I have good experience with Lulu and it was a great solution for one of our members. I helped her with a book she did on a local immigrant community. She wasn't very tech savvy (she's retired) and she actually emailed me the text so I could format and edit it. The book was about 180 pages and had a lot of black and white photographs it in. There was a bit of a learning curve, but I downloaded Lulu's OpenOffice template (they also have Word) and used that. You have to make sure the pagination is going to turn out right and that was a little difficult with this project. I had to split large files before turning them into pdf files (they kept crashing my computer). But once I got that all set it was easy to upload to their site. Then you can use their cover templates to design a cover or pay to have them design one for you. 

Once you've approved an actual printed version you can make it available for people to purchase through Lulu. In our case, we ordered lots of copies and the author took care of selling them to members of the community. We have ordered anywhere from 25 to 100 at a time and I think they've always come within 2 weeks or so. The quality is pretty good overall. Even the images turned out reasonably well, considering the paper quality and the original image quality. If you want really high quality images, this would not be the best option, but I think they have a template for photo books.

As I said, this was a great solution for her. She has a very interested but limited audience so it wouldn't have been possible to try to get it published traditionally. And now we don't have to worry about her 25 years of research being lost because no one can read her handwriting!

Bobbie Scott

On Sep 15, 2010, at 9:29 AM, Elizabeth Simon wrote:

Hi Laura,
Print-on-demand (POD) and digital printing, although they share a technology, are separate functions. Which you choose depends on several factors. Will you store the books yourself or have the printer handle fulfillment? With POD the vendor fulfills one order at a time and ships to the purchasing customer (although I suppose you could also print a few copies and have them shipped to yourself). There are also publishing services like LuLu (www.LuLu.com), which give you the opportunity (or the hassle, depending on your point of view) of producing the book yourself. I have no personal experience with this type of service, but have heard good reports of LuLu.
 
How many copies do you need? Because traditional printing presses are made to run hundreds or thousands of copies at a time, many printers now have digital printing equipment to produce "short run" (50 to 200 copy) jobs. Since you want to sell the products in your gift shop and don't need the fulfillment service, I assume this method would be better for you.
 
What type of book do you want to print? You don't mention specific projects in your e-mail. (And I assume they are original works for which your oganization holds copyright.) I wouldn't recommend doing precise color work this way (certainly not books that focus on art or photography reproduction), but a book with black-and-white interior pages and 2- or 4-color cover can be printed well using digital technology. The quality of digital printing can vary greatly; see samples of a printer's work before getting involved. Making sure you choose the best paper for the job is also important.
 
Keep in mind that the shorter the print run, the higher the cost of each book. So think through how many you can comfortably store, how many you expect to sell, and how many you can afford to pay for at one time.
 
Hope at least some of this has been helpful. Recommending specific printers is more difficult. I would look for someone local, and perhaps get a recommendation from a local university press or niche publisher.
 
Elizabeth Simon
Publications Manager
CSWE
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
On Tue, Sep 14, 2010 at 4:25 PM, Laura Seifert <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
hello everyone,
 Has anyone had experience with small batch printing (or on-demand printing). We would like to print stuff for sale in our gift shop. I know the question was recently asked about on-demand printing, but I was hoping to shake a few more recommendations from the knowledge tree.
thanks,
Laura

Laura Seifert
Archaeologist/Museum Technician
Savannah History Museum
Coastal Heritage Society
303 MLK Jr. Blvd
Savannah, GA 31401
912-651-6850 (phone)
912-651-3651 (fax)
www.facebook.com/SavannahUnderFire
http://savannahunderfire.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/SavannahUnderFire
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