Archive for 'printing'
Mid 20th century printing
Here’s a great video about how “men and girls” made books sixty or seventy years ago. About ten minutes in length. Highly recommended.
Printing a Book, Old School from Armin Vit on Vimeo.
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Via SpeakUp
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Posted: June 25th, 2008 under printing.
Comments: none
How have new technologies affected book design and typography?
Caduceus asks that question at MetaFilter, and IndiaInk has started a thread in reply.
There have, of course, been many effects. some good, others not so good. Caduceus is probably asking for practical advice on using new technologies and media, but the question could also be answered in a broader sense. Following are a few consequences [...]
Posted: June 16th, 2008 under POD, Uncategorized, graphic design, printing, typography.
Comments: none
Amazon coercing publishers to use BookSurge?
BookSurge is Amazon’s print-on-demand subsidiary. According to a story in Publishers Weekly, Amazon will not sell books printed with other POD services in the same way they sell other books. An excerpt from the story:
“I feel like the flea between two giant elephants,” said the head of one pod publisher about the upcoming battle between [...]
Posted: March 31st, 2008 under POD.
Comments: none
A printer’s rant
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via Pieces and Bits
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Posted: January 21st, 2008 under printing.
Comments: none
Publishing trends
NPR’s “On the Media” reported some publishing trends recently. Among the interesting facts:
Bookstores account for only 40 percent of book sales nationally.
(The percentage would probably be even lower if book marketing was more sophisticated.)
Amazon accounts for 11 percent of all book sales nationally.
(I would like to see more people shop at Powell’s.)
OTM claims that print [...]
Posted: December 17th, 2007 under POD.
Comments: 1
Trouble at Quebecor
Quebecor was for years the other big domestic print company, the competition to R. R. Donnelley. But the company appears to have fallen on difficult times. It canceled a $250mm share sale when the reception proved tepid at best. Quebecor shares have recently dropped from $5.10 to $2.80. Now it has to figure out how [...]
Posted: November 29th, 2007 under printing.
Comments: none
Book sales, book publishing economics, and print on demand
If you are quixotic enough to wish to engage in literary book publishing, you might want to take a look at the sales figures for the Man Booker Prize finalists:
Ian McEwan, On Chesil Beach: 99,660 copies
Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist: 1,519 copies
Lloyd Jones, Mister Pip: 880 copies
Anne Enright, The Gathering: 834 copies
Nicola Barker, Darkmans: 499 [...]
Posted: September 24th, 2007 under POD, books.
Comments: 1
Letterpress printing
Why can’t we produce a computer printer that bites the page?
Posted: August 5th, 2007 under printing, typography.
Comments: 5
Espresso at NYPL
If I understand this press release correctly, the NYPL will give away free books for the asking. They’ve installed an Espresso print-on-demand machine. All you have to do is ask and they’ll print you up (”within minutes”) a copy from a selection of public domain titles. I assume the selection will expand as time goes [...]
Posted: August 2nd, 2007 under POD, publishing.
Comments: 1
Out of Print Out of Date
Print-on-demand publishing has changed the concept of what it means for a book to be “out of print” — and not in favor of authors.
Traditionally, when a book went out of stock, upon the request of the author the publisher had the option of reprinting or reverting the rights of publication to the author. Now, [...]
Posted: May 27th, 2007 under POD, publishing.
Comments: 4