'Nuther Entry in the DIY Book Market
…but this time, the design’s included. More from today’s NYTimes:
When Steve Mandel, a management trainer from Santa Cruz, Calif., wants to show his friends why he stays up late to peer through a telescope, he pulls out a copy of his latest book, “Light in the Sky,” filled with pictures he has taken of distant nebulae, star clusters and galaxies.
Mr. Mandel, 56, put his book together himself with free software from Blurb.com. The 119-page edition is printed on coated paper, bound with a linen fabric hard cover, and then wrapped with a dust jacket. Anyone who wants one can buy it for $37.95, and Blurb will make a copy just for that buyer.
The print-on-demand business is gradually moving toward the center of the marketplace. What began as a way for publishers to reduce their inventory and stop wasting paper is becoming a tool for anyone who needs a bound document. Short-run presses can turn out books economically in small quantities or singly, and new software simplifies the process of designing a book.
As the technology becomes simpler, the market is expanding beyond the earliest adopters, the aspiring authors. The first companies like AuthorHouse, Xlibris, iUniverse and others pushed themselves as new models of publishing, with an eye on shaking up the dusty book business. They aimed at authors looking for someone to edit a manuscript, lay out the book and bring it to market.
The newer ventures also produce bound books, but they do not offer the same hand-holding or the same drive for the best-seller list. Blurb’s product will appeal to people searching for a publisher, but its business is aimed at anyone who needs a professional-looking book, from architects with plans to present to clients, to travelers looking to immortalize a trip.
Interesting. An amalgamation of iPhoto’s book design templates with Lulu’s printing capabilities — available to anyone, Mac or PC.
On the one hand, it’s nice to see a decentralization of the publishing world. Print-on-demand allows all sorts of projects, including academic and documentary pieces, to be published that wouldn’t have been otherwise. So this is another in a long string of Good Things™.
On the other, more people without taste — or a clue — will be able to publish their stuff, cheaply and easily. Perhaps less of a Good Thing.
Posted by Giles, Thursday, July 20, 2006, at 11:30 AM.
Posted to Book design | Book printers | Printing | Publishing | Technology
The long-awaited POD Update
…isn’t. The project’s pretty much fizzled out.
[Shrugs.]
That’s the risk of being involved on the ground level instead of being hired once plans are in place. In the end, I have to say I don’t think the project going away is such a bad thing.
If nothing else, it’s given me a great introduction of some local business folks I didn’t know before, and, perhaps more importantly, it’s given me some specific ideas and contacts for things that might work — perhaps I’ll spill more of those plans later.
Posted by Giles, Monday, June 12, 2006, at 9:53 AM.
Posted to Book printers | Printing | Site news | Whatever
My Bad: Wonderful
Few Tuesday updates for folks:
- Joseph, this is right on several levels. Thank you for posting about this. And, yes, I do think “Horsemen of the Esophagus” is a great title. We’ll leave whether something’s wrong with me for later, perhaps…;)
- Stephen Fraser of Lulu, apologies for not getting to posting Lulu’s take on POD. I owe BookMobile an email, too, and just haven’t had the time to do either. Uh, “My Bad.”
- An update on the POD question is coming soon — as soon as I can put together a few minutes. This project, which started as a cool idea, has suddenly snowballed into something quite huge. Plus, it’s local — my first non-internet client in a long while — which means meetings instead of quick emails, making for some very long days indeed.
Although, one of the joys (and curses, for those with schedules as insane as mine) of Macon is that a meeting just isn’t a couple of rushed minutes in some office, it’s an event, often involving a meal or at least some sort of tasty treat. (I had my first Mint Julep the other day — oh, a delightful drink — served at a sweet-tea refill rate. With lunch. Sheesh.)
It could even be said that the move South — from Florida, LOL! — continues to bring surprise. Absolutely not complaining.
Posted by Giles, Tuesday, May 16, 2006, at 11:29 AM.
Posted to Book design | Book printers | Books | Printing | Site news
POD Update: Coffee Table Books, BookMobile, and Lulu
Where do our book-designer readers stand with POD experience? A client approached me recently with a project that would use print-on-demand extensively, and I had to do some research — but further feedback is encouraged.
The client wanted a coffee table book, in 9×12 paperback, with French flaps. Quality is important.
My first reaction was to get in touch with BookMobile. While I’ve never worked with them directly, I’ve been impressed with their quality every time I’ve seen a book they’re produced. Alas, some problems:
Unfortunately, the largest width we can print and bind … is 9-3/8”.
I was surprised to hear that, and followed up with some questions. Nichole Baxter, their rep, was very helpful in supplying some details:
We currently print our cover on a Xerox Docucolor 8000, and the largest cover we can print is 18-3/4” wide, which includes the front, spine, and back (the bleed area we need is already subtracted from the 10-3/4” size), grain correct.
We are planning to do hardcover binding, with dust jackets, by the end of 2006. At that time, we will be able to print larger covers and French Flaps for paperbacks. We’re in the process of testing printers for the covers, so I’m not able to provide pricing or specs just yet. I will send out an announcement once these services are available.
Forgive, Nichole, just priming all those book designers out there to keep an eye out…;)
I hope the new dust jacket printer is up and running this summer, but I won’t know for sure for another month. The capability to do French Flaps also depends on the new binder we acquire (our current binders won’t feed French Flap covers), and that’s yet to be confirmed — we hope to have our “potential” binder installed [late in 2006].
So, good. The capability is coming (here’s rooting for the new binder!), and hopefully by the end of this year. (Installing new equipment never goes smoothly, it seems, so even if it’s early next year, I’ll still be very interested in what they can do.)
Meanwhile, however, I still need to get these books printed for this client, who’s looking for sellable titles in September. Have quiered BookMobile about getting in the queue for the new cover printer, and have asked the client if they’re interested in a dust-jacketed paperback, or whether they just want to do without flaps until that capability is available. Everyone’s going to get back with me.
Meanwhile, it made sense to cover my bases and check around — enter Lulu. I’d heard about Lulu through Flickr; they print JPG Magazine, which is more-than-good quality (and a really interesting idea, IMHO).
Unfortunately, Lulu also doesn’t offer French flaps or 9×12 landscape printing. They do offer A4 (8.27×11.69), which may very well have to do. (BookMobile will offer A4 with their new equipment, too; by choosing the size now, we can start the design and postpone the vendor choice a little while.)
Further, Lulu’s site scares a little. It seems the quality of titles they produce should be split into two parts: the physical quality, which seems pretty good (if not up to BookMobile), and the design quality — which is mostly self-publishers. The reason it might be worth it: their cost is significantly below BookMobile’s.
This book designer, based only on the info currently available, would rather work with BookMobile. However, the client’s paying the bills and driving when the titles need to be available, so Lulu or some other alternative may have to be our choice.
Can anyone comment with experience with another POD printer, or experience with one of these two? Thank you very much.
Posted by Giles, Thursday, May 11, 2006, at 10:34 AM.
Posted to Book printers
An Approach to RGB-CMYK Conversion
A very interesting article on one approach to CMYK conversion has been posted over at The Luminous Landscape:
I have for many years worked in the CMYK colour space for press and printer image production. In doing to I discovered the most important area for me to consider when using Photoshop for RGB to CMYK conversion for printer or press printing, was the colour space conversion set-up to ensure the correct gamut on printers and printing presses is realised. As photographers are now encompassing Photoshop as their photo manipulation software of choice to process images, there is and will continue to be a service for printer and printing press ready CMYK files to be supplied. An understanding of the printing process and its relationship with Photoshop, will greatly assist in any a users abiltiy to ensure the maintenance of image quality and gamut control throughout the printing process.
It’s aimed at pro photographers getting stuff right for print, but it’s a great tutorial for those who need a refresher and contains some excellent tidbits for all so inclined on how the “color settings” palette in Photoshop can be a very big deal indeed.
Something to chew on if it’s a slow Monday for you…;)
Posted by Giles, Monday, May 8, 2006, at 1:41 PM.
Posted to Advertising | Book design | Book printers | Computers | Design | Photography | Printing | Publishing | Technology
Dear Printers
I think I’ve complained about this before, but it bears repeating:
If you offer FTP, requiring a print before you begin work is stupid. Use the PDF to make a print — that’s what it’s for!
Seriously: if the hi-res PDF is good enough to do output from, it’s good enough to do a comp from. Even if you have to charge extra.
Thanks,
Giles
P.S. We’ve signed off on the PDF, so it’s not an issue of permissions.
Posted by Giles, Monday, February 7, 2005, at 4:37 PM.
Posted to Book printers
Book Printers
Who’s your favorite book printer? Why? How do they rate for quality versus price, for instance? Customer service? Integrity? Turnaround flexibility? Tech knowhow?
We’re moving on from our previous “regular” printer, United Graphics, to hopefully greener pastures. Instead of having a favorite we default to, we want to cover more territory. Googling “book printer” or “book printing” produces thousands of results, however, and they aren’t listed by quality. We have worked with others, only a few listed in the first couple of pages of Google’s results, but want to know your thoughts. Collectively, we have much greater knowledge and experience.
Are any of you interested in helping to create a database here at Foreword specifically listing book printers?
Continue reading "Book Printers"
Posted by Giles, Thursday, October 7, 2004, at 6:52 PM.
Posted to Book printers