MorningStar Posted October 11, 2008 Report Share Posted October 11, 2008 My best friend almost died laughing when I told her about a book I decided to write based on something I wrote for her and her husband. I don't know if any publishers will end up being interested, but if not, I still want to publish it on my own and give it to her. Does anyone know of a good company where you can print a book yourself? My friend says I am the only person who makes her husband laugh until he cries, which makes her laugh until she cries. I can't deny them this book they want so badly. They said they would buy it, but I want to give it to them because they are my #1 fans. It would rule though if I found a publisher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moksha Posted October 11, 2008 Report Share Posted October 11, 2008 There are vanity book publishers in almost every larger city. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justme78 Posted October 11, 2008 Report Share Posted October 11, 2008 (edited) Without knowing the nature of the story, or how long it would be, etc. There's a company that mainly does photo books that you could easily make your own "photo page" by typing it up on pages that are the correct size and saving them as jpegs. I know that sounds like a lot of effort, especially if it's longer...but it's all I know about :-) They usually end up being the size of a coffee table type book (not in thickness...as that's obviously up to you). I'm sorry if this doesn't help...but it's a possibility anyway if it doesn't get picked up by a publishing company!Picaboo - Photo Books and Cards(and they give you a code to get 50% off of your first order...so you could even order 2 books and it would end up only being the price of 1, hehe).Feel free to message me if you have any questions about it, as I've made quite a few and have *way* too much fun with it. Edited October 11, 2008 by justme78 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justme78 Posted October 11, 2008 Report Share Posted October 11, 2008 Oh! I also meant to mention that it could also be fun to incorporate pictures of them or things/places/people that they know to represent things within the story :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elphaba Posted October 11, 2008 Report Share Posted October 11, 2008 Does anyone know of a good company where you can print a book yourself?It depends on whether you want a soft or hard cover. Actually, I doubt you could afford a hard cover, as you wouldn't need enough copies to make it affordable. A soft cover is much cheaper, and if designed well, looks as nice as a hard cover, IMO. If I were you, I would choose high-quality papers for both the signatures (text) and cover. Then, believe it or not, I'd take everything to Kinko's. With today's technology, it puts out products that look as professional as larger printer shops with four-color abilities, especially if you keep the cover design simple.Just a FYI, many people who self-publish tend to go overboard on the cover, cramming their own artwork and photographs onto it, and it always looks very unprofessional.A simple cover made from high quality cover stock, with only the title material printed on it, looks more professional. If you wanted artwork on the cover, it's best to keep it soft and simple. Book covers are always a place where less is definitely more. I used to be in the business, and all of this was an extremely complicated process requiring great mental agility on my part. How do you think it feels to know that today, I could be replaced by Kinkos?!Does anyone here remember Bernoulli disks? Elphaba Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenton Posted October 11, 2008 Report Share Posted October 11, 2008 try lulu? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemidakota Posted October 11, 2008 Report Share Posted October 11, 2008 MS, I do believe there is an book company out of Utah, which publishes small quanties of hard books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockwoodchev Posted October 11, 2008 Report Share Posted October 11, 2008 I agree about lulu. I have a friend who published and his book looks great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorningStar Posted October 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2008 It depends on whether you want a soft or hard cover. Actually, I doubt you could afford a hard cover, as you wouldn't need enough copies to make it affordable. A soft cover is much cheaper, and if designed well, looks as nice as a hard cover, IMO. If I were you, I would choose high-quality papers for both the signatures (text) and cover. Then, believe it or not, I'd take everything to Kinko's. With today's technology, it puts out products that look as professional as larger printer shops with four-color abilities, especially if you keep the cover design simple.Just a FYI, many people who self-publish tend to go overboard on the cover, cramming their own artwork and photographs onto it, and it always looks very unprofessional.A simple cover made from high quality cover stock, with only the title material printed on it, looks more professional. If you wanted artwork on the cover, it's best to keep it soft and simple. Book covers are always a place where less is definitely more. I used to be in the business, and all of this was an extremely complicated process requiring great mental agility on my part. How do you think it feels to know that today, I could be replaced by Kinkos?!Does anyone here remember Bernoulli disks? Elphaba A soft cover would be just perfect and I agree with the simple cover. It's not really a story, but a joke how-to book. Simple works well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moksha Posted October 11, 2008 Report Share Posted October 11, 2008 A simple cover made from high quality cover stock, with only the title material printed on it, looks more professional. A friend of mine did such a book. There was a title, author and a black silhouette of a butterfly, all on a shiny dark red background. It looked professional.Does anyone here remember Bernoulli disks? Elphaba One only needs to utter the magical word 'IOMEGA' and visions of Bernoulli boxes and Jazz drives pop in my head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tomk Posted October 12, 2008 Report Share Posted October 12, 2008 Morning Star: Good luck on your book! I have one I am writing online (see my signature). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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