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BS: Self Publishing-Chapbooks
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BS: Self Publishing-Chapbooks |
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Subject: Self Publishing-Chapbooks From: Amergin Date: 15 Apr 02 - 01:07 PM Ok...My partner is currently working a chapbook for me...using a .pdf format.(she has work experience using Adobe)..she is doing the artwork and such also... Has anyone else ever done anything like this? What were the legalities? what were your experiences? and the bindings....what worked out best for you? and where did you go to get this done? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Self Publishing-Chapbooks From: Alice Date: 15 Apr 02 - 01:19 PM You can get this done by a printer I have worked for. He does offset metal plate lithography, and if you want to get into handmade (which is more costly), letterpress printing. Website is Lokken Printing. Email is lokkenprint@imt.net The owner's name is Sumner Lokken. Tell him I referred you. He can give you estimates on different kinds of paper, format sizes, binding, ink colors, etc. Alice |
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Subject: RE: BS: Self Publishing-Chapbooks From: Alice Date: 15 Apr 02 - 01:23 PM By the way, I met Sumner Lokken at our local session, where he plays mandolin. He told me how his uncle used to get out the fiddle every night after dinner and play Norwegian folk tunes. When the family got a tv, the uncle required that it be in a room that would not interfere with evening fiddle playing. Sumner is a good guy - his dream as a kid growing up in Minneapolis, spending lots of time at the large public library, was to be able to make books when he grew up. He can give you a very competitive printing price, and is a real craftsman at printing. alice |
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Subject: RE: BS: Self Publishing-Chapbooks From: JenEllen Date: 15 Apr 02 - 01:37 PM This Place is good, and a little closer to home, but certainly not the kind of service you'd get from Lokken. They do have a way to work estimates on-line, so you can have an idea about what you'll need and what it will cost you. Good luck. ~yerJE |
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Subject: RE: BS: Self Publishing-Chapbooks From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 15 Apr 02 - 03:13 PM All depends what you are trying to do. I've produced a whole series of chapbooks mostly of my own songs, as a way of keeping the words and the chords handy for, my own purposes, but making a few dozen so I could give them to people who asked for words. Each one with a dozen or so songs, or a few more.
Doing it like that, it's easy enough to do it yourself - print out the words via the computer, cut them out and paste them up with a few pictures maybe, then photocopy the paste-ups two-sided, guillotine them and staple them and trim the edges.
Anything over 40 pages or so folding and stapling becomes a problem, and you'd need to have some more advanced form of binding. And there's a scale at which it'd be cheaper to get the pages printed offset or something instead of photocopying. And if you can write music life gets a little more complicated, but not very, since that's really just another picture to be pasted in. (And I know there are some people who like the idea of doing the whole set-up through the computer instead of having past ups, though myself I like the hands on feeling of doing a paste-up.)
But I think there's a lot to be said for doing the whole thing on a small scale yourself, of that's practical.
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Subject: RE: BS: Self Publishing-Chapbooks From: Mr Red Date: 15 Apr 02 - 03:45 PM I sold 30 pamphlets that were photo-copied. I photocopied onto pre-printed designs for the cover, covered the outside in clear self adhesive filme and stapled, squashed the spine with heavy weights and trimed with a steel rule and scalpel. But you have to be methodiccal and careful. copyrighted it by giving 6 to repository libraries (in UK eg Bodleain) having obtained an ISBN (free in UK) and got a few sales by post through the ISBN which was a fillip. Sold 'em at songwriting workshops one of which I ran. I did it for the experience not the money but I made a small profit. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Self Publishing-Chapbooks From: GUEST,Russ Date: 15 Apr 02 - 04:13 PM I am a member of a group which for many years has had its own songbook. We gave it to new members for free when they paid their dues. The dues were to pay for postage for the newsletter. A friend of mine was responsible for duplicating and distributing it. He whined incessantly about the job, but did it. I got tired of the whining and converted the entire thing to PDF format. Now, instead of a hard copy, new members get a CD with the PDF fie and a copy of the latest free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader. If they want a hard copy they can print out as much of the book as they want. A few people like me have laptops for songbook and work directly with the PDF file. We have dealt with legalities by not worrying about them. We have always crossed our fingers and hoped that we are too small to deal with. If anybody notices, we'll claim ignorance, apologize profusely, and promise never to do it again. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Self Publishing-Chapbooks From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 15 Apr 02 - 04:35 PM "Having obtained an ISBN (free in UK)" - now that might be fun, I've never thought about that.
So how do you set about getting a free ISBN Mr Red? (Or anyone else who knows. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Self Publishing-Chapbooks From: JohnInKansas Date: 16 Apr 02 - 02:31 PM Interesting question about the ISBN. In the US, they're issued/registered by the Library of Congress. Anyone interested should probably be able to get current information from the LOC.gov website, or you may see the application form at Bowker. RRBowker is the publisher of Books in Print and is the only approved agent for issue of US ISBNs by email/internet. Minimum fee appears to be about $75(US). A few years ago, the LOC was complaining that they'd run out of numbers for new publishers. They were threatening to use this as a reason for refusing to issue ISBN to "small" publishers. The base number is 9 digits, the first five of which are supposedly unique for each publisher. The next 4 digits would identify a specific book from that publisher, and the "dash" digit - a number or "X" - usually indicates an edition. The last dash usually differs for paperback and hardbound versions. An ISBN is useful only if your publication is going to be handled by "resellers." It provides a way for them to look up how to contact the original publisher if someone wants the book. The "cheap out" is to print your name, address, and phone number in each book, and sell them yourself. Mel Bay does it that way. If you are outside the US (and not registering a US copyright) you have to go to your own country's agencies. It's been a number of years since I've looked at this, so be sure to get the latest from the appropriate sources before sending money. John |
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Subject: RE: BS: Self Publishing-Chapbooks From: Guessed Date: 17 Apr 02 - 09:30 AM ISBN are issued by Whittakers - I believe. If someone has their number - they move to Brighton (or should I say Hove too?). The Writers' and Artists' Year book will tell you. Every library service has at least one copy - request from Library Central. If I find the contact I will post - you only have to deposit 2 copies - Bodleain and BL. You get a free entry in the micro-fiche or whatever they use now. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Self Publishing-Chapbooks From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 17 Apr 02 - 09:56 AM I just thought it might be fun to know how to get formal recognition as existing, and into the Bodeleuan and British Library catalogues. If anyone's got any direct experience, that'd be handy. (And is there any equivalent for CDs and such?)
In the meantime, here is a contact page for Whitakers (one t) - nothing about ISBNs on it, but there wouldn't be.
And I found this on another site:
For ISBNs please contact
UK and International Standard Book Numbering Agency
For CIP (British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data) and Whitaker Book Information please contact
Whitaker Information Services |
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Subject: RE: BS: Self Publishing-Chapbooks From: GUEST,MarkF Date: 17 Apr 02 - 10:04 AM Amergin, you might want to make friends with a local printer -- if you think you'll want to do other chapbooks in the future, you definitely want to. The binding that you'll need will depend on how many pages and how heavy the stock is. It's most helpful to know a printer to consult on these things. If there's a chapbook you particularly admire, take it to the print shop(s) and ask "how much to match the quality of this for X number of copies." On the other hand, your graphic artist friend may have a printing service she's accustomed to working with (she'll be familiar with the formats they use, templates they may have on hand, their allowances for "bleed" and other printing arcana). If that's the case, see if they can send you a sample or two of books they've already done. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Self Publishing-Chapbooks From: Nigel Parsons Date: 17 Apr 02 - 10:09 AM Good hints from all around, particularly MarkF. If you do ask a publisher if he has samples of his work, make sure you mention that you wish to publish music/ guitar tabs. With any luck you could get some fresh (shop soiled) songbooks out of it. Memo to Self: must try this with several publishers! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Self Publishing-Chapbooks From: Amergin Date: 04 Jun 02 - 09:39 PM thank you everyone...have had to put this on the backburner for a while...as the designer well she kind of quit the partnership a month ago...though i was lucky enough to get a rough draft....of the book saved.... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Self Publishing-Chapbooks From: CapriUni Date: 05 Jun 02 - 02:35 PM So, Amergin -- How did the draft turn out? And how many copies are you planning on doing? And when it gets to final draft, will you put a copy in the Mudcat Auction? If you do, I'd bid on it, and I bet others would, too! I'll have to go through this thread again, when I have more time, and carefully read through all the links on the legalities and such. I've been writing poetry and stories for most of my life, and people keep asking if my work is published, and where... But I've yet to find a publisher that seems like a good "fit" for what I do, so maybe chapbooks would be the way to go... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Self Publishing-Chapbooks From: TheBigPinkLad Date: 05 Jun 02 - 02:56 PM I have made several chapbooks. I drop the text into Adobe PageMaker and add illustrations. The pages are landscape oriented to print two to a page (11 X 8.5 inches) so that when printed they can be folded into a book 8.5 X 5.5, which is a perfect size. A card-stock cover is added and the book is stapled down the spine. Works great for smaller publications, although you can makem it look really professional by having the books trimmed at print shop. It's cheap, I get a single pass cut (about 15 books with 32 pages) for $5 Canadian. My problem is finding someone who can draw for my next project -- anyone good at illustrating folk tales? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Self Publishing-Chapbooks From: Amergin Date: 22 Jul 02 - 03:47 AM Thanks everyone....a dear friend of mine says she will help me out with it....so it looks like it is back on! Capri...in answer to your question the draft turned out ok....but not quite what I had in mind...but it is something...but anyways...my friend has a clearer understanding of what i want....for she is but a facet of my very soul...plus i told her she could put her artwork in it...and such.... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Self Publishing-Chapbooks From: CapriUni Date: 22 Jul 02 - 01:09 PM That's great news, Amergin! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Self Publishing-Chapbooks From: Mr Red Date: 07 Nov 02 - 04:41 PM Just got here via alltheweb and shorty and had problems posting, the like of which I have not experienced before. In case it never arrives the post posed the question about copyrighting CD's, is there a process similar to ISBN? AND I remarked on a new printer that Sam (SomersFolkLife) Simmons' has access to via his pet printer company - they cahrge 3p (2cents?) per A5 side based on an A3 blank page. BUT it is all run from disk not camera ready-copy so it is quick as well. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Self Publishing-Chapbooks From: Mudlark Date: 08 Nov 02 - 02:17 AM For anyone wanting to self-publish with help, iUniverse might be an answer. Not cheap (I think it's about $400 US/book) but they include in that very professional trade papberback books, illustrated cover, good bindings, ISBN No. and then it's print on demand. So you aren't stuck with a basement full of books. They don't do any publicity, but they make the actual production a cinch. A woman in my writing group has published 4 books this way, sells them thru local bookshops, book fairs, and small ads in local papers, and while not making a fortune, she's certainly made her money back. It also puts the work out into the market...many authors who started out w/iUniverse books have been picked up by standard publishers. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Self Publishing-Chapbooks From: GUEST Date: 08 Nov 02 - 11:51 PM Partner? In business? Supstitute Spouse? Bridge Player? WHAT>? |