Mixam

Mixam is an online printer for books, comics and zines that takes print-ready PDF files from creators and prints them from a single copy upward. This entry draws on two outside sources, and every fact below is attributed to one of them: a September 2026 comparison of comic printing platforms on the blog of Story Spark, a company that sells its own illustrated comic books and so competes with Mixam for part of its audience, and a December 2021 thread on the Talk Photography forum in which photographers discussed where to print a photo book. Between them they describe a printer aimed at people who already have a finished design and want control over paper, size and binding.

What a creator gets

Story Spark calls Mixam "one of the most widely used online printers for independent comics and zines" and lists it as its "Best All-Round Printer for Creators With Finished Artwork." Its description covers the parts of the service a self-publisher meets first. Mixam offers an instant quote calculator, so the price updates as you change size, paper and binding. The guide says there is "no minimum order on its book sizes, so you can print a single proof copy before committing to a larger run," and that free digital proofs are included.

Binding runs, in Story Spark's words, "from stapled saddle stitch for thin issues to perfect-bound paperbacks and casebound hardcovers." That covers the three formats a comic or zine maker usually chooses between: a thin stapled issue, a square-spined paperback for a longer collection, and a hardcover for a keepsake or a deluxe edition. According to the same article, Mixam also publishes free comic templates and file setup guides, and it offers a print-on-demand service for selling without holding inventory. That last point is what places Mixam in this directory. Beyond one-off and short-run orders, the guide describes a route for creators who want copies printed as they sell rather than stacked in a spare room.

Mixam's part in the chain is the printing. The creator designs the book, lays out every page and exports the files; Mixam prints, binds and ships them. Story Spark is explicit that you are responsible for delivering correctly formatted files, and it spells out what that means: Mixam recommends 300 DPI artwork with bleed and safe margins, and you need to understand those requirements before uploading. The same passage reports that the finished print quality is consistently praised by reviewers, while some find organizing and uploading pages fiddly.

For sellers in Britain, the guide's answer to whether a comic can be printed in the UK names Mixam as serving UK customers directly. It gives no delivery times for Mixam and sends readers to each platform's delivery page for current timelines.

Papers, sizes and covers from people who have used it

The Talk Photography thread adds the view of photographers who had printed with Mixam. A member who produces zines explained that Mixam works to specific paper sizes and named "Letter" (216mm x 279mm) as the closest standard size to the 200x205mm book the original poster had made with another printer, adding that it would probably need a redesign and that standard sizes probably make a book cheaper. Another member filled in the picture a day later: "Mixam do allow custom sizes (though the price does go up)."

On interior paper, the thread mentions 130gsm, 150gsm and 170gsm stocks. One member tried 130gsm pages on a zine and called the result "a huge disappointment," recommending 150 or 170 instead, and he described 170gsm silk as the nicest paper for internal pages. The original poster, whose earlier book had used 148gsm pages, noted that the closest Mixam stock was 150gsm. A third member warned against making inside pages too thick, because heavy pages do not turn over as well, and singled out the Soft Touch cover, which he said gives "a much more premium tactile feel." Glossy covers appear too, at 200gsm in the price example below.

Two practical tips from the thread are worth passing on. "Mixam will send you a swatch if you ask," so you can handle the paper before choosing it, and one member believed Mixam does proof copies and suggested phoning them to check. That lines up with Story Spark's point about printing a single proof copy before a larger run.

A price example

Neither source reproduces a price list, but the forum thread gives one worked example from December 2021. 10 copies of a book with 40 pages (80 sides) on 170gsm silk paper, with a glossy 200gsm cover, came to £55 excluding VAT and postage. 20 copies came to £90, and the member added that "the more you order, the more it scales down." He also pointed out that a book of 40 sides rather than 40 pages would cost a lot less. These are one person's quotes from late 2021, and Mixam's quote calculator is where a current figure comes from. Postage was priced separately in that example, so a seller working out a margin needs to add delivery to the print cost.

Preparing files

The file side is where Mixam asks the most of its customers. A forum member who has made perfect-bound books with Mixam rated the print quality highly but warned that making the PDFs takes work: you have to build a separate file for the spine if you want the book's details on it, and bleeds are something to get your head around. Story Spark's list of requirements, 300 DPI with bleed and safe margins, points the same way.

Two members said they lay out their books in Affinity Publisher. One of them had used Open Office in the past and said a general office program can handle a simple layout, though it may prove clunky. He also suggested that anyone who has to build a PDF from scratch consider a slight redesign to fit a standard Mixam format rather than a custom one, which keeps the price down. The free templates and setup guides Story Spark mentions exist for exactly this step.

Who it suits

Mixam fits creators whose book is already designed: comic artists with finished pages, zine makers, photographers putting together a photo book, and self-published authors who want a proof copy before ordering more. Story Spark sums up its best use as creators "who have finished pages and want flexibility over size, paper and binding, from one copy upward." The spread of bindings and paper weights, the custom size option and the swatches give a design-minded seller more control over the finished object than a template-based book builder. The print-on-demand service extends that to selling copies without holding stock, and the absence of a minimum on book sizes keeps a first order small.

It suits someone with a story and no finished artwork less well. Both sources agree that file setup, bleed and spine files are the hard part, so a first-time author should budget time for the first file and order a proof before a run. Neither source gives production or shipping times for Mixam, which matters when a book has a deadline.