Print editions

[Robert Lehmann]

Dear lovers of dead wood,

I have been experimenting with printing (ie., self-publishing) our material.  I have used Lulu, which netted at $11.33 for a single printed copy of Python for beginners.  The overall result looks pretty neat and they have small discounts for bulk orders (starting with 3% for 15–29 copies.)

For licensing reasons I have added a responsible author (OpenTechSchool e. V.) and a list of contributors (available in all exported formats as of a few days ago.)  I did not apply any other changes to the material;  only that terrible cover I have cobbled together in their applet.

I propose adding a Buy now button to our online material for those who prefer a printed copy.  Do you think this is a good idea?  Do you have anything I should consider?

Cheers,

Robert

[Rachel Uwa]

hi Robert,

way to take initiative, i applaud your efforts:)

quick question-- is that Python for Beginners font-- comic sans?

I believe there is a style guide listed somewhere which contains the standard colors and fonts which

should be used to keep the brand consistent.

Also-- im curious-- would there be any way for the e.V. to benefit ever so slightly from this?

even something like €1 per copy printed? is this even a possibility?

looking forward to hearing from you:)

cheers,rachel

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[Rachel Uwa]

hi Robert,

way to take initiative, i applaud your efforts:)

quick question-- is that Python for Beginners font-- comic sans?

I believe there is a style guide listed somewhere which contains the standard colors and fonts which

should be used to keep the brand consistent.

Also-- im curious-- would there be any way for the e.V. to benefit ever so slightly from this?

even something like €1 per copy printed? is this even a possibility?

looking forward to hearing from you:)

cheers,rachel

On Fri, Jun 13, 2014 at 6:13 PM, Rachel Uwa <rache...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Benjamin Kampmann]

Styleguide is here: http://www.opentechschool.org/handbooks/styles.html

Re: Cover.  If we want to really advertise this for printing, I'd say, we need to give it a good Cover, too. I looked at this (for personal reasons), too and found Canva has a great cover designer (use the Kindle-template) to get some really great book covers up and ready in really short time. And unless you use any of the paid items (which are 1$ each), it is totally free, too.

Re Structure: just out of curiosity, how did you make that happen? Did you compile the PDF version and uploaded that to Lulu? Can we "automatise" that process? So that it work across translations and is up to date with latest master without someone manually updating it? Maybe Leanpup (which has github support) might be an interesting stop-over-solution to get that done.

Re Selling it: Especially if part of that goes as a donation to OTS e.V., I'd say, sure, why not? Though I personally feel that 11.33$ area already a relatively high price. Is that including shipping?

Thanks for the initiative. That's a really great idea and I feel especially for the whole IT-Labs, Paper material can help a lot.

\o/ Ben

P.S.: OpenTechSchool Berlin's full-time code-learning programme and hacker master-class "Hackership" opened applications for Batch-1 taking place Summer 2014. Apply now (open until June 8th).


Core Team Member, Berlin - OpenTechSchool

[Robert Lehmann]

re style:  Yes, please!  The current cover is just my feeble attempt at graphic design (which, you can see, is not my best skill … maybe I should take an OTS course on this.)  Canva looks great;  if we want to launch this publicly, I would ask somebody other than me to do the cover design though. :-)

(The font, by the way, is not Comic Sans, and I strongly deny any such claims!)

re process:  This all happened manually from Sphinx' PDF export (make latex && cd _build/latex/en && make).  Lulu once had an API which they closed 1½ months ago.  I'm not convinced a continuous approach is useful here though, as we might want to have curated releases at least for print editions.

re price:  I goofed up there.  The price is apparently about $4.40 (excl. VAT), plus around $7 shipping to Germany by mail.  (They also offer UPS and priority express.)  That is for a "Perfect Bound Standard Paperback US Trade" (ie., not A4.)

You can play around with the options (see Binding options and the Book Cost Calculator) to get a lower price, but watch out for their US Only shipping.  "Perfect Bound Standard Paperback Cream US Trade" (ie., non-white background) ends up at $2.09.

re profits:  Absolutely.  Lulu is a self-publishing platform, so it revolves around royalties and commission (20%, ±manufacturing cost.)  I played around a bit and when we go for the lowest manufacturing cost, selling for $5 (excl. shipping) gives us a $1.90 revenue.

They also offer distribution on Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and Ingram, which is another 25–50% retail markup.

re leanpub:  IMO the build process seems easy enough for now.  Even though the Lulu interface is a bit clunky and old-fashioned, you can just upload a PDF and select a cover and you're good.

If we indeed want a continuous solution,  Leanpub only supports Markdown IIUC, which is —at least for python-beginners— a deal breaker.  If somebody wants to take a hit at using Pandoc or rst2md to convert and then maybe Travis CI build artifacts to store the converted Markdown, go ahead.

There are other providers like Amazon CreateSpace ($2.15-ish per copy, plus $5 for 32-day shipping or $8 for 7-day shipping) or Snowfall Press ($2.25-ish per copy, plus $25 shipping.)

Cheers,

Robert