David_Rotor comments on Twelve Virtues booklet printing? - Less Wrong

2 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 11 April 2009 02:40PM

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Comment author: David_Rotor 11 April 2009 03:40:37PM 4 points [-]

Costs can vary considerably between different printers for the same job. Here are some of the variables that go into an estimate you'll get:

  1. Design. Standard paper sizes with no cutting or trimming is less expensive.
  2. Utilization. If the printer has excess capacity, you can expect a lower cost
  3. Delivery time. Related to utilization, the longer you can wait for your job, the more opportunity the printer has to schedule it to maximize his utilization.
  4. Materials. More colours are more expensive. Heavier paper is more expensive. More than one type of paper is more expensive (glossy cover, plain pages, for example).
  5. Production equipment. Not really relevant for your job, but for more complex printing certain production processes are cheaper for certain jobs. As you would expect, each printer will gladly bid for work, even if they don't have the ideal equipment for a job.
  6. Binding. From lower cost to more expensive: Stapled, stapled and taped, cerlox, wire coil, perfect (glued).
  7. Competition. Getting more than one bid, and letting the printer know you are getting more than one bid. However, you also need to consider the printer's cost to bid against their internally perceived chance of winning the business. Two or three bidders is likely to be better than 10 or 12.

A very quick (two minute) google search turned up online bids around $1200/10,000 for an 8 page stapled and taped booklet. As this necessarily includes shipping, you should be able to find a local printer willing to do this job for under $1000 ... especially if you give them time.

Final suggestion ... university print shops often provide low cost printing for tenured professors.

And ... I agree with Roko's comments. I recommend a revision to take some of the more "proselytizing" tone out of the work. I like the light hearted tone of much of the material, but it often steps over the line and becomes condescending.

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 11 April 2009 03:41:59PM 1 point [-]

Can you include the link, please? Your google-fu must be stronger than mine.

Comment author: David_Rotor 11 April 2009 03:43:58PM 2 points [-]

I found more than one ... this one was still up on my browser. Look for "booklet" rather than pamplet. Pamphlets are generally single folded pages.

http://www.printplace.com/printing/booklet-printing.aspx

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 11 April 2009 04:13:23PM 1 point [-]

Ah. Well, I need 16 pages total (which can be cover + 12 if I can print the inside cover) and that worked out here to around $2K/10,000 with saddle stitching (staple in the middle); I'm not sure if that ends up lying flat in large stacks.

Comment author: David_Rotor 11 April 2009 03:54:17PM 0 points [-]

Another suggestion ... design it as a tri-fold 11X17 page. 10,000 four colour glossy paper for about $1100 online. This format "stacks very nicely. Again, should be cheaper locally.

http://www.digitalroom.com/Trifold-Brochure-Printing.html

Comment author: ciphergoth 12 April 2009 10:26:24AM *  0 points [-]

The current presentation uses 16 A6 pages ie 0.25 m^2 of page area, so that's about the same area as both sides of one 11x17 page. From that link, the lowest I can get the price for a run of 10,000 is about 17.5ยข each; colour on the outside is mandatory, and on the inside is free.

Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 12 April 2009 02:45:55PM 0 points [-]

Today's fun fact I did not know: it's not about the same area it's exactly the same area. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_216#A_series

But the whole point of this operation is (mostly) to get a flat binding.