Printing a book?

Question

Here's an odd one!
I have about a 100 Word pages that I would like to have printed in the format of a book (or something close). I don't want to publish it, just print a few decorative copies. The copyright belongs to me. What kind of store (if any) would offer such a service? Can this be done on a reasonable budget?
If anybody has any info,
I would greatly appreciate it!
Thanks!

Answer 1

It really depends on how fancy you want it. I've had luck using Word to print in book format and printing a heavy card stock cover for it. You can choose the book format in the print set up.

If that's 100 full size pages, that might get a bit messy for stapling down the middle though. You might have to print maybe every 16 to 32 pages separately and then take it to a print shop that has a heavy duty stapler to put them together. Each set of pages would make a mini-book and then you'd stack them one on top of the other to create the bigger book.

If you can't find a place to staple the book you can have the copy shop use the comb binding instead.

This site had links to having your book professionally done as well as information on binding books yourself: http://www.ehow.com/Search.aspx?s=how+to+make+a+book&Options=

Answer 2

Not an odd question at all. Many self-publish. There are many ways to go, too. You need to ask yourself some questions first:

* Do I plan to sell copies? Who will buy?

* How much can I invest? Nothing is free.

* Is it all text? Do I want any photos or graphics?

If you plan to sell your book then you need to take some conventions into account. You may want to buy a bar code for it; you should stick to something like a conventional format, so booksellers can handle it. You need to be able to produce the book cheaply enough that the bookseller can mark it up, make a profit, and still have enough to pay you to cover costs. You need to think about a cover that sells.

If you only plan to give your book away, none of these considerations apply. You can print on weird paper in a weird format, do anything you like. Situationalists used to cover their books with sandpaper, so they had to be read immediately; they would destroy any books with which they were shelved. You can buy cellophane-wrapped lollipops and staple them into the pages. Go wild.

If you have money to spend, you can hire any vanity press to print your book. You can go to an extreme limited only by your purse. Tooled leather, gold edging, perfect binding, anything. You don't have to do any work, either; you can just shove the manuscript at them, pay, and take delivery.

If you're on a budget but you still have some cash, you may want to consider some sort of DocuTech operation. DocuTech is essentially a big, fast laser printer. They're often used for in-house corporate publications but you can often find them at your local copy shop. You'll need to do some work yourself -- you'll be responsible for formatting the pages. You can have a number of inexpensive bindings; just ask.

If you're broke, you're pretty much out of luck. You can simply print the book on your own home machine, go to the copy shop and run off as many copies as you can afford. This extremely low-budget style of publication is called a "zine" and usually runs to only a few pages; you might break your book into sections and run it as a serial. If you do this, the accepted method is to organize your pages as half-letter size, fold and staple. Whenever you're ready to blow more cash, copy up another issue.

If all you have is text, I suggest you add photos or graphics of some kind. This will add to the cost of a good book but pay off in the long run. If you're going the low-end route, you'll find it doesn't really add to the cost -- if you create the images yourself. Otherwise, you need to recruit somebody with either a camera or talent.

Good luck!

Answer 3

Go to a general printer and ask if they can do the favour.
They will be able to collate quickly and have the machinery to either ring bind or perfect bind the whole lot in a matter of minutes.
Before that,design your cover on your PC and print off a copy which the print firm can then replicate onto a higher weight board,run off the required amount and prior to binding.
The end job will look very professional

Answer 4

i stumble on printed books a positive change from my days gazing a exhibit. i imagine writing is an historic paintings, or maybe although the books are not copied through hand anymore there is only some thing about keeping your own actual replica of a e book. i'm truly a style of human beings that are not even twenty and are already reminiscing about the former days although... each and every from time to time I examine ebooks and then purchase the actual replica if i love it.

Answer 5

I haven't used them, but I've heard good things about www.lulu.com for self-publishing.

Answer 6

http://library.thinkquest.org/J001156/makingbooks/sc_clothcovered.htm