Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Cork printing help!

Howdy kids!

I need to nail down an inexpensive but good printer if I'm going to get a Cork collection out by the Con! Ellis, I checked out Lulu but for what I need I don't think they can help. I wanted a square 8.5 by 8.5 book to accomodate 7.5 by 7.5 artwork, but when I typed in those specifications they automatically charged me the 'color' fee instead of the b&w fee drastically increasing the cost! I don't get it. Also it appears that I have to have a MINIMUM of 48 pages PER BOOK to get an order made! WTF?

So, I have feelers out for a better printing house and was wondering if anyone can help steer me! Also, they'd have to be able to do at least a two week turnaround or better because this may come down to the wire for me.

Help your challenged brother! Thanks!

19 comments:

Tom Carroll said...

I heard these folks mentioned in a number of self publishing reports, etc., but I haven't worked with them.

http://www.authorsolutions.com/

Give 'em a shout ...

Mr Goodson said...

Buncake. Why not 8.5 by 11? Lot of nice white space at the top and bottom with room for misc decorative touches.
And then to bulk out the page count, include sketches, roughs, crap that is sitting around and already scanned.
This is all notions relating to going with Lulu.

Beyond that strategy I'd say get some sort of dialogue going with these guys. Ka-Blam

A print on demand comics publisher I heard about through the Tall Tale Podcasts. Recommended by some good professionals.

http://ka-blam.com/printing/

They have size designations for MANGA.

That might be the proportion you're looking for.

Go to their contact page

http://ka-blam.com/printing/index.php?page=Contact

Check the FAQ, click on the contact center etc.

Other than that , you'd have to email all the Corks to me and let me come up with a Lulu Cork book I'd be happy with.

I'd rename the Hamster and a few other Easter egg gags.

Tom Carroll said...

Wow ... I've got to get a better writer for my stuff ... Ellis' comes across MUCH funnier, even on a recommendation for self publishing ... blah.

Mr Goodson said...

Buncake brings out my funny

Tom Moon said...

This link will not actually help you Scott, but it is an interesting story people might want to read about "Books On Demand" and how it will change the face of publishing, including self-publishing. Imagine being able to walk into a book store, searching a database for the book you want, (including out-of-print books or your personal book that you want published), paying your $15, and having a machine print out and bind the book for you while you wait:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104644575

Beata said...

Scotty, I'll be completely offline June 7-12 (on the Queen Mary), but if you're still looking for a printer after June 12th, I might be able to help you.

[ka-blam.com looks promising ... you should definitely check them out first.]

I almost went with Lulu for the book I just put together for my mom, but decided instead to make Grafikus the publisher and use a printer I found who does runs of as little as 100 very inexpensively. Grafikus will be purchasing a bunch of ISBNs later this month, for my mom's book and some other projects I plan to publish. I'd be happy to set aside some #s for TAGster use.

Beata said...

Tom M:
I just read the NPR "Espresso" article ...

Who among us would NOT want one of those machines? The concept is terrific, but I can't help wondering about the inevitable limitations on books specs, quality control, etc. Despite what Jeff might think, humans (most of them, anyway) are still better than machines when it comes to adaptability, creative problem solving, and ensuring a job is done right.

Scotty Buncake said...

I checked out ka-blam and authorsolutions today but none of them can fill my needs unfortunately. Beata I'd like to hear more about your printer when you can. I will be needing an ISBN as well.

Here are my required specs: I need to have an 8.5 x 8.5 square book to accomodate 7.5 x 7.5 art. I want a color front and back cover with b&w interiors. I hope there's not a 45 page minimum like Lulu has or I'll have to create some 10-15 pages of filler to reach that goal. I want 'perfect bound' binding. I want to shoot for a low print run (maybe around 100) to begin with. And, of course, quality without being TOO expensive.

If this sounds feasible to you Beata or anyone reading then please let me know. For those same specs Lulu was going to charge $6 a book.

Mr Goodson said...

Hope you can scramble and get it done. I want a copy. 6 bucks for print on demand isn't outrageous.
Sell them for 10 but maoinly have them to pitch to another publisher like Image.

Rickart said...

What Ellis said...
And put a shirt on for God's sake!

Mr Goodson said...

Yes. What the hell is going on with your new ID picture? Is that any way for a Hockey Player to conduct himself in public?

Tom Moon said...

Don't let 'em bother you Scott. I showed your ID picture to my wife and she liked it. I told her people like to give you a bad time and she said, "Because he's so cute?"

Rickart said...

It's true! Sue described him to a friend as a "Stone Fox". She was really surprised that one of my TAG friends was cute.

Scotty Buncake said...

I'll have you know that I'm wearing a red tank top in that photo! Is it my fault that some of you still have Commodore 64 monitors and can't see it?

The Stone Fox has spoken.

Rickart said...

Tank tops do NOT count as an actual shirt... especially red ones.

Tom Carroll said...

Now that we know what inanimate animal Scotty is, we should all make up our own two word descriptor: thus speaks the Rhinestone Rabbit.

Rickart said...

In that case I want to be a cash cow!

Tom Moon said...

Good one Rick!

Mr Goodson said...

I had a ten year old black kid call me Chicken Head yesterday. So I told him, Ba-Gock!