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A desktop publisher's printing companion

From a one of a kind book to quantities of 99 and beyond - contact the "book stuff" professionals!
If you can dream it, and describe it, experienced publishers can help make it happen.

You might be hard pressed to find a printer who will offset print quantities under 100. The "print on demand" method of choice is now digital copying (printing) – a better quality alternative to traditional copy machines.  Don't stand for the hassle of working with your local “copy palace” and the uncertainty of the archival quality of raw materials found there.  The staff at such places sometimes do not understand the importance of odd/even pages, spacing, out or order pages, etc., or don’t care.  Quite often, guarantees of any type are non-existent.  Whether or not the author ends up with a bound book, or portions thereof - payment for “services rendered” is still due.  Much can be said for the peace of mind of working with those who deal primarily in the production of books in addition to the book quality enjoyed by all our customers.

With ultra-small quantities - publishing under 100 - let your dreams loose.  Do you want textured pages (parchment, linen, etc.) or a different color paper, other than white?  Have you considered using full color pictures or colored divider pages that match the binding color?  How about a collectors hard cover edition in addition to the standard softbound book? The sky is the limit - just remember that the basis is standard, because it is the most economical for the quality. Expect to need big budgets to fulfill big dreams.

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Due to the size and uniqueness of companion digital reproduction, please use the mail systems (USPS or email) as much as possible to insure optimum attention to detail and explanation, on each of your projects.  If the telephone is employed excessively, time and long distance (LD), if any, will be billed to the author accordingly - even if the author ultimately chooses not to employ this publisher.

Utilize our expertise, experience and contacts to help you produce quality hard or softbound books to be proud of. Hardbound books are recommended library oversewn at a library certified bindery, though other options are available. Softbound books may be plastic coil (comb), Chicago screw, double wire spiral, 3-ring, saddle stitch, or tape and staple bindings. Standard payment policy and guarantees apply with the addition of a 10%** over/under on product.

Standard Companion Basis: Consecutively numbered camera-ready digital print manuscript, standard 24/60# acid free white paper, digitally printed front and back, with black polymer based toner.

Camera-Ready Digital Print Manuscript (CRDPM or CRCMM): We accept two different types:  From disk (USB, CD or 3½”) in formats such as PDF, MS Word, and Publisher – inquire about your format.  Or, document feedable (*no paste up, attachments, gummy labels, etc.), single sheets printed one side, all same size. Note:  two sided manuscripts can sometimes create copy difficulties; therefore, we discourage such practices.

Photo help: Because digital printing is a first generation reproduction, half tones of photos are not needed as with offset printing.  If your CRDPM includes original photos pasted up, rather than photo scans, your photos can be scanned here in preparation for digital printing, the author paying the time involved at $20.00/hour ($25.00 minimum).   Click for more photo tips. Digital production on true 600x600 dpi machinery can also be quoted, though for the vast majority of authors a lesser reproduction works out fine and is much more economical.

Margins: While most methods or reproduction can replicate items out as far as 1/8” from the edge of the paper, remember that you are preparing a book.  Any type of binding requires space.  The type of binding you select will determine how much you can “cheat” the space.  We suggest for a 8½x11" book, your impression area be no larger than 6½x9". If this is too small, a general rule of thumb for "cheating" would be ½” top, bottom, and outside edge (right on even, left on odd) with 3/4” on the binding.  An easy way to be safe, however, is to set all margins at 3/4-1”.  Please remember that margins include photos and illustrations, page numbers, header, footers, etc.

* For pages that have paste up, labels, separate attached photos, etc. or different size original pages.  The author may make 1 clean, uniform sized copy or pay time at $20.00 per hour ($25.00 minimum) for our staff to make appropriate CRDPM  pages.

**All production processes (of any type) have waste, one figure listed in a trade publication (2004) places destroyed pieces of projects (production waste) at 5-10%, we generally are much lower.  This is why many publishers/printers employ the 10% rule (if you order 100, you may receive - and pay for - 110 or only 90).  When you order 200 from us, we actually produce more then what it would take to produce 200 books (assuming zero waste) from the beginning to be sure of delivering 200.  If more than 200 are actually produced in final production quality, the author/customer has the option of purchasing them or the are destroyed at no additional cost to the author/customer.

This Page Last Updated: January 09, 2019