Message-ID: <CA15230885AC45ABAEB1120755AC1BD9@JensenPC> From: "Don Jensen" <dnjkenosha@wi.rr.com> Subject: Re: Question re Book Printing Date: Tue, 8 Nov 2011 17:16:11 -0600
I am not clear why you are considering 8-1/2 by 11, A standard size is
5-1/2 by 8-1/2. The latter is a handier size and binding is easier and,
in my view, sturdier.
And you have an attractive book, easier to sell, than one of those 8-1/2
by 11 coil/comb bound things that look like a school workbook!
And you get 4 pages per sheet, rather than two, at the 8-1/2 by 11 size
sheet. As suggested, you should have it laid out in final form as
5-1/2 by 8-1/2 pages with
your own software. Surely, in your group, you have someone who is
savvy enough with computers to do so, lay it out, insert photos,
whatever, with page numbering, etc.
In short... having the book camera-ready for the printer. Type size
should be about 9 pt on 10 pt. spacing, or maybe, for us old timers, an
easier to read 10 pt on 11 pt. spacing.
That means you are handling this first part of the “publishing
job” with your own volunteers at no out-of-pocket expense.. No
need to spend money on a publisher.
Take your camera ready text to a printer, and pay only for the printing
and binding. Have the layout of the pages done by your volunteer,
I’d guess that laid out in camera-ready 5-1/2 by 8-1/2 in pages,
you probably are talking 200 to 220 pages. I would go soft cover
(heavier stock for the cover, of course)
and “Perfect” (glued) binding (too many pages for the
previously mentioned saddle-stapled, which as noted is easy and cheap
for say a 50 page pamphlet)
Your chosen printer should be able to take your camera-ready pages and
print and bind the books.
Financing the books is an important part of success. After you have
your camera-ready pages, take them to the printer and get cost estimates
for the cost of producing a finished bound book
With that knowledge, estimate how many books you will sell initially,.
These are the PRE-PUBLICATION paid orders. Then promote the
forthcoming book like crazy. . . local newspaper
promotion, local radio station promotion (both should be free), have a
sign up promotion at your institution, have board members promote
PRE-PUB orders from friends,
acquaintances. . If your printer’s price is, say $5 per
issue, and you believe you can sell 100 copies, PRE PUBLICATION by
offering these early buyers a special deal, say $9.95 vs a later $12.95
price, that is an incentive for early pre-pub. sales.
Then you have cash up front, in my example,, $995 to pay the printer.
At, for example, a $5 per copy price,he prints/binds 199 copies. You
distribute the 100 pre-pub copies, and you have 99 more copies to sell
at full price of $12.95 at your institution’s gift shop over the
next year, two years, whatever.
That gives you merchandise to sell that can bring a profit of $280, in
my example, with no up front outlay.
Now my numbers are simply examples. The Point is to price your
PRE-PUB sales to bring in money in advance of the printing/binding. The
pre-pub sales
should produce enough money pay for maybe a third to a half more
finished copies of the book than your PRE-PUB sales. That is a
remaining surplus of “free”
books you can sell at full price for your profit. No risking your own
Society’s money here. If your printer keeps the original
plates, he can easily, and more cheaply,
produce more copies when you’ve sold out your original gift shop
stock. This book can be self sustaining for years, this way.
The PRE-PUB sales effort should be intense and not last more than about
6 to 8 weeks before you can deliver the copies to PRE-PUB buyers. It
is all doable, I assure you.
Don Jensen
Kenosha History Center
From: sara m steele
Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2011 2:41 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
haleppin@centurytel.net