In Channel binding the hard cover has a pair of metal strips in the spine. These are opened up and the pages inserted. They are then closed on the pages and the binding is complete. It is very simple and the pages are very securely held. Channel Bindings only take a limited number of pages, usually up to 160 pages of normal 80gsm copier paper.
Pitfalls:
Due to the metal strips quite a large gutter (the area that is left
blank on the left hand side of a page) is
needed. The strips themselves take .5 cm and too clear the spine
takes another .5cm . This adds up to a gutter of about 1cm. This doesn't really cause any trouble but it could unbalance a page layout
something rotten. However it is important were you are using multiple
columns as people tend to leave small margins (sometimes only about
1.5cm) leaving nearly no margin whatsoever. A 1 cm margin around the
text is a minimal requirement to make something look good.
Cost:
Channel Binding should cost be under £5.00, no more.
This means that you should be able to produce 125 pages (or 62 double
sided pages) and bind them for just under £10. As a standard Hard back book cost
about £15 and a hardback Roleplaying books cost about £20-30 this
could provide the prefect binding if you wish to self-publish on a
limited basis.