LAUGHING BEAR NEWSLETTER 120 March/April 2000; edited by Tom Person; Copyright 2000 by Laughing Bear Press; Estab. 1976; ISSN 1056-0327 P.O. Box 613322, Dallas, TX 75261-3322; 817-858-9515; e-mail: [email protected] http://www.laughingbear.com; Keyword: Laughing Bear; $15/12 issues, $17.50/Canada, £15/UK, Eire, $25/other The Surviving Small the middle of the run would be Computer To Plate acceptable. Plates for offset printing are Press: Before You Hire Now the question is: Who was made by first photographing each a Printer responsible for the print job being a page and developing the film. Years ago I worked for a com- disaster? Then a graphic artist “strips” the pany that dealt with the Army. One It was me. I got a bid on 4,000 film negatives onto frames. A project was to produce a full color books. I did not specifically say frame is a paper or polyester sheet comic book of tips for maintaining that I wanted 4,000 beautiful, with a hole cut into it for each page the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. usable books nor did I ask the to give the film more support and Since I the only person there with printer how much overage (wasted make it easier to handle, especially any publishing experience at all copies) we’d have to add to the run when there are several pages (and it was minimal at the time), I to get them. mounted (or “imposed”) for print- was chosen to find a printer. I assumed the printer knew ing the book “4 up”, “16 up”, etc. We wanted 4,000 copies of the what I wanted and he assumed he The film images are then trans- prototype book on glossy paper. I knew what I wanted, too. Unfortu- ferred to metal plates. The plate is took a dummy of the book around nately we didn’t get together and coated with a chemical emulsion, to all the printers I could find who compare our assumptions. He and when light is shot through the did color printing and, after the assumed that, as with most comic negative onto the plate, the chemi- bidding was done, we selected one books, some poor registration cals harden in the printing areas who assured us they could handle would be acceptable. I assumed exposed to the light. A water- the short run job and do it right the he’d realize that for a multi-million receptive material that attaches first time. dollar contract nothing but only to bare metal is then applied to When the books came back perfection would do. the plates. from the printer the color registra- This doesn’t mean you have to The offset printing method tion was off by as much as a become an expert in printing to hire uses the oil and water principal so quarter inch in more than half of a printer. But you do need to be- ink sticks where it should and the copies. That means if there was come an expert in communicating washes away where it shouldn’t. a part of a picture that was orange it your printing needs. A mistake can That works well, but it makes print- would have yellow ink bleeding out be costly and put you behind ing plants huge producers of toxic one side of the orange area and red schedule. waste. Even if you submit your coming out the other. The books As soon as you decide to do a book to the printer as a computer looked horrible. book and publish it yourself, start file, the pages are still printed out I took a box back to the talking to printers. The book may and plates made in this way. printer’s salesperson and asked be a year off. You may not even be Computer To Plate (CTP) what happened. He said that sure you can afford to publish a technology is the hottest subject in because of the size of his press the book; but you won’t know anything printing today. With it your com- color would never come out right until you ask. puter file is transferred directly to a on such a short run job. We’d have A printer would much rather printable plate with all the pages to do a run of at least 10,000 to get talk about a project sometime in the imposed and ready to mount on the 4,000 good books. About 3,000 at distant future than have you come press. The reason you won’t find either end of the run would be in a couple weeks before you need CTP in your local print shop yet is ruined because the press would be the finished copies. the machines cost $200,000 to getting up to speed and then slowing down – only the books in (Continued on page 2.) (Continued on page 4.) News, Information, and Inspiration for Small Publishers since 1976 1 LAUGHING BEAR NEWSLETTER 120 easier. Even if you expect to end way to save money is obviously to Before You Hire a up working with a company in have the press run as few times as Printer (continued) another part of the country, talk to possible by putting as many pages Printers, like everyone else, some local printers. Get a lot of as possible on a single plate. This want to do a good job with the least bids. But also take some time to is called printing “up”. amount of hassle and end up with a learn as you go. It helps to have If a book is printed four up, satisfied customer who ll come ’ some clue of what you’re doing, so that means four pages are printed at back. The best way they can take what one printer tells you and the same time. If the same book accomplish that is to help you to try it out on the next. has 120 pages, it would have be go give them exactly what they need Find someone you can feel through the printing press 30 times. to print your book so it comes comfortable with. A lot of print If you could find a way to print the out looking exactly the way you salespeople promise the world but book eight up, it would only have want it. don’t have any idea what they are to go through 15 times and save There is no one right way to do talking about. A really high or low you 50% on preparation, startup, a print job. While you may think bid is a good sign they don’t. Ask shutdown, and cleanup. what you are asking for is obvious, for samples and references. If they How many pages you can fit the printer doesn t know whether ’ don’t give samples, ask for titles on a sheet of paper obviously has to you are asking for a 7” x 7”, Smyth and look for them in bookstores or do with the size of the pages and sewn, perfectbound book printed the library. the size of the sheet – and the size on blue satin finish paper with full A good printer will be proud of of the printing press. The pages color photographed page numbers their work and you just might find need to fit on the sheet as economi- printed halfway off the page they’ve already done a project ex- cally as possible (with as little corners because you have an artis- actly like you have in mind. space between them as possible) tic vision and lots of money or you Discuss cost cutting measures. because not only do you pay for just don’t realize that such a print If you are doing a small book and wasted paper, you also pay for job is going to cost more than a want to use a special paper, maybe every slice of the blade that cuts house. the printer has another job coming your pages apart and trims off the Start out by explaining to the up with similar paper. You may be waste. printer what you want to accom- able to use some of the leftover Since the page size, sheet size, plish with the book. Bring in sam- paper from that job or tack your press size are so important, it ples of books similar to the one you paper order onto the other and save would be really nice if there was are considering. Ask about the best some shipping costs. and industry standard to go by. way for you to prepare and deliver If the paper requires special There is, sort of. Most books the book to them. Discuss budget, press setup, schedule your press run published have pages 5.5” to 6” whether there will be illustrations, to follow right after the other job so wide and 8.5” to 9” tall. Most bulk how you intend to sell it. Lay out you can save on those charges as paper and press plates are sized to the project and see what they think. well. accommodate those sizes. But to Be flexible. You can still There are four expensive steps find out exactly what a printer is afford to be at this stage. If you to every simple print run. First the using, you need to ask the printer. wait until the book is finished, you press has to be inked and the plate A fraction of an inch in either may find yourself locked into some and paper loaded.