So, lulu's not the best option . . . ?

fissionessence · 2nd May 2009, 01:37 AM

So, lulu's not the best option . . .

. . . but I don't really know of any others.

Also, lulu not being the best option is not my opinion, but something I picked up in another thread.

I'm looking for cheap print on demand service primarily, but super short print runs (like 10) may also be acceptable.

I ordered a copy of The Lunar Scrolls printed on demand from lulu, and it looks awesome. Unfortunately, it cost me ~$17 with shipping, and would be even more for customers (or else I'd be giving it away!) That was for only 32 pages of full color.

So . . . any suggestions? I also have a black and white version of the book laid out, but I'd really prefer not to have to go that route.

~ fissionessence

Urizen · 2nd May 2009, 01:56 AM

Lulu is very expensive to print through, especially if you do color, though you're not going to find a cheap option for color anywhere you look.

I suggest sticking with B&W or greyscale through lulu. No color coding, but still decent quality.

I tried this most recently with Scarrport. I didn't do a print run, I just printed a proof copy, and I think the quality is there, for greyscale purposes at least.

fissionessence · 2nd May 2009, 04:17 AM

Hm. Thanks. I was considering making both color and B&W available options to customers. They could get the cheaper version, or spend the big bucks for full color. Have you tried out lulu's 'publisher quality' (cheap) paper? I would be interested on how that works out. Then again, for such a small page count the difference might not be worth it.

Has anyone worked with Guild of Blades print on demand? It's not POD like lulu or cafepress or whatnot, but they can do pretty small print runs for a lot cheaper, though I think the product would have to go through the publisher, so there would be potentially more shipping charges (and work).

~

Urizen · 2nd May 2009, 05:08 PM

I haven't tried their cheap paper, so I don't know what to tell you there.

**Morrus** · 2nd May 2009, 05:14 PM

I've pretty much found Lulu is the best option for POD. POD is gonna be expensive whereever you go by its very nature. And Lulu's stuff is of superb quality.

cdrcjsn · 7th May 2009, 09:33 AM

Have you looked at the various comic POD sites like Kablam? I think that a company that can do tradebacks and graphic novels should be able to do a game supplement fairly easily.

Here's a quick link done by a webcomic guy comparing various PODs. It should give you a good place to start.

Calamities of Nature - Print on Demand Service Review

Good luck.

Vigilance · 17th May 2009, 04:03 AM

RPGObjects was never super happy with Lulu. The quality was usually ok, but there were enough printing errors that, even though they were good about fixing them, we never felt completely at ease.

The best POD service by FAR we have used is Amazon Booksurge, but they aren't interested in small dev houses.

Until they realized we had 50 or so books worth of material to print, they weren't even interested in us.

Angellis_ater · 18th May 2009, 05:17 PM

We've seen a far better output for our material using CreateSpace. Cheaper print, better for the end customer (available via Amazon, buy for 25$ and the customer gets free shipping in the US), more possible customers (AMAZON).

Only downside is a slightly smaller maximum size for it. I'd suggest getting the Pro Plan if you suggest printing anything over 15 copies.

Angellis_ater · 18th May 2009, 05:39 PM

We've seen a far better output for our material using CreateSpace. Cheaper print, better for the end customer (available via Amazon, buy for 25$ and the customer gets free shipping in the US), more possible customers (AMAZON).

Only downside is a slightly smaller maximum size for it. I'd suggest getting the Pro Plan if you suggest printing anything over 15 copies.