No good deed goes unpunished

[Kevin]

No good deed goes unpunished.

When I posted my Murmur entitled: Help for small publishers & independent authors -- I did so in an effort to help those publishers and independent authors who might want to press larger print runs, but did not know where to turn to. Or that printing such large numbers could be inexpensive. I had met some people recently who were being held back because they did not have this knowledge.

I was NOT suggesting everyone or anyone should print 1,500 copies, nor that 1,500 copies should be a minimum press run. I was trying to help those who did.

As I had related in my previous Murmur, I recently ran into three independent authors and start up publishers who wanted to print 1,500 to 2,000 copies of their book (two of them weren’t even in the gaming industry).

I was surprised to learn that these very intelligent people knew absolutely nothing about “book printers” – nor were they aware that they could print 1,500 to 2,000 copies for MUCH LESS than the Print on Demand printers were charging for that number. As much as 50-75% less! That’s a huge savings and these folks were thrilled to learn about book printers who could do runs of 1,5000 or more copies inexpensively. I was happy to help.

It then struck me that some of my fellow game publishers, especially start up companies and independent authors new to publishing might not know about book printers either. So I shared my knowledge and information for those who might be able to use that information. I used the 1,500 copies as an example because that was the info I had available from one of the people I had helped.

As it turns out, a small number of people (I hope it's a small number) who read my Murmur seem to have felt slighted by it. Some others seem to think I’m suggesting or encouranging that publishers should be aiming for 1,500 copies as their print run even if they can't sell them.

No slight was intended and I’m not suggesting anyone should or must print 1,500 copies as their minimum. That’s silly.

Each publisher or author needs to figure out what works best for them. 50, 100, 200, 300, 400, or 500 copies might be the ideal number for you. That’s awesome and Print on Demand is the way to go. As I said, Palladium Books uses Print on Demand too. We printed 110 POD copies of Dead: Reign Civilization Gone so we could have copies to sell at the 2009 Palladium Open House. Palladium also has a dozen other titles that we print 100-150 POD copies of to keep in stock for our online store without having to do a bigger and more costly press run of 1,500 or greater.

Print on Demand is a wonderful tool and fantastic for small press runs. However, POD printers are “small press run specialists,” and “if” you should want to do a larger run of 1,000 or more copies, you are better off looking to a traditional book printer and saving a pile of money at the same time. To those people – and only those people – I wanted them to know they could get 1,500 copies of a book for the same price as 500 POD copies. A lot of folks don’t know that. That’s all.

Note: Also for those of you who might not be aware of it, there are book warehousing and fulfillment services who will store and even ship individual copies for you. There is a charge, of course, but they can be an alternative to housing and shipping books yourselves, which is a lot of work.

For those looking to do 1,000+ print runs, please contact Book Printing Account Representative Cheryl Corey at McNaughton & Gunn, in Saline, Michigan to get a quote: (734) 429-8757 or fax her at 734-429-8744, or email to "Cheryl Corey" <cherylc@mcnaughton-gunn.com>

By the way, McNaughton and Gunn also offers Print on Demand services. Contact Digital Print Account Representative, Marc Moore at 734-429-8718, and tell him Palladium Books sent you. Order as few as 24 or as many as 500 copies with a quick four day production schedule. Btw, their POD prices are very good.

To all of you imaginative and creative people self-publishing, whether your print run is 50, 500 or 5000, the best of luck to you. I know how hard it is to do what you are doing. It takes courage and plenty of hard work. I hope this info helps, if not now, maybe a year or three from now. Good luck, be positive, and keep following your dreams.


Sincerely,
Kevin Siembieda
Publisher, Writer, Game Designer & Dreamweaver
Palladium Books®, Inc. – 28 years of RPG Publishing

© Copyright June 28, 2009 Palladium Books Inc. All rights reserved.

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