jdalton: Making books

jdalton (

jdalton) wrote,
@ 2008-04-02 16:57:00

Entry tags:

comics stuff, lords of death and life

Making books
So I'm thinking about how best to print Lords of Death and Life. And I'm concerned that getting it printed by someone else might be too expensive. Would anyone be willing to pay $25 for a nice-looking 50+ page colour copy of LODAL? Because based on a couple of quotes for other people's books I've heard recently, it could well cost $20 a copy for me to get them printed. That's way too much, isn't it?

The alternative of course is to print them myself with my laser printer. This is why I have a laser printer. It would be significantly cheaper to do this. The finished books might cost around $10. The problem with doing it myself is that I'm then faced with the choice of either abandoning my idea to print it as an accordian book (with zig-zagging pages the way an actual Mesoamerican book would be made) and just doing a regular book with a stapled spine, or coming up with some way to assemble pages in an accordian fashion. The best idea I have for that involves book tape (cloth-bound archival tape, the kind they use to make the spines of some books). But I don't yet have a practical way to approach the problem. I do plan on experimenting a bit.

So internet friends, what are your opinions? And P.S., do you know where I might find book tape I can buy?

(Post a new comment)

	(Anonymous) 2008-04-03 02:28 am UTC (link)
	$25 for a nice-looking, interestingly presented comic isn't necessarily too much, but a $5 profit for you isn't very much at all. You'd never be able to sell them through stores, should the opportunity arise. Is this going to be like one really long and skinny poster that gets folded accordian style? Can you get a better deal from your printers if you print more of them? (Reply to this)(Thread)

	ttallan 2008-04-03 02:30 am UTC (link)
	Bah. That was me. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	jdalton 2008-04-04 12:35 am UTC (link)
	Yeah, the plan was to print it as one long double-sided banner and fold and assemble it myself. Though I haven't even asked around yet if anyone is able to print long banners like that. No doubt I could get a better deal by printing more copies, but I'm on a tight budget for this so at $20 a book I'm already going to have a hard time printing more than 50. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	jasonturner 2008-04-03 02:29 am UTC (link)
	Just on a gut level, I would say that (if it looks good) do it on the laser printer. For NOW! Save the accordion for some later time when it is more feasible. This is such great work it would be nice if you could get it out to people without them making a $25 face. And if you get it out there... I don't know, maybe a publisher or patron will present themselves. (Reply to this)

	rufftoon 2008-04-03 05:04 am UTC (link)
	My thoughts kind of echo jasonturner. Print a few with your laser printer, but try and keep some of these copies to present to publishers. If someone else can foot the bill, all the better for you. It would be awfully nice to have it all in colors, but what about B&W? It would reduce the cost, though it would not be as punchy as with colors. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	jdalton 2008-04-04 12:36 am UTC (link)
	Well I think it has to be in colour. I'd much rather forget about the accordion fold and keep it in colour than have it the right shape but in B+W. Mayan books were full colour after all! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	munkymu 2008-04-03 04:54 pm UTC (link)
	Island Blue has some bookbinding supplies, including linen tape. I must say though that I haven't been impressed with the Lineco supplies so far (although I haven't tried their tape out). (Reply to this)(Thread)

	jdalton 2008-04-04 12:38 am UTC (link)
	Do you have Island Blue out where you are? I thought they were just in Victoria. I don't think we have an Island Blue in Vancouver. I wish we did. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	munkymu 2008-04-04 01:13 am UTC (link)
	No, I order from the Victoria store occasionally. They have really good shipping, sometimes have more variety than the local stores, and I don't drive so if I want something in the middle of winter it's easier to deal with them than Edmonton Transit. :P (Reply to this)(Parent)

	hereville 2008-04-03 06:34 pm UTC (link)
	At ka-blam, a 52 page color comic would cost $200 for printing 50 copies, which is $4 each. There would be some additional costs -- shipping, maybe a set-up fee -- but even with that stuff, I bet it would cost you under $5 a copy. You could have a cover price of $12.95 for that, which for a small run of a self-published comic is not unreasonable. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	jdalton 2008-04-04 12:41 am UTC (link)
	I know I'm amazed at how cheap print-on-demand is for colour! The only thing is I'd have to pick one of their pre-existing page dimensions. I think I could get a similar price off my laser printer. I need to experiment some more definitely. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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