I need options for comic book printing

[Genius J]

I need to find a comic book printer who meets all of these qualifications:

1) High-quality
2) Minimum print run under 1000
3) 32 full-color pages for no more than $1.50 per book

Or does this animal just not exist?

[Jason_BANNED]

Not that I've ever heard of.

Full color for an indy is just a waste.

The people who are likely to pick up a book by people they've never heard of generally don't judge a book by it's color.

Jason

[Genius J]

That's not what I discovered at WWLA. I had both options of my book -- a B&W version, and a color version. Everyone wanted the color, but they all balked at the $6 price tag.

[Jason_BANNED]

That's not what I discovered at WWLA. I had both options of my book -- a B&W version, and a color version. Everyone wanted the color, but they all balked at the $6 price tag.

Granted but if you only offered the b&w, I'm sure most of those people wouldn't have said a negative word about it.

I'm not trying to knock your goals. Just sharing what I've noticed (granted I'm definitely not the be-all-end-all of the indy comic fan).

Seriously, the lowest I've seen for full color 32 page under 1000 is like $2.20 range; which you could still sell for $3. Depends on how much profit you think you need to make off of each issue.

Jason

[Mike Storniolo]

Kinko's has a very affordable and accessable printing from what I hear...

[Genius J]

I found a printer who will print a 32-page color book for $1.65 each, with a minimum order of 1000. I'm still waiting to see the quality, though.

At that price, I'd have to sell the book for $4.50 in order to break even if I want to distribute through Diamond. I'm trying to keep the book price under $4 to remain competitive with the other comic books on the market.

[Genius J]

Kinko's has a very affordable and accessable printing from what I hear...

Yeah, and you get Kinko's quality. Bleah.

[James Patrick]

I'm not sure there's a full-color printer with that low print run for that amount of money.

And while I understand your vision of the book is your vision of the book, and that certain books are just more suited to be color, I have to echoe the thoughts indy color books don't do a whole lot more than B/W when it comes to being ordered. Indy books are Indy books. If you give someone a choice, they'll probably buy color -- but if ti's something people want, that audience usually isn't put off by b/w or turned on by color.

[Genius J]

Let me clarify why this is an issue for me.

I want to distribute through Diamond. They take 60% right off the top, plus they expect an additional 2% for early payment. With a printing cost of $1.65 per book, I would have to sell the book for almost $4.50 to recover my printing costs.

If I want to forego Diamond altogether, then a print run of 1000 is worthless to me unless I want to wallpaper my house with the pages. I could do a smaller print run, but my cost would be $2.65 and I'd have no easy way to distribute to retailers without mailing the books out myself. Shipping by any other method than media mail eats away at my bottom line again (mm = maybe they'll get there, and damaged at that).

I'm not looking to make a ton of profit, I just want to cover my printing costs and maybe make a nickel.

[James Patrick]

I found a printer who will print a 32-page color book for $1.65 each, with a minimum order of 1000. I'm still waiting to see the quality, though.

At that price, I'd have to sell the book for $4.50 in order to break even if I want to distribute through Diamond. I'm trying to keep the book price under $4 to remain competitive with the other comic books on the market.

Expect to lose money. Even popular indy books lose money. Is it one issue? Make it a GN and do it for the love and what comes comes.