self publishing / printers
Randy Yates
We are seeking to publish a book on North Carolina railroads. Since
the target audience is relatively limited, and we want ownership of
the book and all aspects thereof, we seek to self-publish.
Thus I have several questions which I am hoping some of you can
answer:
1. Is there a FAQ for this?
2. How do I find a printer in the Raleigh area? I've done some
Googling,
but it's tough to find companies that print books (lots of brochures
and
such, but not books).
3. There are going to be tons of black and white and possibly some
color
photos shot with a traditional film camera that are to be incorporated.
I am unsure of the best method to get the photos into electronic form.
I
own an Epson Perfection 2400 Photo. Is this sort of resolution/quality
adequate, or will I need to have them scanned professionally?
4. How do I tweak or color-match the photos? I'm thinking that,
basically,
I first choose my printer, then do some trials and adjust gamma,
saturation,
half-toning, etc.
a. Is half-toning done by the printer, or is it to be embedded in the
electronic document? I am planning on providing a PDF of the final
output.
5. What kind of paper and printing process should I use? What are the
tradeoffs
between quality and cost?
6. What sort of binding is available? We'd love to have a hardcover,
but what
are the tradeoffs in cost and binding types?
7. How do you get an ISBN number?
8. Would printing on my own printer and sending the pages out to be
bound
be an option? I have a Lexmark C760 color laserjet 1200 DPI printer.
This
would be a small run of books, between 100 and 500 copies.
Well, that's a start. Any help or pointers would be appreciated.
--
% Randy Yates % "Ticket to the moon, flight leaves
here today
%% Fuquay-Varina, NC % from Satellite 2"
%%% 919-577-9882 % 'Ticket To The Moon'
%%%% <ya...@ieee.org> % *Time*, Electric Light Orchestra
http://home.earthlink.net/~yatescr
Stella Abzug
"Randy Yates" <ya...@ieee.org> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> We are seeking to publish a book on North Carolina railroads. Since
> the target audience is relatively limited, and we want ownership of
> the book and all aspects thereof, we seek to self-publish.
>
> Thus I have several questions which I am hoping some of you can
> answer:
>
> 1. Is there a FAQ for this?
Start at http://www.aeonix.com
See books by Dan Poynter (The Self Publishing Manual), Tom & Marilyn
Ross (The Complete Guide to Self Publishing), and Fern Riese (The
Publishing Game: [several titles])
Also, see the FAQ at Beagle Bay Books, Inc.
http://www.creativemindspress.com/newbiefaq.htm
>
> 2. How do I find a printer in the Raleigh area? I've done some
> Googling,
> but it's tough to find companies that print books (lots of brochures
> and
> such, but not books).
>
You don't need a local printer to print your books. Printers who
specialize in book printing use automation and processes that make them
very efficient. Often, they are much less expensive than local printers
even when you consider the cost of transportation. See the list of book
printers at http://www.aeonix.com (a list with approximately 100
printers who specialize in printing books.)
> 3. There are going to be tons of black and white and possibly some
> color
> photos shot with a traditional film camera that are to be incorporated.
>
> I am unsure of the best method to get the photos into electronic form.
> I
> own an Epson Perfection 2400 Photo. Is this sort of resolution/quality
> adequate, or will I need to have them scanned professionally?
>
If you know what you're doing, the Epson Pefection 2400 should do OK.
Generally 300 dpi at the size of printing is all that's necessary for
resolution.
You should also be experienced with using Adobe Photoshop.
You may want to hire this out. Costs will probably run from $10 and up
_per_ _scan_ -- more if there is considerable cleanup work to be done.
Most qualified designers charge an average of $60 per hour (and up) for
this kind of work.
> 4. How do I tweak or color-match the photos? I'm thinking that,
> basically,
> I first choose my printer, then do some trials and adjust gamma,
> saturation,
> half-toning, etc.
If you want more than a few color images inside the book, you may need
to consider printing overseas. This will substantially increase your
budget. A US/Canada based printer may be able to affordably print full
color if those images are limited to a single signature (group of pages).
Also, Friesen's of Canada _may_ be able to offer a competitive price on
full color printing depending on quantity printed. (Again, see the list
of printers at http://www.aeonix.com )
>
> a. Is half-toning done by the printer, or is it to be embedded in the
> electronic document? I am planning on providing a PDF of the final
> output.
Halftoning is now an aspect of the electronic file.
>
> 5. What kind of paper and printing process should I use? What are the
> tradeoffs
> between quality and cost?
This is advice you'll need to get from a printer. Generally paper is
either coated or uncoated. Coated paper is more expensive (and
physically heavier) and is used for high-quality image reproduction.
Uncoated paper is best for books that contain mostly text and a few
incidental photos. If photos are segregated to a single signature, the
text can be on uncoated paper with the photos on coated.
There are also several finishes to the paper -- matte coated,
semi-gloss, and gloss. Each finish has advantages/disadvantages. High
gloss will give the greates range of brightness to photos ... but also
tends to have more glare, making reading more difficult.
>
> 6. What sort of binding is available? We'd love to have a hardcover,
> but what
> are the tradeoffs in cost and binding types?
The type of book you describe will usually be "perfect bound" (soft
cover) or case bound (hard cover). Various mechanical bindings (spiral,
wire-O, etc.) are available, but offer no particular advantage to your
proposed book.
A case bound book will cost around $3.00 more per copy than the
equivalent soft cover book (in modest quantities -- 2000-5000 copies).
In smaller quantities, the cost differential is higher. In very large
quantities, it is less.
>
> 7. How do you get an ISBN number?
The various self publishing books mentioned above describe the process.
You order a block of 10 numbers from R.R.Bowker (the ISBN Agency for the
U.S., assuming you're in the U.S.) They cost about $250. You can buy
individual numbers, but that is not recommended.
>
> 8. Would printing on my own printer and sending the pages out to be
> bound
> be an option? I have a Lexmark C760 color laserjet 1200 DPI printer.
> This
> would be a small run of books, between 100 and 500 copies.
Not much of an option. Calculate the cost ot toner per page and your
books will be _very_ expensive. The run of 100 to 500 copies is probably
too short to practically have much in the way of color work. You may
want to contact Lightning Source Inc and Fidlar-Doubleday (both digital
printers) to see if they can produce color work in these quantities.
Hard covers may add $5.00 per copy to the cost in these quantities.
>
> Well, that's a start. Any help or pointers would be appreciated.
Your objectives for this book may be rather less than justified by the
market. A well produced railroad history book can do quite well. Check
out the books produced by Signature Press, Berkeley, CA. They have 15-20
titiles -- and generally print 2000-3000 of each title when then need to
go to press to replenish inventories-- and most of their titles remain
"in print" for years and years....
Randy Yates
Thanks so much for this wealth of information in your
comprehensive response.
I do have just a couple of questions:
Stella Abzug wrote:
> [...]
> If you know what you're doing, the Epson Pefection 2400 should do OK.
> Generally 300 dpi at the size of printing is all that's necessary for
> resolution.
I'm really, really surprised by that statement. This is going to be
a photo directory - how can such graininess be acceptable?
Is this perhaps a case of the following situation, which I first
ran into when I bought my (HiTi) dye-sublimination printer: The
"dots" in a laser printer or inkjet printer's DPI are individual
colors, while those in the HiTi can each be a specific color. This
effectively bumps the resolution way up, i.e., 300 DPI on the
HITI is like 1200 DPI+ on the laserjet.
Perhaps the printer's printing equipment prints "dots" at the
full range of colors too?
> You should also be experienced with using Adobe Photoshop.
Why? We are open-desktop people here, using tools from the
open source community. GIMP is probably the tool I'll be using
for photo manipulation.
> Not much of an option. Calculate the cost ot toner per page and your
> books will be _very_ expensive.
It is $0.20 per page. That is expensive?
> Your objectives for this book may be rather less than justified by the
> market. A well produced railroad history book can do quite well. Check
> out the books produced by Signature Press, Berkeley, CA. They have 15-20
> titiles -- and generally print 2000-3000 of each title when then need to
> go to press to replenish inventories-- and most of their titles remain
> "in print" for years and years....
Interesting! How would you suggest we modify our objectives?
Thanks again Stella.
--Randy
Stella Abzug
"Randy Yates" <ya...@ieee.org> wrote:
> Hi Stella,
>
> Thanks so much for this wealth of information in your
> comprehensive response.
>
> I do have just a couple of questions:
>
> Stella Abzug wrote:
> > [...]
> > If you know what you're doing, the Epson Pefection 2400 should do OK.
> > Generally 300 dpi at the size of printing is all that's necessary for
> > resolution.
>
> I'm really, really surprised by that statement. This is going to be
> a photo directory - how can such graininess be acceptable?
>
> Is this perhaps a case of the following situation, which I first
> ran into when I bought my (HiTi) dye-sublimination printer: The
> "dots" in a laser printer or inkjet printer's DPI are individual
> colors, while those in the HiTi can each be a specific color. This
> effectively bumps the resolution way up, i.e., 300 DPI on the
> HITI is like 1200 DPI+ on the laserjet.
>
> Perhaps the printer's printing equipment prints "dots" at the
> full range of colors too?
>
"Dots per inch" is the commonly used term. Actually, it's _pixels_ per
inch in the electronic file (processed by Photoshop or similar program).
Each pixel may (or may not) equate to a "dot" with the printer. When the
image is printed using traditional offset printing, the pixels are
converted to a _line screen_ ... Typically, a halftone line screen of
150 lines per inch is used for "better" quality printing. (Really fine
printing may use higher screen ratings, but I'm guessing a typical
picture book, not a "fine art" book.)
Normally, the rule of thumb is that the pixels per inch in the
electronic file should be about 2 times the lines per inch rating of the
half tone screen to have adequate resolution and avoid "pixelation" or
"jaggies". In reality and depending on the particular image, you can
often get by with only 1.6 pixels per line per inch ... but that leaves
little room for error. I only point this out so you understand the
relationship of pixels to line screen frequencies.
While there are some differences in production digital printing, the
reality is that they rarely generate more than an equivalent of 120 lpi
half tones in color ond black and white digital production printers may
only output about 85 lpi half tones -- some "better" machines may
generate about 100 lpi. The point is that you will not have especially
high quality images when you use production digital printing equipment.
Dye sublimation printers are something else...
So, the generally accepted 8-level digital file (which equals 256 bits
of color informaiton per pixel) is 300 pixels per inch is sufficient
resolution at reproduction size. (That means a larger image at 150 ppi
must be reduced by 50% to equal 300 ppi or a 600 ppi image may be
enlarged 2x to equal 300 ppi.)
Most of the time, photos/images with more resolution simply have the
extra data discarded -- and the only impact is to increase the
processing time. Excess processing might generate extra charges from the
printer due to tying up the equipment for a longer period than expected.
Note: "bitmap" images of "line art" that are simply black or white
pixels are generally scanned at 1000 to 1200 ppi. In that case 1 pixel
equates to 1 dot on the output device.
> > You should also be experienced with using Adobe Photoshop.
>
> Why? We are open-desktop people here, using tools from the
> open source community. GIMP is probably the tool I'll be using
> for photo manipulation.
>
> > Not much of an option. Calculate the cost ot toner per page and your
> > books will be _very_ expensive.
>
> It is $0.20 per page. That is expensive?
That beats the 85 cents pre page of the last color laser printer I
owned... are you sure that the 20 cents prices out the _full_ coverage.
Most printer manufactures quote for 5% coverage -- fair enough when only
text is involved, but large colored images may have 200 to 300% coverage
with toner.
And ... yes, that's expensive for making a book for sale. You should
shoot for a market price that's 8 to 10 times the production cost. A
book that sells for $29.95 should cost about $3 to $4 to print and bind.
This allows for discounts and distribution costs along with other
overhead. (This assumes that most books would be sold through normal
distribution channels. If you can sell more books directly to buyers,
you can get away with a cost to price ration of 3 to 4 ... that is the
selling price should be 3 or 4 times the cost. So a $29.95 book should
cost less than $8 to $10 per copy to produce.
>
> > Your objectives for this book may be rather less than justified by the
> > market. A well produced railroad history book can do quite well. Check
> > out the books produced by Signature Press, Berkeley, CA. They have 15-20
> > titiles -- and generally print 2000-3000 of each title when then need to
> > go to press to replenish inventories-- and most of their titles remain
> > "in print" for years and years....
>
> Interesting! How would you suggest we modify our objectives?
>
Try to guage the interest among railfans and other rail history buffs.
Contact rail museums (all over the U.S.) and see what interest there
might be in stocking the book. Various rail magazines might review the
book and/or be a place to advertise it to get a much larger market
(although paid advertising usually doesn't pay off for selling books).
micha...@mocabookdesign.com
Randy Yates wrote:
> Why? We are open-desktop people here, using tools from the
> open source community. GIMP is probably the tool I'll be using
> for photo manipulation.
>
Be careful with GIMP. I use Photoshop but I know a number of people
building Web sites that use GIMP. The problem with a print environment
is its lack of support for CMYK. I know there is an ad-on that gives
some support but I have seen some CMYK files done with it and they
could get you into trouble on press.
When I'm doing press work I do all colour correction in CMYK. That is
the only way you can be fairly certain what the image will look like on
press. Even then what you see on screen isn't necessarily what you get
in print. Over time you get a feel for the CMYK values and what they
should be for a given colour.
It would be worthwhile to let your printer do any colour correction and
the CMYK conversion. The rest of the design you can do yourself and the
printer can replace RGB images for CMYK just before printing.