Designers with printed books: who do you print with and how's their service?
Anna Kreider:
Hi, Gregor
Thanks for the feedback.
Follow-up question: Do you do all of your printing through American printers? Or do you ever print stuff with local printers?
Thanks,
~Anna
Gregor Hutton:
Oh, I should clarify that despite Fidlar-Doubleday's multiple printings of Hot War meaning it wasn't available for a number of weeks, the end result was the books that CGS paid for printed to a good standard. I don't know what the compensation they received was, but given my treatment by FD I assume it was generous.
I have printed almost all of my books in the US. The only run I have ever made outside of the US was a very short run of Solipsist through LULU here in the UK. The quality of the LULU books was good and the higher cost of printing in the UK was partially offset by the cheaper shipping. We were selling the books at a convention so all of the money from customers was coming to us, so we (David and I) could live with a slightly higher unit cost.
I have experience of printing with Lightning Source in the UK. Contested Ground Studios printed a supplement (that I helped write and edit) exclusively for a convention through them. In my opinion (again, I won't speak for CGS) they were terrible. The quality of that book was shot, the customer service was terrible (trying to pay them was a nightmare) and to this day you can find the book through online retailers such as Tesco (a Walmart equivalent in the UK), Blackwell's Bookshop, and so on. Whether they would deliver a book should you order one is an unanswered question. But despite repeated information that it was a limited run for only this convention (30 copies, ever), they still put its details into the distribution network. I would rather give up printing than use Lightning Source. (I know that's irrational, perhaps, based on one experience, but there you go, they were that bad.)
In my day job we used to use UK printers (in fact, my favourite one went bust last week costing hundreds of jobs in Oxfordshire) but now we use the global market (Singapore/Malaysia/China ... Vietnam will be next). UK printers are not cheap in my experience, especially when compared with these overseas printers, so I have yet to find a good, cheap short-run printer in the UK.
Perhaps I should investigate Finland?
Jason Morningstar:
Oh man, I was just waiting for someone to tell me Publisher's Graphics had slipped. They've been good to us but printers appear to be a moving target in terms of consistent quality and service.
Pelgrane:
Quote from: Gregor Hutton on December 18, 2008, 10:58:21 AM
In my day job we used to use UK printers (in fact, my favourite one went bust last week costing hundreds of jobs in Oxfordshire) but now we use the global market (Singapore/Malaysia/China ... Vietnam will be next). UK printers are not cheap in my experience, especially when compared with these overseas printers, so I have yet to find a good, cheap short-run printer in the UK.
Perhaps I should investigate Finland?
I can echo this - UK printers are very expensive, even taking into account the weakness of UK currency, and any shipping savings.
lorry:
If you are looking for a short run printer in the UK, would you please take a look at the company I work for?
www.inkylittlefingers.co.uk
All short run books (i.e. under 1,000) are depatched within a week and I think our prices are pretty good? I don't want to try your patience with any sales patter, but would be very happy to chat if anyone has questions.
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