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S8 anthologies & member's books.
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WIREMAN
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Post by WIREMAN » September 17th, 2007, 7:07 pm

I know that it's hard to find consistency where the visuals are concerned,
that was my experience with the Baltimore Poetry Anthology, "Octopus Dreams that I was in last year. The images were inconsisent to the point that I wondered if you can even translate a color image into B&W affordably. Luckily I was able to choose from a stack of copies to find the best images. Each copy was totally different with regards to Carole Jean's color image that was reproduced in the book. I found no problem with the reproduction of one my sculptures, they always end up looking like B&W line drawings and are easily reproduced.
me I feel like I'm becoming some kinda Kung fu t.v. Priest.....

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Doreen Peri
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Post by Doreen Peri » September 17th, 2007, 9:10 pm

Well it shouldn't have been that way, Mark. The ONLY reason for inconsistencies could be printing the document from different output devices, using different inks, paper, etc.

I would HOPE that if you use one company to produce your product, that you would get the same product every time it's produced. I have no idea what print company produced the Baltimore Poetry anthology but there should have been consistency. If there wasn't, well, I'm sure people weren't happy with that.

This is what I do for my day job. I work in print design. I've been doing it for many years. I'm used to working with offset printshops, though, not printshops who use digital output devices. So, this print-on-demand is new to me.

Still, as a professional in the field, I don't think it's right to offer a customer a document which is printed off of different output devices. Especially when a product includes artwork and photography (something that lulu claims to reproduce well), they need to make sure that every time the product is printed, the quality is maintained.

Carole Jean's color images look fine in b&w! Thank you both for your contributions ... I'll figure this thing out yet! It's just very frustrating. Maybe I'll go to my own printshop and get an estimate for a short run.

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judih
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Post by judih » September 17th, 2007, 11:08 pm

dor,
in the end there'll be a book and an expose of these POD companies. Reading these experiences, it's clear to me that you are the perfect person for this mission. Your well-trained eye won't allow for slipshod work and your drive to see the product emerge as it was meant to means that the book will come as close to perfection as possible.
In the end, we might have to chip in and work the silkscreen assembly line. (i've got experience!)

i'm sorry that lulu and cafe press are so disappointing. it's hard to believe that a copy can be so far removed from the proof.
not much else to add - i don't know anyone here who publishes paperbacks, but our kibbutz journal came out well with a lot of nagging and hanging out with the company's graphic artist.

Maybe that's a solution - find that so-called 'person' at the firm and beg her/him to oversee the book.

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Doreen Peri
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Post by Doreen Peri » September 17th, 2007, 11:22 pm

judih.. none of these companies actually offer a "proof"... I'm just calling the books I order "proofs" because I'm still working on them and examining the printouts ... making decisions. This is the proofing process. I WISH they offered proofs! Bluelines would be nice. But they don't. And as I can see now from going through this process, at least with lulu, you can't judge a book by its cover... cliche yeah, but what I'm saying about this process is, every time you order the damn thing, it could look different! I'm not sure this is the case with cafepress... they just don't offer us WHITE pages.. their pages are yellow/off-white for perfect bound. The white is much more attractive. But I'm not going to accept anything slipshod. I have to know what we're getting. IF it was just text and not artwork and photography, I may be more lenient, but it's not. Sighh...

thanks for the support!

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judih
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Post by judih » September 18th, 2007, 12:09 am

hmmm. i get it. So each 'copy' is from a new batch. And what might be good enough in your hands, might not be in the final run. Is that it?

What a puzzling way of doing business. Maybe we can all go back and re-do our artwork as wire sculptures - at least they'll reproduce well.

kidding - gotta run and pretend to be a teacher again today. good night, dor and all nightbirds.

j

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Doreen Peri
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Post by Doreen Peri » September 18th, 2007, 12:22 am

They don't give you proofs like real printshops because they want to sell you books so in order to get a proof you have to order a book.

I NEED proofs in order to proofread typesetting, punctuation, typos, etc. It took me 4 book purchases (2 from cafe press and 2 from lulu) to feel confident that I got the content, layout, etc, correct.

I THOUGHT it was just a matter of selecting which service produced the better product and I was all for lulu because the first 2 of the so-called "proofs" (meaning books which I hadn't announced to the public yet but which I purchased so I could view in print and find errors on)... were absolutely FINE in the inside.. It was the cover where there was a problem.

Soooo... I changed the cover and thought this was IT.. I was so excited and ready to announce the book.

But the book I got today from lulu was NOT the same product as the previous ones I purchased as "proofs" .... it was totally different. The paper was thinner, the images were printed terribly! I hated it!

There is NO quality control at lulu.

I hope this makes sense now. I can't say it any other way other than to share the products with you which is impossible over the internet.

Sorry for the "sausage-making" report. I'm frustrated, that's all.

I'll figure out how to get this done. I should shuddup now. Gnight. Good morning!

Image

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judih
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Post by judih » September 18th, 2007, 12:37 pm

juggling outside the box
wish i was there

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Doreen Peri
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Post by Doreen Peri » September 18th, 2007, 1:16 pm

I found another company to hopefully produce this book. I need to resize it first (since they don't produce books at the size of the current set-up), send the files to them, order a proof, hold my breath and keep my fingers crossed. This will take some more time. Resizing means re-setting the type, moving photos & artwork around on the page, etc.

Wish you were here, too, judih. Thank you all for your patience. With any luck, everything that's happened already was for the sole purpose of finding this other company which will turn out to be the best!

love,
D, the juggler ;)

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judih
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Post by judih » September 18th, 2007, 1:54 pm

a mystery 3rd source!
may it be the One.

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Doreen Peri
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Post by Doreen Peri » September 18th, 2007, 2:00 pm

Ohh.. sorry... didn't mean to be so mysterious. It's called CreateSpace... it's owned by Amazon which means if this works out, the book will automatically be available on Amazon which is a great plus.

Here's an article about the company
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6467648.html

I filled out a form to ask for more information about their products, the process, etc. Great news! I got an actual phone call from a representative this morning who spent a good 15 minutes with me on the phone. A real plus to have a person to talk to instead of dealing only through forums or live chat on the computer.

Fingers crossed.

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WIREMAN
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Post by WIREMAN » September 18th, 2007, 3:00 pm

excellent!
me I feel like I'm becoming some kinda Kung fu t.v. Priest.....

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judih
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Post by judih » September 18th, 2007, 4:51 pm

i'm impressed. Amazon is really networking with its clientele. i hope this works - having direct Amazon-access is brilliant.

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Doreen Peri
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Post by Doreen Peri » September 19th, 2007, 2:01 pm

Well after doing research, I see the same kinds of complaints no matter what service is used. There is virtually no quality control, meaning the books get output by different devices depending on where they're sent and nobody inspects them. Though this new service I found (createspace), the representative I spoke to on the phone said they will do everything they can to please the customer with a quality product. (they all say that, tho)... We'll see what happens. I've been working on resizing the book for this service and I'm moving forward to try it. Keep your fingers crossed. As judih said, being on Amazon automatically is a real good thing. Many apologies for the huge delay. :( I'm doing the best I can with it. :)

I was thinking of buying one of these.... unfortunately, they cost $100,000. LOL! :shock:

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Post by e_dog » September 25th, 2007, 5:42 pm

What Book?


Love that juggler demo.
I don't think 'Therefore, I am.' Therefore, I am.

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