From: "Heritage Center" <info@nrheritagecenter.org> Subject: RE: Question re Book Printing Date: Tue, 8 Nov 2011 15:26:45 -0600 Message-ID: <000301cc9e5d$1eb5a670$5c20f350$@org>
All of the books the Heritage Center sells are soft cover. Think of the
cost
of hardcover books. It may not pay for you to have them published as
such if
you are not selling mass market books.
Also think of shipping costs for hard cover vs. soft cover.
Rachél Starbuck
New Richmond Heritage Center
1100 Heritage Dr
New Richmond, WI 54017
www.NRHeritageCenter.org
715-246-3276
From: localhistory-request@listserve.uwec.edu
[mailto:localhistory-request@listserve.uwec.edu] On Behalf Of sara m
steele
Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2011 2:42 PM
To: localhistory@listserve.uwec.edu
Subject: Re: Question re Book Printing
Hi
I second what Nancy said about looking at your market carefully as you
make
your decisions about hard or soft cover and number of copies..
Number of copies
Also, look at your storage space. Do you have space to store a large
quantity of books which will slowly sell over the next twenty years? Or
are
you going to aim for a shorter market time and smaller number of copies?
Guess at how many will sell now and at what price people will be
interested
in paying. Then consider the cost of that number vs the cost of
ordering
and storing more. Also check on the costs and procedures of doing
reruns
before you make a decision.
Think, too, of the number of courtesy copies you will need to budget
for--school IMC's, your library, WHS, other library archives, people
who
worked on the book, or supplied much of the material. In strict
accounting
those courtesy copies lower the amount from sales and raise the cost per
book sold. That raises a question of your society's purpose in printing
the
book. Is it to raise money or is it to make information available in a
print form now and for later generations and you will be happy if you
break
even?
You may want to look for sponsors who will pick up part or all of the
printing costs.
Consider your market potential
Be prepared that the market may be very small. There are a few true
history
buffs in most communities who will purchase a local history book. And a
few
people who are willing and able to buy to support your society
regardless of
whether or not they ever get around to reading it . The number and type
of
photos and the amount of interesting items about people, places,and
events
currently living in your community or the relatives of those who have
lived
in your community will attract some people just because of their
memories,.
Proud as we may be of a local history book, there often is not a huge
market. Often the more comprehensive and remote the content is the
fewer
people will buy it.
I think some Societies have asked for advance orders to help gauge the
market.
Publisher or printer?
Also consider the difference between a publisher and a printer. We send
our
specific topic reports to an excellent printer who simply prints the
copy
ready PDF file. They do a proof if we want it, print, and then will
deliver
the finished product. They take no responsibility for the content other
than they did ask me to change a table in the Civil War report when a
table
was so large it got into the margins.
However, we have never tried to run 150 pages. We do specific topic
reports
of about 50 pages which can be center stapled. I don't know whether
printers do the professional bind and book size you will want for 150
pages.. However, contact me (smsteele@wisv.edu) if you like and I will
give
you the email address of the man I work with at Coakly Tech.
Our first report was done at a routine print shop (Fed Ex, Office Depot,
Kinkos, etc.) with the spiral binding, but the slick cover, center
staple
from a printing company is more professional looking and surprisingly
inexpensive.
Depending on the publisher, the publisher may provide some additional
services at cost. Before the days of desk top
printing and the ease of inserting photos, one almost had to go through
a
book publisher.
By the way, if you decide to check out printers, be sure to to include
who
ever does the printing of your local newspaper. They may not be able to
take on the job, but by contacting the editor and inquiring you might be
paving the way for publicity later.
Making the book available for sale
The getting the book into the hands of readers sometimes requires as
much
thought as the actual writing of a book. Hopefully your Society have a
member who will do the marketing and handle sales. Will you only have
it
available at your museum or heritage house? Will you have a booth at a
festival, pan cake breakfast or other places the community gathers?
will
you have sales outlets? Will you have someone monitoring to be sure
that no
books other than the courtesy copies go out without dollars coming in?
Sorry, as you have noticed, when I get thinking about a topic, my
fingers
fly.
Sara Steele
Cottage Grove Area Historical Society
On 11/7/2011 8:02 PM, Arlene Leppin wrote:
Any tips or suggestions on printing a book for our Historical Society?
It
will be about 150 pages, and was wondering what publishers other
societies
used. Any tips, and things to beware of, please let me know. Also,
what
format would you recommend? A soft cover 8x11 or a hard covered book?
How
many copies should we order with the first printing? Any ideas would
help.
Arlene Leppin
Fairwater Historical Society