In one of yesterday's reviews I mentioned MagCloud as a viable alternative to Lulu for print-on-demand gamebooks. Caveats include that they only do 8.5" x 11" books in the 4 to 100 page range, they may only offer staple-bound (I'm not sure on that point) and it costs 20 cents a page. On the plus side that 20 cents gets you full color.
My buddy Pat sent me a link to Ka-Blam as another possibility. They're set up to do POD comics and manga. Their 5" x 7.5" manga format is mighty close to the booklet formats of which I am so enamoured. Publishing my Miscellaneum of Cinder through them would cost less than half as much as Lulu, allowing me to lower the price and/or increase the profits dramatically. Ka-Blam offers an option where they will lower the unit cost if you agree to them inserting a full page ad into the work, either on one of the inside covers or the back. Which also bring up another point: Lulu doesn't let you print anything on the inside covers as far as I can tell. That's two blank surfaces the customers are paying for that could be filled with content.
A Return to the Stars
-
After a veeeeerrrryyyy long, and mostly unplanned, hiatus, Stuart and I got
together to play more Stargrave in recent days. It was good! It was also a
bit ...
%202.png)
.JPG)
.png)
.gif)
Posts
Since you mentioned Ka-Blam I thought I'd mention this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.comixpress.com/
It's POD and their prices and various formats are not too bad.
I once came close to putting up a d30 table to help the folks at Lulu determine exactly how to botch or destroy your order. They seem to be doing a better job lately though. It does seem kind of ridiculous that they can't or won't print on the inside covers - it'd be nice to have maps there for example.
ReplyDeleteI'd give my right arm for a service that lets you print just a couple or a few pages in color. The resolution charts in the ZeFRS hardcopy are black & white because Lulu wouldn't do just one color page. Anybody know of a service that does?
ReplyDeleteVerification word: orseboug. A rarely used Belgian epithet.
Mark, any reason you aren't putting the charts on the back cover?
ReplyDeleteComixpress is great - we just used them to print my wife's Cook Book. :)
ReplyDeleteIn case you are thinking of polling, I've always thought that books should be published in a magazine-like format with ads of interest to the book's demographic... so if you can increase profits and/or lower prices with interior ads, I say go for it.
ReplyDeleteMark, any reason you aren't putting the charts on the back cover?
The perfect solution, and the one used by boxed set publishers in better days.
Jeff & Vincent
ReplyDeleteThere are actually two versions of the chart: a roll-over one & a roll-under one. There's really no reason for that beyond the fact that some people prefer one over the other. (Plus it adds another smidgen of original content, so it's at least that much farther away from flat out plagiarism.)
I suppose I could put the roll-under one on the back. There's nothing there now but some explanatory fluff. No need for that on a book that isn't going to be picked up off a shelf & examined.
Jeff & Vincent
ReplyDeleteThere are actually two versions of the chart: a roll-over one & a roll-under one. There's really no reason for that beyond the fact that some people prefer one over the other. (Plus it adds another smidgen of original content, so it's at least that much farther away from flat out plagiarism.)
I suppose I could put the roll-under one on the back. There's nothing there now but some explanatory fluff. No need for that on a book that isn't going to be picked up off a shelf & examined.
Damn double post.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think to put both charts on the back they'd have to be shrunk down so far they'd be illegible.
I am stoked to hear about these other options after all of the negative feedback I've heard about Lulu.
ReplyDeleteHave you checked out http://www.thegamecrafter.com ?
ReplyDeleteNot sure how the prices stack up, but they do offer some neat things that no other POD shop does (cards, boxes, dice, etc.).
Ka-blam now offers bulk discounts on their TPB and mangas!
ReplyDeleteDon't forget Indyplanet.com to sell your book and
Comiscmonkey.com to get your book into retail comic shops!
Jenni Gregory
jennigregory.com
ka-blam.com
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know of a POD publisher that does recycled paper?
ReplyDeleteJeff, thanks for posting this. Occasionally I am concerned that so many of us publishers have depended on lulu, and that if it ever goes broke or substantially changes its practices all these great things won't be as available anymore. It's good to know there are other viable options, especially for adventures and small projects.
ReplyDeleteone note: magcloud doesn't ship internationally. :\
ReplyDeleteFor my part, I consider Lulu a novelty option which I am amused by but don't depend on (it accounts for less than 5% of Cumberland's revenues, and I design my books _specifically_ for the home printer rather than PoCD). Since I have low expectations for Lulu, they've never disappointed me.
ReplyDeleteBUT ... it's definitely nice to have more options to consider, and I assume given a few more years we'll have dozens.
Ka-Blam does sound interesting ... and the inability to do anything on the inside of a cover is the one and only reason there's no "replica booklet" version of Encounter Critical available from Lulu ...