Is it harder than gouging out your own eyes...

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Wed, 2006-05-31 16:47

to set up a private printing press? I don't mean just for self publishing purposes, but an honest to goodness small press. You know, the kind that runs off a set amount of copies and that is the proverbial.

I've been trying to find information on how expensive this would be, but am unprepared to lay out for a specialist's book on typesetting and so on that I am unlikely to understand.

Apart from some over-70s clubs in my area, there isn't any support for beginning writers, and the Arts Council only give funding to lecturers writing books about the connection between biting their toenails and Afro-non-existent-authorism. The only real alternative is to go through a self publishers, and to quote a friend, some of the titles we have looked at are 'pap'.

What then?

Wed, 2006-05-31 17:42

2Lou

Hi Richard I found this site very useful: http://www.publish-yourself.com/index.shtml Gives a step by step account of how to get your Publisher prefix, how to go about finding a printer, distribution etc. I got a few quotes, but ended up going with a printer who was very sympathetic to first-time publishers. They've been very helpful and are going to artwork the cover for me (I haven't a clue about that side of things). I'm a typesetter, so once I got hold of a version of Quark Xpress, I did the body text myself - but many printers will convert files for you for an extra cost. Unless it's a very convoluted layout, I wouldn't have thought it would be much extra. I can't tell you how the print run turned out, as I've had to put it on hold for a bit, but once we go ahead, I'll let you know. The whole process of setting up a press up to this point, though, wasn't as difficult as I'd expected and really quite enjoyable. The only initial outlay (prior to a print run) is forking out a few bob for your batch of ten ISBNs. Good luck.

~
www.fabulousmother.co.uk

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