Topic awaiting preservation: Printing a book (Page 1 of 1)

Hi all - I really need some advice...
I am writing a book for my sister's 20th birthday and would like to have it printed. It's no big deal, really, but I would like it to look as good as possible.
There will probably be about 50 pages, out of which I am planning to have about 20 coloured pages, with pictures. The rest will probably be black and white.
I was just wondering if any of you has any experience in such a process, because I have no clue how to do this and where to start? I have googled it of course, but I have to say I got lost, and I would really appreciate it if anny or some of you have already had one book printed like that, and could advise me.
I would like to find a printer in England, if possible.

Thanks in advance for your help!
Cheers

P.S. Sorry if this thread is in the wrong forum, I didn't really know where to start it...

You do realize, I hope, this is not an inexpensive undertaking.

Just so happens I recently looked into this for JMabry,another inmate.
Turns out the first company to offer 'one of' self publishing, is located not far from where I live so I dropped around, had a chat, came away with a couple of samples and sent those off to JMabry. He couldn't use the service but is most certainly qualified to comment on the colour quality etc. so 'J' if you're reading this... comment away. =)

One thing is certain. Unless you have a lot of money, self publishing is the only way to go about this. I discovered during my research that 'printers' wouldn't print fewer than 35 copies and that was the lowest and only one, as I recall... the rest were at 50 minimum and the lowest cost I remember was more than $5K (can).

Anyway... here's a link http://www.trafford.com/ to the company I checked out. Everything you ever wanted to know about self publishing is in there somewhere.

I also wrote up a casual review for 'JMabry' and if you'd like that I'll pass that on via email, if there's an addie in your profile that is. In a Nutshell... I was very impressed with the operation.

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kimson said:

I would like to find a printer in England, if possible.

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well.......you had me until that. I could have given you a quote but I live in the states.

There are ways to do this, but are you thinking of just getting the book printed for your use or to publish it?
If it's just for your own use, then I may suggest looking for a printing company locally. Not some big fancy smacy place, just something a little more than a Kinko's or local copy shop. Although, some of them may be able to do it too.

You will more than likely need to have it as a PDF just to insure that the fonts and pictures and such come out right. Use high res pics obviously (300dpi minimum).

There are many ways to have the the book done but I am not well versed in what is available in England.

Later,

C:\

You can always just go the Fedex/Kinko's or the UK equiv for the printing and then bind it yourself



.:[ Never resist a perfect moment ]:.

^that dude's (edit {NoJive} d'oh! 2 posts while I was typing) got the indespinsible poop on that trafford outfit, and I found the quality of their samples to be outstanding in materials, color, trim and binding.

The deal killer for me was the fact that they don't do hardback. We are likely going with a Chinese press that does it.

Trafford looked really good but you're not going to use them to print a single book for your sister. If you're indeed going to print only one copy, I'd advise you to print it yourself on good stock and a desktop *jet after checking a local bindery for binding options (they can provide you with the specs for your artwork and text to keep a safe distance from the binding). Copy shops may even do one off binding in spiral binding if that's acceptable.

You can do you own fairly fancy/professional binding as well if you get creative with a brush, some glue, and a few boards across the spine smashed tight by a vice or a few clamps. Order your pages, clamp em down in a jig that presses the spine and leaves it exposed so you can brush in/on layers of glue. Or punch some holes and hand stitch it together.

If it's just one, do it yourself! And take pictures of the finished product so we can see



(Edited by JKMabry on 06-24-2005 22:07)

we have something called "Perfect Binding" that is just like what the guy did in the post that bitdamaged posted. We don't thread the paper, instead it is scuffed up a little and then glued and then pressed into the cover with more glue and this big funky machine. Makes a nice book.

We also do hardcover binding. That's a little more expensive but if you get more obviously it costs less.

Later,

C:\

I do work in an little printshop, we print books on demand so one single book is not a problem. We are based in the netherlands an we do ship to the UK ofcourse shipping costs are paid by the customers (you) but inside the EU this is not very much.
There are some things you should take care off before you send your book to the printer.
-Make the file a pdf and enclose the font-type you arte using when it's not very common.
-DO NOT put cutting marks in the inside of the book only on the outside.
-Make sure that the contents is not to close to the border of the paper 2-2.5 cm from the inside border is easy to read whithout killing the book
-don't put the content too close to the outside border either you space to cut somethhing of the book. And you don't want to cut through the text....
-If the back off the book is going to be less as say 0.5 cm it will be very hard to put some txt or title on the back.

Kimson the following is possible:
-50 pages book with b/w and full colour pictures
-thick cover whith full colour print an an very thin shining protection layer laminated on it.
-Paper of the contents can be either an silky kind of white paper or an more natural un bleached kind of paper.
-the contents is glued into the cover wich results in some sort of pocket/comic book.
-The cost ar not that sky rocketing somewhere from 10 to 50 euro's depending on dtp time and other factors.


If you need more info about printing your own book let me know by mail and i can give you some thorough advice.

Nojive it is not needed to have a minium set of copies, today but you need to look at printing on demand an not to self publishing.
there is a lot more involved to self pubblishing as to printing on demand where you just order x copies of books and there is no need to register your own publishing company. We make a loot of books for students who are writing on their thesis and they never need 50 copies.


Mail me:
rinswind@nd@gmail.com subject: "book printing"

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Support Justice for Pat Richard

I have this site in my bookmarks. Stumbled across it somewhere, sometime. I have no idea about quality or anything but apparently it seemed reasonable enough at the time to bookmark.

Maybe somebody else would know more about them?

http://www.lulu.com/

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kimson said:

I would like to find a printer in England, if possible.

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Tricky - we might have invented this whole thing but we seem to be a little behind the times now

Well OK its not quite that bad. Your best bet would be if you were in stabbing distance of a university - they'd be able to provide printing advice (you can always pretend to be a student) and while they used to run big printing centres they tend to recommend off site services. I've had all my theses hardbound and I've just checked and they are all glued but done solidly - ask for samples though.

It may be that you need to get it printed and then taken somewhere to be bound or they may do an all in one service. However, phone the nearest Uni and go from there.

___________________
Emps

The Emperor dot org | Justice for Pat Richard | FAQs: Emperor | Site Reviews | Reception Room

if I went 'round saying I was an Emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!

^here is some good advice

btw there is a typo in my email:
rinswind2nd@gmail.com

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Support Justice for Pat Richard

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You do realize, I hope, this is not an inexpensive undertaking.

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I thought so indeed... Thank you for the link, NoJive I shall go through it and might ask you about your review!

CPrompt:

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well.......you had me until that. I could have given you a quote but I live in the states

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.
As you said, it's maybe easier if I find someone hereas I only need one copy and I don't want to publish it. I was thinking of the shipping. It's only a personal work for my sister...

Rinswind2: Thank you very much, I will send you an e-mail, I'm very interested.

Emperor: Very good idea... I think the nearest university is Holloway, round here...

I have to say this idea looks like a mountain to me, especially that I haven't finished writing it at all! And I wouldn't like to get stiched up...
The other day I was thinking about it and decided to do it myself thoroughly, but now I'm hesitating again and think it would be nice to have it bound properly.

Anyway, thank you very much guys for your advice! Various ideas and answers, exactly what I needed!

Cheers