I'm looking for some information about printing comics in book form. I've been doing a three-panel strip every month for about two and a half years for a magazine in Chicago. They've recently decided to stop running it, so I'm thinking of collecting them into a pocket sized book (ie one panel per page, about 80+ pages). I have absolutely no experience with printing my own comics. I've found a few printers online, but I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations. Who's decent? I'm looking to print more of a mini comic, not standard size, in black and white. One added complication is that I live in Japan, but I've got people at home who can give me a hand with distribution, etc.
I do mostly black and white books but to me the quality is right up there with what you find on the shelf. I can't remember the weight of paper used but it's a nice, heavier stock and not just copy paper shoved into a cover. The print quality is almost up there with pro titles from bigger publishers but you can notice a slight difference.
With Lulu, what's the cost ultimately for the reader? I looked through their books and everything seemed to be over $10. I can't imagine too many people are going to want to pay that. Chris and Townie, what were the cover prices on your books?
Also are there any printing companies I should definately stay away from? And why?
$9.99 per book for all of my current titles.
I'd just make sure that whatever company you go with they don't expect you to give up any rights to your work. It's not worth the headache to get published.
[quote:1de895602c="bigcheesepress"]I've been looking into Lulu lately, but have some reservations. How good is the quality with Lulu? Does the end result look professional, or does it look like something printed off of an office deskjet printer, or on 30lb paper?
I bought a book as a Christmas present for my friend and was really surprised with the quality. I've been curious myself about them so when my friend mentioned she wanted one of their books, it worked out pretty well.
The book is about 10.5 x 6.5. I figured that at that size it might mess up the quality of the art but it looks almost as good as a professional publisher. Out of all the webcomic books I've bought, I'm really impressed with it. I agree with Chris that there's something not quite perfect about it (I just can't place my finger on it), but it's still worth it.
Heck, it looks better than the "Megatokyo" books Dark Horse is publishing.
--Jacob
Blue Sky
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Printing
I'm looking for some information about printing comics in book form. I've been doing a three-panel strip every month for about two and a half years for a magazine in Chicago. They've recently decided to stop running it, so I'm thinking of collecting them into a pocket sized book (ie one panel per page, about 80+ pages). I have absolutely no experience with printing my own comics. I've found a few printers online, but I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations. Who's decent? I'm looking to print more of a mini comic, not standard size, in black and white. One added complication is that I live in Japan, but I've got people at home who can give me a hand with distribution, etc.
RE: Printing
Erm, well, I don't know how well it would work for you given your location (with shipping costs and all) but I've always been really happy with Lulu @ www.lulu.com
RE: Printing
Chris thanks. My location is not a major issue. My comic is in English, and I intend to take orders online and have someone (ie friend or family) ship it from the States. I just took Lulu's tour. I'm not sure if they can print a book to the size specifications I had in mind. It seemed like their smallest option was 7.5"x7.5". Although I am still flexible at this point. My big question was about Lulu keeping 20% of the book's profits. How does that work out? Do they reduce the cost of printing to even it out? Why did you decide to go with Lulu?
RE: Printing
They have a basic cover and binding fee that's like $4 and some change and then it's like $0.02 a page per black and white. You charge whatever profit you want on top of that flat cost. I went with Lulu originally because they were one of the first to get their POD services off the ground and with quality that I liked.
The standard sizes they offer right now are:
6 x 9
7.5 x 7.5
8.5 x 11
9 x 7
6.625 x 10.25
And I'm not mistaken but I think they'll trim your book down as long as it isn't larger than 8.5 x 11 (but you'll want to contact them to confirm).
I've been looking into Lulu lately, but have some reservations. How good is the quality with Lulu? Does the end result look professional, or does it look like something printed off of an office deskjet printer, or on 30lb paper?
[quote:04fd864552="bigcheesepress"]I've been looking into Lulu lately, but have some reservations. How good is the quality with Lulu? Does the end result look professional, or does it look like something printed off of an office deskjet printer, or on 30lb paper?
I think their quality's pretty good. My only problem was the pricing, since I ran a full color strip for several years and to collect it annually was rather expensive. If I'd done a b/w book as big as my first collection, it would have cost me about $9. (One of the reasons I switched to b/w to check out the effects in the long run) Really, if you have any reservations about the quality, just order a sample book. I've found that, as long as your source files are the proper resolution, you shouldn't have any problems. I'd also recommend looking into Comixpress and Dimestore Productions to see what services fit your needs