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| kunger00 |
 Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 11:56 am Post subject: Recommended Print On Demand (POD) services for single print |
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Patron
Joined: 17 Jan 2008
Posts: 149
Location: central Texas
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Can anyone recommend a company for printing and binding of PDF's?
I used to use Print(fu) but they have since given up on that market and now simply do a search engine thing...
I don't want to print my pdf's out myself, going through reams of paper and gallons of ink... and I want my final print bound in some manner...
Kinko's etc costs a fortune to print...
Is there an alternative?
I've got my copy of Banewarrens on my Ptolus cd that came with my Ptolus purchase... and I would like to get it printed off...
Fortunately, everything Wolfgang makes in pdf he also makes available in dead tree version. 
Any help?
Keith |
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| Wolfgang |
| Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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Kobold Overlord
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 4987
Location: The Mines
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Well, I use Lulu.com for most of the POD projects. It's worked so far, at a reasonable cost, with ok binding.
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Wolfgang Baur
Publisher, Kobold Press |
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| kunger00 |
| Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 5:00 am Post subject: |
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Patron
Joined: 17 Jan 2008
Posts: 149
Location: central Texas
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| Wolfgang wrote: |
| Well, I use Lulu.com for most of the POD projects. It's worked so far, at a reasonable cost, with ok binding. |
Maybe I missed it then... I looked at Lulu briefley (because that is who you print through when I buy my hard copies of OD projects)... but I failed to notice a place where someone could upload a pdf and print a single copy. I saw where authors could upload works for printing... is that where I would do it? Do I just pretend I'm Monte Cook and print out Banewarrens?
Or am I missing it?
Keith |
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| Wolfgang |
| Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 10:06 am Post subject: |
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Kobold Overlord
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 4987
Location: The Mines
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Hm. Well, if it is a book you wrote, then doing it as an author makes sense.
If it is someone else's copyrighted material, I think lulu's Terms and Conditions forbid you from using them as a print service.
_________________
Wolfgang Baur
Publisher, Kobold Press |
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| kunger00 |
| Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 10:48 am Post subject: |
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Patron
Joined: 17 Jan 2008
Posts: 149
Location: central Texas
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That is what I thought.
It's not a pdf I wrote. It is a PDF that I bought. But I don't want to print it out at home. I want it printed nicely and bound.
Print(fu) used to do it but they stopped. I know I can have it printed and bound at Kinko's but they are INCREDIBLY expensive! (they charged me almost $5 to send a 2 page fax today! I can't imagine how much a 130 page pdf would cost printed double sided and bound!)
Oh well... I guess this is one more reason to get a laptop... to use pdf's at my gaming table.
keith |
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| Erekose13 |
| Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 9:16 am Post subject: |
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Patron
Joined: 02 Jan 2008
Posts: 52
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| Best method I've found is to buy a cheap b/w laser printer, they are down to about $100 and toner at about the same will generate 3500-4000 pages on average. For $200 I've managed to print out about 5 thick binders of pdfs. |
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| kunger00 |
| Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 7:59 am Post subject: |
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Patron
Joined: 17 Jan 2008
Posts: 149
Location: central Texas
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There in lies the problem...
I *COULD* spend $100 buying a disposable printer (I won't even get started on the sadness I experience with the thought of printers being cheaper than buying replacement ink cartridges)
However, I still have the same issues...
I don't currently *HAVE* the $100... I have closer to $30 than the $100. Sure, the printer would print out a dozen PDFs but I don't have a dozen I want to print. And I don't want to have $70 worth of printer tied up until the next time I want to print a pdf.
Second issue is that I don't want 130 pages of pdf. I want 65 pages front and back. I know how to manually print a pdf to get it to print double sided... but honestly, I have better things to do.
And my final issue is that I want it bound. Not in a binder, but at the minimum, spiral bound. Ideally I'd like it perfect bound. Of course, this is a minor issue if I *DID* print it out myself as I can go to a Kinko's and get it bound in about 5 minutes. But that brings me back to the first two issues above... 1)$ 2)time.
Hence why Print(fu) was so convenient. All I had to do was upload and wait for the package to arrive in the mail.
oh well.... |
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| Rambling Scribe |
| Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 10:51 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 17 Jan 2008
Posts: 4
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I recently bought a continuous ink system for my printer. It replaces the ink cartridges with connectors that are attached to ink tanks that hold at least ten times as much ink. The system is cheap, the ink is good (I use pigment ink) and the replacement ink for all four colours costs less than one cartridge! I have had a few bubbles in the line that have caused one colour to shut down briefly, but my printing costs have gone down dramatically.
One caveat: the installation instructions are in Engrish and a little hard to follow, and some of the pieces are a little tricky to fit into place.
LINK
(I have an Epson C88+ printer, that cost me $80)
_________________
Craig Shackleton
"Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success." - Sir Ernest Shackleton, 1907 |
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| kunger00 |
| Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 2:51 pm Post subject: |
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Patron
Joined: 17 Jan 2008
Posts: 149
Location: central Texas
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Interesting.
Thanks for the link. |
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| farewell2kings |
| Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 1:18 pm Post subject: |
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Patron
Joined: 28 Feb 2008
Posts: 14
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| I just use Kinkos because the cost of printing and binding from them is only about 20% higher than a regular pre-printed game book and to me that's worth the expense considering that I now have both the PDF and the luxury of a book that I can lay down flat (that's worth it to me). |
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