3 ms·

Do-It-Yourself Book Press (2006)

58 points by sturza 6y ago

egypturnash 6y ago
In one of his descriptions of the publishing world, Charlie Stross described publishing as "supply chain management". And after three successful but stressful Kickstarters for my comics[1], that really rings true. If you have the option to get your work published through an Actual Publisher, I strongly recommend doing so. You will make less money but you will also spend a lot less time dealing with wrangling the money, printing, shipping, distribution, and maybe even promotion if you're lucky enough for the publisher to decide to put some actual energy into that for you. Building a distribution network that gets stuff into bookstores all over is a lengthy process that will consume a lot of your time, and doing it right really requires having a lot more product flowing through that network than you will ever be able to generate yourself. If you have someone in your DIY circles who has made the choice to take on the handling of some part of this network as a part of their DIY career, I strongly recommend paying them to handle this part of things if you can afford it. [1] http://egypt.urnash.com/rita/ http://egypt.urnash.com/rita/ - want a copy? there's still a bunch in the garage of the friend who helped me deal with fulfilling the kickstarter for the final collected volume after my initial plans of using Amazon Fulfillment went awry, who also now handles my online store!
- Finnucane 6y ago
  I've done small press publishing, and yeah, distribution and sales are a lot of work. Of course, it's a lot easier in some ways now to do direct sales over the internet, but you still need to manage storage and shipping. That is either DIY or pay $$ for someone else to do it. On the other hand, since this was written, short-run digital printing has gotten a lot better quality-wise.
  - marco_craveiro 6y ago
    I can attest to that, I just bought Luigi Ballabio's book on QuantLib [1] and the quality is very decent. [1] https://www.amazon.co.uk/Implementing-QuantLib-Quantitative-finance-architecture/dp/B08KHSZK86 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Implementing-QuantLib-Quantitative-...
- coliveira 6y ago
  Exactly. What people don't understand about self publishing is that it is a complex business. You can do it yourself, but then you're becoming a publisher, instead of an author. Unless this is your goal, it is better to try to use a standard publisher if possible.
- seedie 6y ago
  The "Buy the book (EU)" link is broken. Only Had a quick glimpse on Decrypting Rita and Parallax, but wow what a ride and the colors!
- anitil 6y ago
  Wow your illustrations are fantastic!
  - egypturnash 6y ago
    Thanks! It's pretty amazing what animation training followed by about twenty years of continued practice will do. :)
mcguire 6y ago
If you are interested in the process of bookbinding, I strongly recommend DAS Bookbinding (https://dasbookbinding.com/ https://dasbookbinding.com/) and his Youtube channel of tutorials. He is very skilled and makes excellent videos.
throwanem 6y ago
This is really great! I've recently picked up bookbinding as a hobby, and so far I haven't found much in the way of good advice on tooling - I've been working with a guillotine cutter from Staples that only handles about ten sheets at a time, and I didn't even know such a thing as a "handbinding press" existed.

58 points by sturza 6y ago

In one of his descriptions of the publishing world, Charlie Stross described publishing as "supply chain management". And after three successful but stressful Kickstarters for my comics[1], that really rings true. If you have the option to get your work published through an Actual Publisher, I strongly recommend doing so. You will make less money but you will also spend a lot less time dealing with wrangling the money, printing, shipping, distribution, and maybe even promotion if you're lucky enough for the publisher to decide to put some actual energy into that for you. Building a distribution network that gets stuff into bookstores all over is a lengthy process that will consume a lot of your time, and doing it right really requires having a lot more product flowing through that network than you will ever be able to generate yourself. If you have someone in your DIY circles who has made the choice to take on the handling of some part of this network as a part of their DIY career, I strongly recommend paying them to handle this part of things if you can afford it. [1] http://egypt.urnash.com/rita/ http://egypt.urnash.com/rita/ - want a copy? there's still a bunch in the garage of the friend who helped me deal with fulfilling the kickstarter for the final collected volume after my initial plans of using Amazon Fulfillment went awry, who also now handles my online store!

Finnucane 6y ago
I've done small press publishing, and yeah, distribution and sales are a lot of work. Of course, it's a lot easier in some ways now to do direct sales over the internet, but you still need to manage storage and shipping. That is either DIY or pay $$ for someone else to do it. On the other hand, since this was written, short-run digital printing has gotten a lot better quality-wise.
- marco_craveiro 6y ago
  I can attest to that, I just bought Luigi Ballabio's book on QuantLib [1] and the quality is very decent. [1] https://www.amazon.co.uk/Implementing-QuantLib-Quantitative-finance-architecture/dp/B08KHSZK86 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Implementing-QuantLib-Quantitative-...
coliveira 6y ago
Exactly. What people don't understand about self publishing is that it is a complex business. You can do it yourself, but then you're becoming a publisher, instead of an author. Unless this is your goal, it is better to try to use a standard publisher if possible.
seedie 6y ago
The "Buy the book (EU)" link is broken. Only Had a quick glimpse on Decrypting Rita and Parallax, but wow what a ride and the colors!
anitil 6y ago
Wow your illustrations are fantastic!
- egypturnash 6y ago
  Thanks! It's pretty amazing what animation training followed by about twenty years of continued practice will do. :)

mcguire 6y ago

If you are interested in the process of bookbinding, I strongly recommend DAS Bookbinding (https://dasbookbinding.com/ https://dasbookbinding.com/) and his Youtube channel of tutorials. He is very skilled and makes excellent videos.

throwanem 6y ago

This is really great! I've recently picked up bookbinding as a hobby, and so far I haven't found much in the way of good advice on tooling - I've been working with a guillotine cutter from Staples that only handles about ten sheets at a time, and I didn't even know such a thing as a "handbinding press" existed.