Archive for December, 2009

Great Tips for Driving Down the Cost to Produce Your Next Book!

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

As you begin the journey of getting your manuscript onto bookshelves and into the hands of consumers, one of your biggest worries might be how to produce your book in a cost effective manner while still creating a product that stands out on shelves.  So this holiday season we’ve come up with a few tips to help you produce a beautiful book you can be proud of while keeping your money where it belongs — in your pocket!  Consider it our gift to you.

1. Use inventoried items. Often, book printers will have a list of inventoried or stock materials for you to choose from.  Now, you can always choose a special paper or cloth material, but anytime your printer has to special order something it’s going to cost you money and time.  Most printers will have a wide variety of stock materials for you to choose from ranging from quite inexpensive to a more quality product.  Your sales manager should be able to help you select materials that support your goals for the book.

2. Use common trim sizes. 5 X 7; 5.5 X 8.5; 6 X 9; 7 X 10; or 8.5 X 11 are common trim sizes and most printers will inventory materials based on these sizes.  Thus saving you money and time.

3. Stay away from embossing and/or foil stamping. Instead, consider using special ink and coating techniques to make your covers standout.  For example: using a metallic ink on a paper cover will give it some punch and is much more affordable than foil stamping.  Or, a matte-etching process can give your cover a little zing rather than a solid lamination choice.   Again, your sales manager will be able to help you create a cover that pops without emptying our wallet.

4. Use paper cloth instead of fabric cloth. Using a paper based cloth can save you around 2% compared to a fabric based cloth option on your case bound books.

5. Use Insite Direct (or a similar automated program) for your text and cover proofs. Using an automated file submission system not only saves you valuable time, but will also eliminate proof transportation charges between your printer and you.  Using an automated system, your proofs are loaded directly to the website for you to view.  This is also a huge time saver because with most programs your proofs will be ready within a matter of seconds for you to view.

So, as you think about production costs for your next title, keep these easy to remember tips in mind.  They will save you time and money, while still producing a quality book you can be proud to have on bookshelves.   For more information on producing a more cost-effective book, please contact your Thomson-Shore Sales Manager.

And, just because we’re feeling festive, here’s a link to some good information to think about when printing your first book.