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Post by tasmanianartist on Jul 25, 2020 7:10:32 GMT
Anyone know this printer/publisher? PubGraphicsDirect.com
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Post by ronmiller on Jul 25, 2020 19:03:04 GMT
Apparently Publisher's Graphics been around for 24 years. It has no Better Business Bureau accreditation but does have an A+ rating with 0 customer complaints. But evidently it was originally an offset printing and bookbinding company that has branched out into serving self-published authors so I don't know how well it has done in that realm.
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Post by And still Kevin 2024 on Jul 26, 2020 0:17:36 GMT
They seem to be a jack of all trades in the printing industry. pubgraphics.com/They do offer POD, but you have to ring them up to get prices, although there is this pubgraphics.com/instant-quote/They do not seem to be a publisher, but a printing and mailing service to the publishing trade. |
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Post by tasmanianartist on Jul 26, 2020 5:40:52 GMT
Thank you ronmiller and And still Kevin 2024. I'm getting to know their system - the quote thingie is quite useful, but you have to know your papers. And you have to know how to use the Excel template that gives all the measurements for front/back panel, spine, folds etc etc - also something I'm getting the hang of now. The quotes so far under-sell anything and everything I've seen re pricing for my 2 books lately. The client is responsible for getting the spine right - reuploads because of 'oops' slipups cost $30 / $45 per 'oops' - so better be correct in the first place. There is no interface like at Lulu or at mijnbestseller.nl, or epubli.de, or the old Booksurge for that matter, but with the measurements the Excel template for the cover provides, an interactive photoshop template (or similar program) is easily built, into which my jpgs can be set/adjusted. They also have no paypal, and depending on the fees of our banks, who can be quite creative (!) I will have to do some quick thinking. However - a one off setup fee of around $40 (depending on paper and ink and trim size etc), and a pro-book price of US19 for my 6x9, colour, 800 pages, hardcover is more than reasonable compared to Lulu's AUD$170 per book, and is a mighty temptation. If they've been around for 24 years, they've done something right - also, quick email responses, with real persons, to any and all questions (even my 'stupid' ones...doh) is a far cry from Lulu's present 'go away we're busy' debacle. If I add it up - setup fee of $40, book $19, bank fee perhaps $15 (before shipping - the Lulu price for my book is also before shipping), with a little effort on my behalf, the book that is priced beyond the reach of anyone at Lulu, is suddenly affordable. And that's including the one-off setup fee. They do have international clients, and having no paypal seems no problem. They do 'one book' per order, like the known PODs, and have a discount scale for larger numbers. A couple more details to sort out before I jump in, but the per book price, and the 'quality promise' because of their history as a printing service to the publishing trade with no complaints (accreditations don't really sit well with me - one can purchase one's accreditation...) give me some confidence of 'brick and mortar' value. I'll update progress if and when ... |
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Post by tasmanianartistNotLoggedIn on Jul 29, 2020 7:17:53 GMT
There comes a moment in every ex-Lulu refugee's life when this needs saying .... 'and thereby hangs the tail' .... so - after working my way through the quote system, which is very nifty, I must say, I finally ended up in the shipping page - and the cheapest shipping US to AU I could find (and I don't know whether it is tracking or not) is around US$100 - the book costs around US$20 give or take a couple of dollars depending on chosen binding, setup fee of around US$40 - and as yet unknown 'smallprint' fees for a bank transfer - I think not. Shame, I liked their sewn spine.
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Post by And still Kevin 2024 on Jul 31, 2020 3:44:42 GMT
Thank you ronmiller and And still Kevin 2024 . I'm getting to know their system - the quote thingie is quite useful, but you have to know your papers. And you have to know how to use the Excel template that gives all the measurements for front/back panel, spine, folds etc etc - also something I'm getting the hang of now. The quotes so far under-sell anything and everything I've seen re pricing for my 2 books lately. The client is responsible for getting the spine right - reuploads because of 'oops' slipups cost $30 / $45 per 'oops' - so better be correct in the first place. There is no interface like at Lulu or at mijnbestseller.nl, or epubli.de, or the old Booksurge for that matter, but with the measurements the Excel template for the cover provides, an interactive photoshop template (or similar program) is easily built, into which my jpgs can be set/adjusted. They also have no paypal, and depending on the fees of our banks, who can be quite creative (!) I will have to do some quick thinking. However - a one off setup fee of around $40 (depending on paper and ink and trim size etc), and a pro-book price of US19 for my 6x9, colour, 800 pages, hardcover is more than reasonable compared to Lulu's AUD$170 per book, and is a mighty temptation. If they've been around for 24 years, they've done something right - also, quick email responses, with real persons, to any and all questions (even my 'stupid' ones...doh) is a far cry from Lulu's present 'go away we're busy' debacle. If I add it up - setup fee of $40, book $19, bank fee perhaps $15 (before shipping - the Lulu price for my book is also before shipping), with a little effort on my behalf, the book that is priced beyond the reach of anyone at Lulu, is suddenly affordable. And that's including the one-off setup fee. They do have international clients, and having no paypal seems no problem. They do 'one book' per order, like the known PODs, and have a discount scale for larger numbers. A couple more details to sort out before I jump in, but the per book price, and the 'quality promise' because of their history as a printing service to the publishing trade with no complaints (accreditations don't really sit well with me - one can purchase one's accreditation...) give me some confidence of 'brick and mortar' value. I'll update progress if and when ... |
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Post by And still Kevin 2024 on Jul 31, 2020 3:52:33 GMT
There comes a moment in every ex-Lulu refugee's life when this needs saying .... 'and thereby hangs the tail' .... so - after working my way through the quote system, which is very nifty, I must say, I finally ended up in the shipping page - and the cheapest shipping US to AU I could find (and I don't know whether it is tracking or not) is around US$100 - the book costs around US$20 give or take a couple of dollars depending on chosen binding, setup fee of around US$40 - and as yet unknown 'smallprint' fees for a bank transfer - I think not. Shame, I liked their sewn spine.
It sort of reminds me of a few other things. I was looking at watches on Amazon (to compare prices only) and there's some seller with 100s of styles priced at £00.01. How odd, thought I. But, shipping is around £15!
It also reminds me of a local shop who sell a large item for £19.99, but, if you want it delivered they charge £40 for the service! Advice from the shop said, well you can buy it from our online shop if you can't get it in your car. So I looked. £40 for the item + £20 shipping! WTF?! And that's one of the UK's largest retailers. |
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Post by tasmanianartistNotLoggedIn on Aug 1, 2020 3:08:27 GMT
Rounded off comparison figures (approximates as they depend on X-change rates):
The company that charges $22 for one book, also charges $100 for shipping US to Australia PUPGraphics
The company that charges $84 for one book (mybestseller.co.uk, converted from English Pound to US$) charges almost $32 from England (?) to Australia
The company that charges $100 charges $26 from US to Australia (Lulu).
I asked the Dutch company (mybestseller.co.uk is their English label), and got this reply:
startquote******Firstly, you're looking at companies that are not only in different countries, but different continents. As a result, there are all kinds of legal differences, (primarily tax-related I suspect), that will have an effect on how the books are priced. Each of these companies will, in turn, likely have their separate deals with various printers and suppliers, which are also subject to the different corporate regulations of their respective countries.
Then there's shipping. We use Royal Mail to ship our books from the UK, and they have really attractive rates for Australia and the commonwealth, for obvious reasons. Your Chicago printer will most likely not have access to Royal Mail, hence the higher shipping costs.
So, in the case of Mybestseller, which is the only one I can speak for, your assumption isn't quite correct. Shipping and production costs are independent of one another. The printer determines the production cost, and the postal service determines the shipping cost. ******endquote
I would love to have a point for point comparison of all three (trim, paper, cover and a few other variables), alas not possible. To confound the problem with PUBGraphics do not have Paypal, so a largely 'unknown' factor of bank fees will have to be kept in mind, and by enquiring with local banks, this can be from 'nil to unknown' to $35 / $46 (AUD) plus 'unknowns' per transaction.
Also with PUBGraphics, if one inputs 2 books for the checkout, the shipping doubles !! I have had heavier/bulkier items sent from the US and at lesser shipping cost.
Anyway, in the interest of furnishing information I place the above here.
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Post by And still Kevin 2024 on Aug 1, 2020 4:08:33 GMT
There's no doubt different costs for different countries. For decades Worldbooks have had all their books printed in China (in bulk, not via POD) because it's a chips as chips. They were a massive worldwide publisher, but I have no idea if they still exist.
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Post by ronmiller on Aug 1, 2020 18:08:54 GMT
There's no doubt different costs for different countries. For decades Worldbooks have had all their books printed in China (in bulk, not via POD) because it's a chips as chips. They were a massive worldwide publisher, but I have no idea if they still exist. Even today most major publishers will have books---books heavy with art, photos and other graphics in particular---printed in China. I'm not sure which "Worldbooks" you mean. There was World Publishing, which was pretty large but is no longer around, and the World Book Encyclopedia, which is still going strong. |
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Post by tasmanianartistNotLoggedIn on Aug 2, 2020 4:05:54 GMT
Correction to shipping costs in my post 1Aug - Lulu shipping cost for the book in question was AUD$16.40 Expedited Shipping (thats US$11.71 at today's X-rates). After enquiring with Lulu, about Australian fulfiller/printer, they did say expressly that they do not have an Australian printer/fulfiller at present (back in May) - so this book came from the US ....... at US$11.71? WOW). Alas, now that they have placed a 'restore' button, I've been able to look up the cost for the book of the May2020 order (the 'view order' of which was corrupted until a few days ago, when someone actually wrote back and fixed the 'hanging' shopping basket), which was then AUD$171.14, which is at todays X-rates US$122.19. When I wrote the above comparison I did not have access to the book since retiring it, so I guessed; the 'restore' button is quite new. The Lulu shipping cost of the May order is thus even more perplexing - given it is still the same book ... 6x9 inch, 798 pages, 25 colour plates, hardcover. So, Lulu shipped from US the book for $11.71, and PUBGraphics want $100 shipping for the same book ... that does not compute - how many mailing companies are there operating in the US?
BTW the 'print cost' in today's 'projects list' is AUD$148.66 as printing cost (US$106.43 in US currency) - clearly something gave ... ?
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Post by tasmanianartistNotLoggedIn on Aug 2, 2020 5:23:26 GMT
Lulu book pricing: switched from 'premium colour' to 'standard colour' paper in the 'design' stage, and the price has come down to AUD$56.89 (US$40.62) (taking advantage of preview that's working at present, as well as other functions that have not been available for months). BUT... putting it into the cart still brings up AUD$148 ... DOH ... ?
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Post by And still Kevin 2024 on Aug 5, 2020 1:22:29 GMT
"There was World Publishing"
That could be who I was thinking of. They had massive warehouses in the UK, too.
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