self publishing

[Belilica]

As a gift for a very close online friend of mine, I was thinking about getting a few of each of our short stories published into something looking like a hardcover novel. I would only need 2 copies, one for him, one for me. Does anyone know of any way I could accomplish something like that? I have all the material together, but no idea how to get it in print. In case you guessed, yes, it's a friend from Lit here, but I dont think he comes on much anymore. We've become amazing friends over the phone and stuff. I want to give him something personal, something that he would like. If you have ideas, post them please, or feel free to e mail/PM me.

Bel

 

[WriterDom]

You can do a search on "print on demand publishing" and see what's out there. But there are fixed costs in publishing and to do 2 books isn't going to be practical. If you get 25 printed, and have 23 friends you can sell to, it might work.

 

[Native Alien]

if you don't mind the cost, the best thing to do is to print the ones off yourself that you want, and put them into a hardcover shell.

you can go to one of the craft stores that sells memory book stuff and get everything that you need...it would be cheaper and even more personal because you make the cover for the "book" yourself...

let me know how it works out please because i might want to try it meself...

 

[Belilica]

I was thinking about doing it by hand, and that would work too. I've made myself writing books and stuff like that before, I'm planning on making others for friends this year for Yule. The thing that I'd have trouble with if I printed them myself would be the layout of the pages, which is why I ws thinking professional. If I can find someone who will do 25, perhaps I will have that done, the only thing is that the writing that will be in there are stories that only the two of us have seen. I'm not sure if 23 of my closest friends want to read my erotica It's a great idea tho, thanks, and I'll look into it after work today. I'll keep ya posted, NA.

 

[WriterDom]

If you did 25, I'd buy one. But in return, you'd have to let me spank you.

 

[Weird Harold]

The thing that I'd have trouble with if I printed them myself would be the layout of the pages,

Both MS Word and WordPerfect allow you to "print odd/even pages" so you can print the odd pages and then flip the paper stack and print the even pages on the back.

You need to set a "gutter margin" and "mirror pages" to allow for binding, but beyond those settings, printing something for binding is essentially the same as printing anything else.

It will probably take a bit of experimentation to get it the way you want it, but it's much easier than it seems at first.

 

[Sabledrake]

If you did 25, I'd buy one. But in return, you'd have to let me spank you.

So _that's_ where I've been going wrong trying to peddle my books!

Most printing companies will charge a "set up" fee to do all the layot work, etc., and then an additional cost per book. So, yeah, if you're only doing a couple of books, it's going to be spendy.

However, your friendly neighborhood office supply and photocopying shop will have a selection of options for binding. Most likely, that'd be softcover, though.

Doing the page layout yourself isn't that hard. We've done it for novels, convention programs, and game supplements to name a few. PageMaker is pretty easy to handle once you get used to it.

A personalized gift like that is a nice idea. One Xmas, my hubby collected all my fanfic to date, and went slyly behind my back to my art friends, and presented me with a series of booklets with the stories and artwork. I frequently write him naughty tales for presents, too, and he likes that better than most store-bought gifts.

Good luck with the project!

Sabledrake

 

[lilpriss]

WriterDom If you did 25, I'd buy one. But in return, you'd have to let me spank you.

Wait! Spank me! spank me! hehe...