sirram
Senior Printer
No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money
Posts: 269
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Post by sirram on Nov 29, 2022 10:17:17 GMT
Our local history society is thinking about bringing some of our booklets into a compendium version. At a guess, the latter will add up to around 525 pages.
Has anyone on this forum used Lulu to print such a large paperback? I am wondering how the binding will stand up over time. Cheaply-bound paperbacks can split apart quite quickly.
One could go the hardback route, but at a higher cost.
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Post by potet on Nov 29, 2022 11:07:19 GMT
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Post by potet on Nov 29, 2022 11:16:20 GMT
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Post by BlueAndGold on Nov 29, 2022 13:51:16 GMT
When manufactured properly, my 630-page SPACE: An Odyssey in Rhyme seems pretty durable. I have a couple of copies I have used to scribble in to make later edits and they have held together under my abuse.
I also have a proof that was poorly cut and many of the front pages were loose and fell out.
So it's all about manufacturing quality on any given day. (I have received no complaints from the field though, which is a good thing.)
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Post by BlueAndGold on Nov 29, 2022 14:33:38 GMT
By the way,
Nowadays, the "hardback" books are simply paperbacks with a cardboard cover glued on to them. I have been very disappointed with what I have received lately. In fact, I am seriously considering withdrawing my "hardback" versions. It's robbery.
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sirram
Senior Printer
No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money
Posts: 269
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Post by sirram on Nov 29, 2022 18:08:11 GMT
Thanks for the replies. I am reassured that Lulu should be able to handle such a large paperback.
So, this afternoon, I concatenated the 14 booklets into a single PDF, then created a new project in Lulu and uploaded the single PDF. This was only a rough test - and despite the page count being higher than expected (612 pages), Lulu accepted the upload with no problem. I was also pleased with Lulu's print & shipping costs (11.92 GBP + 3.24 GBP respectively - very competitive).
But, now wanting to go ahead, I immediately came unstuck with Lulu's new cover-design wizard. I firstly tried their four templates (all horrible) and then tried uploading my own cover (using a downloaded Lulu template).
I cannot believe it but Lulu is now displaying a merge of one of their four templates partly overwritten by the cover I uploaded. There seems no way of deleting this and starting again from scratch.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Must I delete the whole project and start again? It's almost as though wants us to fail!
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Post by potet on Nov 29, 2022 18:41:09 GMT
I think that Lulu has recently resumed the Cover Wizard in a new version. Go down the menu for the cover and see what they have. I didn't use it myself because my one-piece cover was already done, but I plan to use the new wizard next time.
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Post by And Kevin 2024 on Nov 29, 2022 19:22:24 GMT
By the way, Nowadays, the "hardback" books are simply paperbacks with a cardboard cover glued on to them. I have been very disappointed with what I have received lately. In fact, I am seriously considering withdrawing my "hardback" versions. It's robbery. I am not sure what to say about that. Hardbacked books are a different method of binding to paperbacks, including the spine, and how the page sections are put together. Just sticking cardboard on to the covers of paperbacks seems strange, some do it to protect old paperbacks however. Although there are different methods to hardbacks. Some hardbacks are stitched, using various techniques, and some are not. www.youtube.com/watch?v=c77U7kGRkrE&t=50s Lulu always insisted their's are stitched.
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Post by And Kevin 2024 on Nov 29, 2022 19:25:27 GMT
To be honest, cost is a factor with POD. The more pages the greater the cost. Hardback more costly than paperback. With a dustjacket even more costly. Full colour pages? Take out a second mortgage.
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Post by BlueAndGold on Nov 29, 2022 20:08:56 GMT
Stitched? STITCHED? The following photos are of the spines of the latest two hardback ("casewrap"?) proofs received from Lulu, 08 November 2022. As you can see, neither of the inside back cover paper sheets that the cardboard back is glued to survived the first opening. I don't see any stitches. I just see what looks like what comes out my hot glue gun.
This is very disappointing to me. Prior years' hardbacks were better, but still certainly NOT stitched. These look as if they came from Amazon or somesuch. I have been considering removing these hardbacks from distribution. They really are rather embarrassing, especially considering the retail prices.
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Post by BlueAndGold on Nov 29, 2022 22:31:29 GMT
In other words, the paperback option is more rugged than the new hardback, from a "Keep the cover attached to the text" perspective.
My opinion only. Your mileage may vary.
I'll be producing no more hardback projects. It has become apparent that neither Lulu nor Amazon are interested in supplying hardbacks. They have priced them out of the market and subverted the quality. What better way to kill a product?
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Post by BlueAndGold on Nov 29, 2022 22:39:35 GMT
Sirram: You should be able to simply go to the Design step and upload your own new PDF cover. That should over-write whatever the wizard and/or template left off with. I think. I hope.
(I've never used a cover template or a wizard and never had a serious problem.)
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Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on Nov 29, 2022 23:24:49 GMT
Stitched? STITCHED? The following photos are of the spines of the latest two hardback ("casewrap"?) proofs received from Lulu, 08 November 2022. As you can see, neither of the inside back cover paper sheets that the cardboard back is glued to survived the first opening. I don't see any stitches. I just see what looks like what comes out my hot glue gun.
This is very disappointing to me. Prior years' hardbacks were better, but still certainly NOT stitched. These look as if they came from Amazon or somesuch. I have been considering removing these hardbacks from distribution. They really are rather embarrassing, especially considering the retail prices.
Several years ago I did case wrap hardcovers at Lulu Press for three different books, which were slightly more robust, possibly due to the particular printer involved -- they had a strip of cloth glued to the spine instead of stitching. {I retired them as soon as I could after the 'Upgrade'.]
I did use the IS price tool for a hypothetical hardcover, 6"x9", case laminate [glossy, no dust jacket], 400 pages B&W printed on 50# creme paper, with a 55% Wholesale discount for the US market. The printing charge worked out to $11.15. With a retail sale price of $26 the publisher would get [without counting applicable taxes] $0.55 per copy.
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Post by potet on Nov 29, 2022 23:31:05 GMT
Lulu always insisted their's are stitched. In the original forum on Lulu, when I said I had the impression the signatures of my hardback copy were stitched, a Lulu official intervened and said they were not stitched - it was just an impression.
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sirram
Senior Printer
No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money
Posts: 269
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Post by sirram on Nov 30, 2022 10:38:27 GMT
Sirram: You should be able to simply go to the Design step and upload your own new PDF cover. That should over-write whatever the wizard and/or template left off with. I think. I hope.
(I've never used a cover template or a wizard and never had a serious problem.)
I think I've done 19 books to date, all using the old Lulu cover-design wizard where I used one of their templates. I must be missing something with the new wizard. I first selected one of the four available templates (step 2 in first screenshot) but was very disappointed. So, I downloaded a ready-made cover template from Lulu but, before changing it, simply uploaded it to the wizard to see how it looked (step 3 in first screenshot). But look at the result (step 4 in screenshot below). The LH side (back cover) is still showing the template I selected at step 2 above. The RH side is from the Lulu jpg file I uploaded. Problem is - there doesn't seem to be anyway of deleting the corrupted cover and starting again.
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