Self Publishing - Best Quality

[todd_brown1]

Which company does the best job for self publishing, regardless of price?

Does anyone know a self publishing company that will print larger than 13 x 10

or 15.5 x 11.5? Does any body do 12 x 16? or even 13 x 19? Thanks!

[vinny_walsh]

shared ink.com seems to be a good choice and they'll print off one page for you to

evaluate.

i've used lulu and mypublisher: lulu was horrid for print quality, okay customer service.

 

mypublisher was okay for print quality but book preview didn't match final product which

was missing text, etc. no customer service number for them either but they reprint their

mistakes for free and do it quickly. the software wasn't a pleasure to use and they only

had it for the latest mac os so i couldn't do the book on my desktop with calibrated

monitor.

a&i has an indigo machine but their software isn't up yet, last week they told me a couple

weeks. they also will print off one page for evaluation. prices look good for indigo work.

"books"-you use their software and do layout. "custom books"-they do all the work with

your files

[Brad_]

I've done iPhoto-based and Blurb books - both based on HP Indigo 5000 liquid toner

printing. The quality ranges from OK to not so good (at least for the Blurb 7x7 40 page

softcover $13 book). Lulu books are based on Xerox Docutech dry toner printing.<P>

 

For a superior product consider Edition One, in Berkeley, California. <P>

 

Or make your own. I designed and printed a handmade book that's <a href=

"http://www.joereifer.com/words/?p=397">reviewed here</a>. Controlling the printing

and materials makes it nice.

[qtluong]

If you want the best regardless of price, you need to go to a traditional printer. In the US, two of the best ones are Brilliant Graphics from PA and Dual Graphics from CA.

[Brad_]

>>> If you want the best regardless of price,

 

Ah, I missed the "regardless of price." With respect to quality, conventional offset

lithography using real printer's inks will always beat out on-demand one-off printing -

especially from a quality printer like Dual (David Gardner - Ansel's printer). If volume is

what's being sought then offset lithography is the way to go. There are printers in

Singapore and China - with sales offices in the US that can do a good job.

 

But then you need to order at least 1K books - a lot of money. For most. without

distribution and a market, that half-ton of books will suck up a lot of garage space...

[sprouty]

<I>"For most. without distribution and a market, that half-ton of books will suck up a lot of garage space...</I>

<P>

OH SNAP!

[scott_brim]

Several months ago, I received my first proof copy of a print-on-demand 11x13, hardcover 120 page color photo book from Blurb, including a dust jacket. The price was $75.

 

The images were sharp, with excellent saturation, and the color values were very consistent with what my color-managed workflow said should be produced.

 

The only adjustments I made were to move some page content left or right to account for binding gutter, and to adjust the density of some images very slightly.

 

Later copies of the book have been absolutely consistent from batch to batch.

 

I doubt than any but the most expensive and most experienced color lithographers could do as well as the Blurb print-on-demand process did in producing this large format book.

 

The benefit of this approach is that I have complete end-to-end control over the quality of the product, both editorially and technically.

[antrygrevok]

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/retrospective-book.shtml