Hi all,
Do any of you have a cost-effective source for printing copies of Instant Author books? I purchased a kit a few years ago and have printed them from my home pc, but I may have a large order (over 100 books) that I need to print, and I would rather hire it done as long as it is affordable. Please let me know if any of you have had success with printing these books anywhere. Thanks! -Jeff

You won't be able to get them done for near as cheap as at home (probably), but try gotprint.com Local office supply stores can also be a good deal if you talk them down on price and use a coupon. Office Depot, for example regularly sends out coupons for 25% off all print and copy services.

For most of my books, I still use a laser printer (for the B&W pages) and another for the color pages. You can find paper on sale at office supply stores and stock up. Stapling and assembly for 100 is a movie night!

Hope that helps,
Kevin

How many pages is it?

Basicly the price point comes in at 5000 copies for a 28 page book. It changes from digitial printing to press printing which makes each book cost 23p each (colour throughout) $0.35 US. But you have to order 5000 of them to get them at that price. I have written my own books and wanted to get them printed but stockpiling 5000 copies of your own book at the back of the kitchen, lounge, sheds and bedroom is not appreciated by the rest of the family!

Also, You end up giving them away as children don't want books, and there are very few occasions when you can actually sell them. I wanted to give them away as prizes but when the children have a choice - they often pick the alternative. Its a tough choice to make that's for sure.

I had my printed by a local printer. After figuring out the cost of printing them at home, and the work to put them together it was cheaper to have the local printer do them for me. The price for each book was $2.00. The books are printed on quality paper with a thick glossy cover.

I went to a local printer I regularly use, it was 86p for a 44 page book with glossy cover. I only ordered 200.

$2 per book is too pricey for me (of course, mine are just small booklets). I only sell mine for $5, so I'm looking to stay under $1 at most! I posted printing costs on another thread a few months ago, I'll have to see if I can dig it up.

I use Lulu.com for my books, but mine are 75-100 pages.
They are great quality, real, books and you can have as many or as few printed. I often order just 10 at a time.

People can also buy your books direct from them at a price you set.
http://www.lulu.com/shop/colin-dymond/so......008.html

My activity books are 8.5x11" finished size. Made up of six 11x17" double-sided pages, copied in black and white and stapled together and then folded. That makes a 24 page book, if you include the front and back cover, outside and inside, as pages. When I get them copied in black and white at Staples, and let them do the assembly, they are about $1.50 per book in quantities of 100, including tax. Keep in mind that my originals are larger pages, so there is more cost involved. And sometimes you can get discount coupons for copies at Staples (I just used one the other day that gave me a $40 discount if I spent $150 on copies). So, why not ask Staples what they would charge for the copies and assembly?

At one time I let them do the copies, and I did the stapling and folding, and then realized it was much more cost effective (and time effective) just to let them do it all for me. Be sure to provide an assembled sample copy, along with your originals (hard copy or digital).

I've also printed my activity book at one time at a local printers, with a three colour cover (black, red and blue ink) on a 28 lb. stock, but the insides were only black ink on a 24 lb. paper stock. In the quantity of 1000, they came to about $2 each, including tax. That was when I did a printed batch instead of photocopying.

- Donald

I've been selling my books for $10. Sometimes I sale price them at $7, and if they buy a jumbo wand packed with tricks for $25 they can buy the book for $5.00.

The best places I found selling them is at fundraisers and charity events where I am performing, and give a percentage to the organization.

Thanks everyone for the responses so far! I appreciate the feedback.

I'm not sure what the "Instant Author" books are, but I'd like to find out.

I print a customized magic book from a kit I bought several years ago from James Munton. I run off the pages and cover at Staples, but I do the assembly myself. I had to buy a long-arm stapler in order to get the staple on the middle fold. After the printing is done, it's just a matter of watching TV and slamming the books together. Mine also sells for $5 as part of a package deal with a magic wand in plastic sleeve (which I also assemble).

You have an instant author book

I've had several people ask me about printing my book at Gotprint. It's been years since I did that (I print them all at home now) so I'm wondering if anyone has advice on the paper type to use?

Gotprint is a great resource, I get a lot of things printed there, just not my books! I remember when I ordered the covers I ordered flyers, I'm just not sure on the best paper.

Thanks in advance for your help!

What are some of the better Instant Author books...I checked some a good while back and the price was in the 200.00 or more
How hard is it to make your own up..

Its not easy to make a decent one. I have three that are unique to me, and each took months to research, write, photograph, design and format for the printers.

Trust me, if someone is selling theres for $200 its an absolute bargain. You would make that back with just one show, that lasts an hour. When you compare that to the many thousand of hours spent writing the book (when done properly) its a no-brainer.

Howevere there are some cheap products out there, with stolen material copied off the net, and those are not worth the same. You should get a look at the product first before deciding if its value for money or not.

Steve

Thanks great advice

Mike - Which ones are you looking at that are $200? Just curious!