telophase
2007-11-06 03:43 pm UTC (link)

Comixpress has a lousy track record in answering my email - i.e. I've received one reply from them, ever. And the two people I know who sent them projects to be printed had them delayed for months and had their emails about it never replied to. I think one of them ended up withdrawing their project, and I'm not sure what the other one did. I've heard unsubstantiated rumors that books printed by them came out pretty shoddy, but again that's unsubstantiated.

I ended up going with Lightning Source to self-publish our comic. They were prompt, efficient, and professional. They can't guarantee full bleeds on pages, but when they reprinted Project Blue Rose for us, we were quite satisfied with the results - a little white strip at the bottom of most of the full bleed pages, which was easily ignored.

I go for perfect binding, because it looks professional.

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	coffeebun 2007-11-07 05:00 am UTC (link)
	checks site They print books on demand? Do they have rates on their website? And thank you! We asked around and found that several people had bad experiences with comixpress (the printing delayed for several months, comixpress always being fully booked, no response in email, and the quality of the printing in general). (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

telophase
2007-11-07 05:06 am UTC (link)

To get their rates, you have to go partway through their sign-up process, and at some point during that you download a PDF with the rates. It's before you commit, though, so don't worry about accidentally signing up. :)

IIRC - it's been several months since I paid them - it was a slightly higher sign-up fee at the outset, but the per-copy price was lower, so the overall fees for 100-150 books were comparable to ... ah, hell, the Dreamwhatever press whose name I can't remember that stopped printing other people's books a year ago that we did the first run of PBR through.

They also tend to run specials, I think at the moment there's a discount on something if you order at least 50 books. I got an email about that last week, although I deleted it since we're not planning another print run in the near future.

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	minor hijack coyotegirl 2007-11-07 05:27 am UTC (link)
	Ooh, you're part of that project? Just want to say that I enjoyed it a great deal. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: minor hijack telophase 2007-11-07 01:23 pm UTC (link)
	Artist. :D Thank you! why have I not put my PBR icon on this account? (Reply to this)(Parent)

	julesnoctambule 2007-11-06 04:31 pm UTC (link)
	Most of what I can tell you about Lulu is that they're moving their headquarters down the street from where I live, so if you pick them and they give you trouble I can tell you exactly where to find them. I've heard good things about them on the whole, actually, and am planning to use them myself to make a collection of family recipes to give as holiday gifts. (Reply to this)(Thread)

tephra
2007-11-06 06:32 pm UTC (link)

My housemate has published with Lulu and I have to say the books (both hard cover and paperback) are very well made. Note that he's publishing novels so I can't comment on the quality of their graphic printing. You can however just go through the formatting and get the book together and order one to see how it looks, the books aren't offered to the public until you release them.

If you do choose Lulu, think twice about their distribution deal (that costs $150 if I remember correctly). While it will get your book on Amazon the suggested retail will be priced so high that you're unlikely to get sales. For example, the hardcover version of Bill's book was priced at $18 before the deal ($2 profit for him per book) but after the deal the price in the Lulu store (full retail, cannot be lowered) is $36! Sure, if people buy it there he gets the extra markup a bookstore would normally get, but who buys a slim hardcover for $36 other than supportive family and friends?

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	julesnoctambule 2007-11-06 11:35 pm UTC (link)
	I wouldn't even buy my own book if it cost that much! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

tephra
2007-11-06 11:55 pm UTC (link)

He's shopping around for another publisher for his series. Hilltown (the book he published with LuLu) was a test case.

Lulu is great, so long as you don't go in for that distribution deal. Get your own ISBN and include it in your own cover manually (or just include it inside the book) and do your own promotion and you'd probably do better.

As with everything else it seems, it pays to know how to work the system.

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	lady7jane 2007-11-06 09:09 pm UTC (link)
	I've heard nothing but good things about RDR Books. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	cmdr_zoom 2007-11-06 09:18 pm UTC (link)
	sporfle I KNEW someone was going to mention them. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	coffeebun 2007-11-07 01:03 am UTC (link)
	snortgiggle (Reply to this)(Parent)

	kaen 2007-11-07 02:11 am UTC (link)
	From what I've heard (although this might've changed since last year when I was making a photobook for a Christmas present) Lulu is the best bet if you're making a book that's primarily text, and Blurb gets you better quality if it's going to be full of color photos, although it's pricier and the formats are kind of restrictive. (Reply to this)

	mistressrenet 2007-11-07 04:55 pm UTC (link)
	If you can do page layouts yourself and are just printing fifty copies, you might want to check your local yellow pages for printers. Most small printers can do a perfect-bound book now, you could do your own press check, etc. (Reply to this)