Odd book printing / vanity publishing question???? (!!!!)

[JazzFunk]

I have a friend at work who writes A LOT but does so via pen & paper, he has this weird, inverted snobbery about using PCs, his outlook is strictly, defiantly old skool, whatever the cost.

He's just completed a 260 page novel. He's not bothered about 'fame', he's got 10 pals whom he "writes for" and he wants a proper book to give to them. As printing in such low quantities is vastly expensive (and he's on a low wage), his minimum print run would be 100 at least. A local printer gave him a quote of ?368 for 100 copies. I said that was too f*cking much.

All his stuff is scribbled down in notepads but I reckon muggins here could help him get it sorted into Word documents, though I'm trying to coax the bast into getting a PC with Word or a decent Word-imitating program on it. As he's not after the fame or such, he's not after sending off anything to major publishers, he basically wants a few copies of his book printed, but has hit a brick wall and discovered the ONLY way is to get at least a hundred done, at quite a vastish cost to himself.

Can anyone recommend any online vanity publishers who could give the bloke a better deal???

PS: Not to rush anybody, but any quick suggestions would be great, our shifts 'collide' tomorrow and I don't get much chance to see the bloke!

[noobish hat]

He really only wants about ten copies? Just print them out yourself and take them to any university, they will have a book binding service (for dissertations etc). The biggest cost would probably be the printing, and the paper quality wouldn't be as good as a real book, obviously, but you could make them individually (and put in unique dedications if he likes), rather than by the hundred.

[JazzFunk]

^Thanks for the quick reply!

How much do you reckon that'd cost him?

[noobish hat]

Depends on the number of pages/if you have your own printer etc/type of binding he wants. Short answer is that I don't remember (I only ever used the cheapest/****tiest binding). You can email Leeds Print & Copy Bureau at [email protected] or you could phone them on 0113 34 32668 to find out more.

[JazzFunk]

^Number noted, I will be giving him that tomorrow. Many thanks noobish, that was exactly what I was after.

[noobish hat]

Or he could buy them a Kindle each.

[JazzFunk]

^Umm...he might buy them a lambswool vest...and play them his Steptoe VHSes.

[randombs]

https://www.lulu.com

There's no minimum number. I was going to use them when I had an idea for a book I only managed two pages of. They came highly recommended by PC Pro magazine.

They'll also sell the book on their site if you like, and they print on demand. Downside is probably price(although last I checked, it wasn't a lot considering, and definitely much less than a typical printer service that would have a larger minimum print run) and that the service is automated(best to send a PDF rather than Word file) to keep costs down so there's no quality checking or the like.

[Wil]

Lulu or Blurb POD is your answer. If it's just b&w text with maybe a colour cover it isn't going to cost much per copy. I'd say about a fiver per book if it's a softcover.

The hardest bit is going to be typing the whole shebang into a word doc.