Print-on-demand publishing company experience...

[louoates]

I'd love to get your opinion on self publishing with a print-on-demand company -- hopefully you actually have had printing done with either of the two companies listed here. If I'm missing the boat with just these two in this price range I'd love to get your input.

I am considering two self-publishing companies for a 50 page full color soft cover perfect-bound picture book 8.5 x 11 size, bleed.
One is Createspace, https://www.createspace.com/Products/Book/#content7
The other is Magcloud, http://www.magcloud.com/

These are very low-price publishers-on-demand. Around $6 to $12 each. Createspace is owned by Amazon and claims library quality. I am not looking for super, super quality but printing that would be equal to iphoto books or My Publisher books.

This is for a project I'll be launching soon via Kickstarter.

[Iluvmycam]

I can't find a POD to do good BW work. It has all stunk. Looks like blue and white images mostly. If you got a good POD clue me in. I tried about 5 of them.

[louoates]

I can't find a POD to do good BW work. It has all stunk. Looks like blue and white images mostly. If you got a good POD clue me in. I tried about 5 of them.

Which POD did you use that you were unhappy with?
My use is all full color for this book. I'm looking for decent color such as iphoto books. I may just have to try the ones I mentioned here and see how it turns out. Not much investment up-front and I could toss them if no good. I'd have to produce the hi-res jpgs anyway, and then the required PDF files that these POD folks want.

[digitaldog]

I am not looking for super, super quality but printing that would be equal to iphoto books or My Publisher books.

Did you try Aperture? Not identical to iPhoto in terms of the color space uploaded but the quality of the devices should be similar or better.

[MarkM]

I'm not sure what "library quality" means, but it's my understanding that all of these (and blurb and iPhoto) are using HP Indigo presses. Assuming they are operating their machines within spec, the real differences will come down to paper and binding options, customer support, and how much flexibility they offer in their workflow. One thing I noticed with blurb is that I was able to get much better color by taking full control of the process. Rather than using their software and uploading RGB files, I did my own CMYK conversions using their icc profile, did the layout in InDesign, and sent them press ready PDFs. The color was right on the money, and the printing was what I would expect from the Indigo.

[digitaldog]

I'm not sure what "library quality" means, but it's my understanding that all of these (and blurb and iPhoto) are using HP Indigo presses. Assuming they are operating their machines within spec, the real differences will come down to paper and binding options, customer support, and how much flexibility they offer in their workflow.

Not all the process (printing) are necessarily Indigo. There are differing models of Indigo. More importantly, there are a lot of ways to setup and run an Indigo, like most presses, you can 'conform' to a standard if one even exists or attempt to exceed the spec. Those that attempt to exceed the spec have varying degrees of success doing so. Some folks want to use as little 'ink' (Toner in this case) as possible because that's expensive. Some don't mind, they strive for the best possible quality, higher TAC. Indigo's have a lot of expendable items that can (should) be replaced depending on how well the press operators are examining the output. If they are examining the output at all. IOW, there's a huge number of variables that can make a difference in the quality of even the same Indigo press at shop A vs. shop B.

[digitaldog]

The color was right on the money, and the printing was what I would expect from the Indigo.

Next time you print to an Indigo and want to have some fun, do this: Make three pages where each has nothing more than a document with Lstar 30, 50, 80 (one of each). Look at each page carefully.

[MarkM]

Not all the process (printing) are necessarily Indigo. There are differing models of Indigo. More importantly, there are a lot of ways to setup and run an Indigo…

I have no doubt you're correct. But I'm curious, have you noticed any quality difference in practice from the larger, consumer-oriented printers? I've made pieces for myself and others on Magcloud, Blurb, iPhoto, and Asuka. The differences in printing I've seen are somewhat subtle.

[digitaldog]

Only sent the same data to Blurb and through Aperture. Big differences.