Comic Genesis Forums

Since i've finished my comic, i've been putting together a book to be printed and had some questions about Lulu (or any other place you can suggest). Sorry if this is repetitive - i searched around and couldn't really find answers to all my questions.

I was wondering what the quality was like on the books - i was planning on getting B&W saddle stiched 7.5"x7.5" books. I don't really plan on buying one unless i sell at least a couple, so i'd like to at least know that i'm not selling junk. I figured it'd be sort of like a really nice laser printer, but i have no idea what kind of paper they use.

The other thing was i don't really know what sort of extra content people like in such things. I was planning on a little preface, the 404 page (which will get taken off the site once my new project goes up), and maybe some sort of code to download wallpapers and such. Is there anything else i should include?

Oh - i did have one little technical question for anyone who's printed through them. Do they print the first page on the right page, or do they insert a page and start on the left or what? I've been trying to figure out how to put the page numbers on the outside, and i can't really find any information on it.

Thanks!

Well, the book I published from Lulu was in pretty good shape and I liked it. It should turn out fine provided you do everything right with it.

First page for mine was printed on the right. I'm assuming yours will be, too.

Having never used Lulu, I can't add anything intelligent there.

I myself am working on a couple of books, though I'm going to send them over to ComixPress instead... heard they had a good reputation and their submission instructions are pretty straightforward (Mind you, lulu has a good reputation too.. I just don't know much else about them is all).

As for extra content: go wild. People like extra stories, definitely. Basically anything that they can't find on the site for free. Many people will buy a book simply because they want to have it in their hands - but others won't when they can get it online for free. So give em a little incentive, something fun that they can only find in the books.

I bought a Cat! book from Lulu that I thought was pretty good.

If it's pure black and white, make sure that you create the pdf file you give lulu at 600dpi bitmap. If the file you give them is good, you'll probably get good results.

If you haven't already done so, it's worthwhile to read the entire discussion in this thread (not just the opening post).

I've been using Lulu to publish my novels for two years or more now, and I've always been very satisfied with them. While I realize that novels and comics are two entirely different creatures, I would imagine that it's about the same deal -- the only mistakes in formatting or content are the ones that I didn't fix myself. They're very professional, and their tools are flexible enough to let you create a unique book or whatever it is you're planning on making.
I would recommend Lulu to anybody.

Well, i've got the book up now, so i suppose all that's left to do is hope for a sale - maybe the sudden mass of stumbleupon people will amount to one (figures such a thing would happen during my hiatus).

Thanks for your help guys.

Comixpress and Lulu are both great options. Check out Amazon's print option, too. They charge a hefty percentage of it, but they'll print and distribute your book on their website at the same time.