local one — we itemize ours so you can compare line by line.

The total usually comes in lower for a simple reason: the printing happens in Korea, where the cost structure is different, and our floor runs year-round at a volume that keeps rates down. That holds even with freight added — ocean shipping is typically a few percent of the production cost.

And the most expensive thing in printing isn't printing — it's printing something wrong. File errors, spec mistakes, reprints. Half our job is stopping those costs before they exist.

Print-ready PDF with bleed and crop marks is what we prefer. We can also work from native InDesign packages, Photoshop files or high-resolution TIFFs if PDF isn't practical.

And if you have none of those — a Word file, loose images, a previous edition — send it anyway. Our design team builds press-ready files from what you have. When in doubt, just ask: Siha takes care of it.

Once specs are confirmed we send a setup guide for your specific binding — page order and cover construction differ between saddle stitch, perfect binding and case binding, and getting it wrong at the file stage costs days in prepress.

⅛″ (3 mm) on all outside edges as standard, with critical content kept at least 3/16″ (5 mm) inside the trim. For case-bound covers the wrap requires considerably more, and the spine width depends on your final page count and paper — so cover files should be built after the text block is locked, not before.

We send exact measurements with your spec sheet rather than asking you to guess from a general guideline.

No — it just needs a careful conversion. Offset printing uses CMYK inks, and some colors that display beautifully on screen — bright oranges, vivid greens, deep blues — cannot be reproduced in four-color process. Converting without reviewing the result is where most color disappointment comes from.

We convert and flag anything that shifts significantly, then show you a proof before anything goes to press. If a specific color has to be exact, see the spot color answer below.

We review every file in prepress and tell you what we find — low-resolution images, missing fonts, insufficient bleed, colors that won't hold. Minor corrections we handle as part of the job.

Substantial rework is quoted separately, and content decisions stay yours. We won't silently change your typography because we'd have set it differently.

300 dpi at final placed size for photographs, 600 dpi or vector for line art and logos. An image that looks acceptable on screen at 72 dpi will not survive the press.

If your source material is older — scanned archive photographs, for instance — send them anyway and we'll assess. Part of what we do on history projects is restoration and retouching of exactly this kind of material.

Nothing goes to press until you've approved a proof. We offer a digital proof for layout and content checking, and a physical proof printed on your actual paper stock when color accuracy matters.

For anything where color is central — art books, brand publications, anything with skin tones or product photography — we recommend the physical proof. It adds cost and a little time, and it is the single most effective way to avoid an expensive surprise.

Four-color offset carries some variance by nature. Ink density shifts slightly across a long run and more noticeably between separate runs of the same file. That's true of offset printing everywhere.

Offset holds color far more consistently than digital or print-on-demand, and within a single run the variation is small enough that most people never notice it.

Use a spot color. Instead of building the color from four process inks, the ink is mixed to match a specified Pantone reference and applied from its own plate. The result is consistent across the run and across reprints.

Spot colors add a plate and therefore cost, so they're usually reserved for brand marks and key elements rather than applied throughout.

Yes. We can send paper samples, and for a project of any size we can make an unprinted dummy — the actual book, in the actual stock, at the actual page count — so you can judge bulk and weight in your hand before committing.

Paper is the decision people most often regret making from a screen.

Most of the time we can still make it. Send a reference image, or better, a photograph of a physical piece you like, and we'll tell you whether it's producible and roughly what it costs.

The formats listed on our Formats page are the ones we produce regularly, not the limit of what's possible.

Minimums vary by format and binding. Send us your specs and we'll give you the minimum for your job along with the quote.

As a general rule, offset economics mean the per-unit price falls steeply up to a few thousand copies and then flattens. If you're near a threshold it's often worth asking what the next quantity up would cost — the difference is frequently smaller than people assume.

We inspect before packing and again before release. If a production defect still gets through — misprinting, binding failure, ink problems — we reprint or refund the affected copies, whichever shipping option you chose. Even if you find it at your loading dock.

Damage in transit follows your shipping option: under All-Inclusive the shipment is ours to your door; under Port Delivery and FOB, everything past the handover point is yours or your forwarder's.

Content isn't covered: a typo in the file you approved is a reprint at cost, not a warranty claim. Proof carefully.

Offset runs produce some overage by nature — makeready sheets and run-up copies. Where usable copies result, you receive them.

If you need a guaranteed exact count rather than "at least the quantity ordered", tell us at quote stage so we can plan the run accordingly.

Leave them in the shipping cartons until needed — the sealed boxes protect against humidity swings better than shelving does.

Once opened, store around 68°F (20°C) with relative humidity between 30% and 50%, and avoid rapid changes. Paper takes up and releases moisture, and warped covers on a case-bound book are usually a storage problem rather than a manufacturing one.

Yes, and this is a good reason to keep a retained copy. We archive specifications and, where spot colors were used, the ink formulations.

Matching a reprint to a previous run is easier when the original used spot colors for the critical elements. Pure four-color reprints will sit within normal offset variance of the original rather than matching it exactly.

Yes, and not only with a salesperson. Our planning director and design director both work in English, which means editorial direction, layout revisions and color decisions are discussed directly with the people making them.

This sounds like a small thing. It is the difference between a two-day revision cycle and a two-week one, and it's the most common complaint we hear about overseas production.

Seoul is 13 to 16 hours ahead of the continental US depending on season and your location. Planned well, it works in your favor.

We schedule review calls inside your working day rather than ours, and send material ahead of the call rather than presenting it live. In a well-run project the time difference actually helps: you review in your morning, we work on it during your night.

One project manager runs the whole job, from quote through delivery. You aren't passed between a sales contact, a prepress contact and a logistics contact.

Decisions and direction are recorded in writing. If your own contact changes mid-project — which happens often on year-long publications — the project continues from the record rather than restarting.

Each stage has agreed review points, and revisions within those points are part of the scope. What sits outside scope is a change of direction after sign-off — rewriting an approved chapter, or redesigning an approved layout.

We agree on the review structure at the start, so there are no surprises at the end. The number of review rounds is written into every quote.

Before proof approval, generally yes at little or no cost. After proof approval, plates are made and paper is committed, so changes carry cost and affect the delivery date.

Tell us immediately if something is wrong. A problem caught the same day is usually fixable; the same problem caught after the run has started is a reprint.

The English manuscript comes from you — nobody tells your company's story better than you do.

Everything after the manuscript is ours: structure, added pages, layout, design, image work, press-ready files. Adding pages to an existing brochure or reworking its structure is routine work — just send the copy and materials.

At our press floor in Euljiro, Seoul's printing district. Our team attends the press check on every job and completes final inspection before shipment. You're welcome to visit any time.

When the piece demands it, it moves: packaging like cosmetics boxes runs at dedicated packaging presses, specialty finishing at the specialists for that process — one floor can't be best at everything.

Wherever a job prints, the contract, specs, schedule, inspection and responsibility all stay with Siha.

The real thing comes to you. Stock samples, dummies and physical proofs go out by international courier, and you approve from what's in your hands, not what's on a screen.

Once printing starts, you receive press-check and inspection reports — photos and video, sent the same day — and container-loading photos with the shipping documents at departure. Five approval gates, and nothing moves past one without your sign-off.

Want to hear it from another US client? Ask for a reference and we'll put you in touch.

Usually the deciding factor isn't the price per copy — it's the run. Most of the freight cost is fixed per shipment: port handling and trucking cost about the same for three pallets as for one. Spread over thousands of substantial copies, it nearly disappears. Spread over a few thousand thin brochures, it can eat the whole difference.

Books, reports and catalogs in the thousands are where Korea works best — a 7,000-copy, 140-page publication on three pallets is a typical US shipment for us. Send your specs and we'll tell you which route makes the most sense — and if it's a small brochure, whether it makes sense to ship it alongside a larger order.

No. Printing is quoted at a fixed price; freight is billed at what carriers charge us, itemized on the quote and confirmed at booking. Fuel surcharges are real right now — if a carrier adds one between quote and sailing, it appears as its own line, at cost, never folded into something else.

Ocean from Busan to the US West Coast runs roughly 11 to 18 days port to port. Adding customs clearance and inland delivery, plan on three to five weeks from the factory to your door.

Including quoting (three days) and production (one week; case binding three), the full cycle is five to seven weeks. East Coast destinations sit at the longer end — vessels route through the Panama Canal.

Yes, though ocean freight is usually the smarter choice. Paper is dense for its volume, so air freight is charged on actual weight with no benefit from the small footprint. Five thousand brochures can weigh well over 1,000 pounds.

The result is air freight running several times the ocean cost — frequently more than the printing itself. We'll quote it if your date is fixed, but most clients move the date instead once they see the two numbers side by side.

Brochures, catalogs and books generally enter the US duty-free under HTS Chapter 49 — regardless of where they were printed. Pieces classified as advertising can carry duty; we confirm the classification at quote stage.

Choose All-Inclusive and you can forget this paragraph. Customs entry, duties and taxes, and the importer-of-record role are all ours, and the quoted figure is everything you pay. No broker, no registration.

Under Port Delivery or You Arrange It, clearance is yours and your broker handles it.

Whoever you'd prefer. We offer three arrangements.

All-Inclusive (DDP) — we handle customs entry, duties and taxes, and inland delivery. You need no broker and no importer registration. This is what most first-time clients choose.

Port Delivery (CIF) — we carry the shipment to a US port and your broker clears it from there.

You Arrange It (FOB Busan) — your forwarder collects at the port in Korea and controls everything onward.

Every quote states which incoterm applies and exactly where our responsibility ends. We spell it out up front, so there are no surprises at the port.

If you've never imported before, take All-Inclusive. The saving from the other options is real but modest, and it's dwarfed by the cost of a shipment sitting at a port because paperwork was wrong.

If you already work with a customs broker, Port Delivery is often the simplest route — they already know your account and your paperwork.

If you move enough freight to hold contract rates with a carrier, use them. Those rates are hard to beat, and we're happy to work with your forwarder.

Tell us the destination and quantity and we'll quote all three side by side.

No. Korea's holidays — Seollal and Chuseok — run three days each, and production resumes the next morning with no wind-down before or slow restart after. Plan a Q1 date the way you'd plan any other.

If you've scheduled around multi-week holiday gaps elsewhere in Asia: there's no such window here. See Why Korea.

Yes, and that's worth knowing if you've printed in China before. International marking rules require Chinese-manufactured printed matter to carry "Printed in China" in legible type on the piece itself.

For a premium brand publication, some clients prefer the Korean marking. It's a small thing, but it's printed on the object permanently.

Yes. Split shipments to several destinations are common for companies with regional offices, and for publishers splitting between a warehouse and a launch event.

Tell us at quote stage rather than after production — the packing and labeling differ, and retrofitting a split after the fact costs more than planning it.

If the printing is wrong — a production defect in printing, binding or finishing — that's Siha's responsibility under every shipping option. We reprint or refund. Even if you find it at your loading dock.

Transit follows the option you chose: All-Inclusive (DDP) keeps the shipment under our management to your door; with Port Delivery (CIF) and You Arrange It (FOB), everything past the handover point is yours. The responsibility matrix on the Print page lays it out.

Whichever option: your contract, and the quality guarantee behind it, sit with one party — Siha.

We quote and invoice in US dollars, paid by international wire transfer: a deposit when you approve the quote, and the balance on the schedule stated in the quote.

US dollars.

Exchange rates move, so our quotes carry a validity period, stated on the quote itself, and we'll re-quote rather than surprise you if it lapses.