4 ms·

Is there a legal / not crazy expensive way to buy humble bundle books and get them printed on standard 8.5x11, bound in a series of binders / duotangs / twine?

• AntonyGarand 9y ago
  Ereaders are my solution, have a look at Kobo's
  • unethical_ban 9y ago
    The OP said he wants physical, and I understand. For fiction or news, I am fine with my Kindle, but for tech manuals where I want to rapidly bookmark, highlight and reference, paper is really handy.
    • komali2 9y ago
      Funny, the three reasons you listed are exactly why I prefer an ereader :P
    • busterarm 9y ago
      Ever since I got an iPad Pro 12", my requirement for physical copies of technical books has gone down a bit. Often times it's the more convenient option. I read technical information slower and in shorter blocks of time, so being easy on the eyes like my Kindle isn't a requirement.
• CameronBanga 9y ago
  I would also love to know an answer to this.
• dublinben 9y ago
  Any print shop / office supply store will print and bind a provided PDF for pennies per page.
  • EnFinlay 9y ago
    Most refuse because it's copyrighted material. Some are also crazy expensive (Staples ~0.10/page)
  • stablemap 9y ago
    The first book, for example, is about $21 in paperback from Amazon and I'm having trouble finding a printer around here who would give me those 416 pages for less. Maybe it starts to make sense if you print several at once.
    • e12e 9y ago
      If they allow you to print it, you might want to look at blurb.com: http://www.blurb.com/pricing#/tab/trade-books http://www.blurb.com/pricing#/tab/trade-books Looks like 450 pages, trade, 8x11 inces will run you about 20 USD with cheapest print/shipping combination (possibly with some added tax on top). (16 for printing, 4 for shipping - and this is for a single book - I assume shipping /book will be less if you order more than one book). I haven't used them, but they were mentioned here a while back. A quick google search turns up: http://www.thebookpatch.com/#calculator http://www.thebookpatch.com/#calculator (looks more expensive for single print runs) and of course good old: http://www.lulu.com/create/books http://www.lulu.com/create/books (Appears to be somewhat cheaper).
    • wongarsu 9y ago
      If you print double sided on a large laser printer, you can print in black and white for about 3 cents per sheet (two pages á ~1 cent, one sheet of paper for about 1 cent). That runs you 6 dollars. A for binding you can use thermal binding for about 50 cents per piece. So by pure material cost it can be done for 7 dollars (less if you have volume). But of course only if you have access to the equipment, nobody is selling it that cheap.
• camiller 9y ago
  Legal: No. These are copyrighted works after all. That said, If you have a laser printer it is probably cheapest to print it yourself. Buy paper that already has the three holes in it for the binder. Still probably near the price of buying the actual books. Edit: And if you still want to have there be a bit of a charity tie-in, the Amazon smiles program smile.amazon.com has a lot of charitable organizations to choose from.
  • Top19 9y ago
    Print at home from a laser printer with generic toner...or even better toner that you fill up yourself. 150 pages of binding at a Office Depot is $6 max if you already have the pages.
  • TheQwerty 9y ago
    RE AmazonSmile: Be sure that the organization you wish to support is aware of the program and actually registered with Amazon to receive the funds. The list of charities that Amazon shows are from GuideStar USA which has compiled the information from the IRS, but this includes organizations which may not have registered and thus may never receive the donations. See the section "Charitable Organizations that Do Not Register" here: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/chpf/pd/ref=smi_se_saas_lpd_spd https://smile.amazon.com/gp/chpf/pd/ref=smi_se_saas_lpd_spd
    • ojbyrne 9y ago
      How do you know if your chosen organization is registered? Is there a list somewhere?
      • TheQwerty 9y ago
        Good question! The best way appears to be to pretend you want to register that organization on Amazon's Org Central site[0] which shows which already registered. (An example search for Child's Play[1].) As a shopper I do not believe Amazon makes this abundantly clear when you're selecting an organization. One thing to look for is the amount of information shown about the organization, specifically the incorporation year, as those that register have to fill out a profile. According to the FAQ if a shopper selects an organization that is not registered and makes an eligible purchase they will track the donation. If the organization registers they'll get the donation, but if they have not after 2 years then Amazon will contact the shopper and give them 30 days to select a new charity. (I'm not sure if this then resets the 2 year clock or not.) If the shopper does not select a new organization then Amazon reallocates the donation across the registered organizations. In any case the only way to be 100% sure is to inquire with the organization. [0]: https://org.amazon.com/ https://org.amazon.com/ [1]: https://org.amazon.com/npo/search?q=Child%27s%20Play&p=1 https://org.amazon.com/npo/search?q=Child%27s%20Play&p=1
• math_and_stuff 9y ago
  lulu.com is a great place to cheaply print books and it only takes about a week. I am not a lawyer and have no idea about its legal applicability, but one just uploads a PDF.
  • EnFinlay 9y ago
    This is exactly what I'm looking for, thank you.
  • tripzilch 9y ago
    I've used Lulu (years ago) and they do a great job. Not as cheap as a paperback of the same size, but for a one-off (or small number) they're pretty good. I thought the paper felt a bit cheap and looked somewhat greyish. Although it might depend on the options you select. But as far as the price goes, they're not expensive but for instance a 126 page book published there was $15.23 (ex. shipping) and you might want to check if the regularly available paperback is not cheaper than that. It's absolutely great if you made something (wrote a book, or I dunno put your favourite sourcecode to PDF, whatever) with a load of pages and want to own it as a real paperback. There's something extra cool about turning something into an actual physical book :)
• tripzilch 9y ago
  You can ask at a local copy/print shop, they often have the material and tools to turn a stack of paper into a binder or other book-like thing. They probably also have a good deal on printing a large number of pages :) If you ask, some will even accept PDFs to print for you, so you can come back at a later time to pick up the finished binder/booklets. Not sure if that's strictly legal, but many copy shops won't care and frankly, since you got the PDFs legally I don't really see the problem--in a pragmatic sense that is, going by copyright law, maybe. In some places you do have the right to transfer (copy) copyrighted stuff you have a license for (which is the case here) to another medium. But then you're not allowed to sell or give away that copy (not that anyone will check this ever, but it does make sense to have that as a rule).