Printing on Demand Update - Success!

[Frank Petronio]

Since my last episode I actually can report successful results with both Shared Ink and Lulu.com.

For Lulu.com I used Adobe RGB tagged RGB .tifs laid out using InDesign to create an Adobe RGB "press ready" PDF (checking "create tagged file.) I cheated my greyscales to be olive toned using Hue Saturation in the the 42 Hue, 8 Saturation range. Greyscales print slightly sepia and very slightly green, which I think is better than magenta and pink!

If you're game you can buy a book at cost here:
http://www.lulu.com/content/601386

I've gotten five individual orders so far and they have been consistent and decent quality. For what they are -- toner prints -- this ain't no arty coffee-table book but it is a functional representation of my work.

Lulu seems to be operating smoother than this Fall, with a nice 5 day turn-around.

I am so confident that I am drop shipping books to certain clients, without passing them through my hands. For $20 a pop I can get a book into a client's hands, delivered, without the hassle of tracking and returning an expensive portfolio.

My theory is that if my photos still look good with lulu.com reproduction quality, then they are going to withstand the abuse of other commercial repro ;-) These books are not the sole representation of my work, but they should make an effective tool.

Shared Ink is much nicer than lulu but a 8-inch leather book costs me $150 or so. The repro is much finer, still not art book quality but very nice. Like lulu, the color images don't seem to acheive the density of finer reproduction methods (and are much less than inkjet or silver regardless). They work from jpgs saved as pages. I cheated greyscales with 50 hue and 8 saturation for a nice sepia tone.

You do have to sign up for their photographer's program though, but they give you a free 45 day trial. I've done three books so far. The first was a shorter Linen one that cost $50, the next was a $150 leather bound one, and I just ordered a second copy. You can buy my book at cost from Shared Ink once you register.

The binding and finish on the Shared Ink books is first rate.

If nothing else, it is a nice way to see what a book of your work will look like. I'm thrilled myself

[Scott Rosenberg]

congrats, frank! the book looks great.

where on shared ink do you find info on the leather books? i can only find linen books.

[Ash]

Frank, on your recommendation of them I may go forth with putting my own images into a portfolio-type of book with Lulu. Glad to hear some positive feedback about the sites.

[Frank Petronio]

You have to join the photographers program to see the extra features, like leather, 100# text, full-bleed, etc.

http://www.sharedink.com/photographer


Especially with regards to Lulu, go slow, order them one at a time, and realize that these are not "fine art" -- but they can be excellent tools.

[Kirk Gittings]

Great Frank. A clean and elegant presentation. It should work well for you.

[Turner Reich]

Very nice Frank, how do you like Indesign? I have been using it for years and have a large book in it that's nearly complete. Your book looks like it turned out very good, what is the page paper weight?

tr

[Eric Biggerstaff]

Frank,

I would be interested in trying this.

Is there one company you would recommend over the other?

Is there any advice you can share for someone just thinking about these services?

Thanks,
Eric

[Frank Petronio]

They are two completely different kinds of books, the lulu.com book is $20 shipped and on a 70# text weight, nothing very fine. The Shared Ink book is on 100# matte text, very heavy and much nicer quality, but it cost $100 for the same pages as the lulu version. $150 for leather.

I work at least part of the time as a graphic designer so InDesign is part of my everyday toolkit, and I have produced several coffee-table books for other people. I certainly like InDesign better than Quark, and didn't find it as difficult to learn as Quark. But nothing else really compares to those two programs for professional use.

My advice is to start with lulu -- $20 a pop isn't bad. When you have a nice design and sequence consider Shared Ink. Note that you will redesign -- lulu takes PDFs and Shared Ink wants Photoshop jpgs for each page.

Both have discussion forums. The owner of Shared Ink is quite active and approachable.

I get the impression that lulu just runs whatever it gets automatically while someone at Shared Ink actually looks at the job.

Shared Ink rules -- but you will pay more. Quality and service are like that...