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User profile for user: alice_srq
alice_srq Author
User level: Level 1
25 points

Use Pages for template to commercial printer

I created a 20 page, 7x7", perfect bound book in Blurb.com which is primarily pictures with a small amount of text. It has generated a lot of interest since it is very specific to the area in which I live. A local business wants to stock it and claims it can sell "tons" which is appealing. 🙂 The problem I have is getting the unit price down to a reasonable amount. Even buying in bulk from Blurb I am paying about $8 a unit. I'm exploring commercial printers and if the pricing seems reasonable I will need to transfer the book to a non-proprietary software. Pages is an obvious contender but I'm wondering if folks can share their experiences using Pages for this type of project. I have Photoshop Elements but that seems cumbersome.


Any comments are appreciated. Thanks.

Posted on Nov 20, 2011 11:22 AM

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User profile for user: PeterBreis0807
PeterBreis0807
User level: Level 8
41,164 points

Posted on Nov 20, 2011 5:47 PM

To print your book commercially you will need to reproduce the color faithfully and with all bitmap elements at 300dpi.


Frankly that is difficult to do from Pages which is designed to print to a users' desktop printers and renders certain parts of the output at 72dpi when exported to pdf which is the usual format for commercial printers.


1. See if you can find a commercial printer who will accept a Pages file to run through their RIP directly


2. Always talk to your printer about what they require and what is achievable


3. Commercial offset works off a different price structure than digital printing. Much of the cost is up front and the greater the print run the more the price comes down. Find out how many books you'll have to print before you beat the $8 you have been quoted by blurb.


4. As compensation commercial offset, when done correctly, is markedly better quality than digital


5. Please please please don't use Photoshop Elements or Photoshop they are not DTP software and rendering all your vector objects and text as bitmaps is such a bad idea that of course everyone is doing it now


Peter

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User profile for user: PeterBreis0807
PeterBreis0807
User level: Level 8
41,164 points

Nov 20, 2011 5:47 PM in response to alice_srq

To print your book commercially you will need to reproduce the color faithfully and with all bitmap elements at 300dpi.


Frankly that is difficult to do from Pages which is designed to print to a users' desktop printers and renders certain parts of the output at 72dpi when exported to pdf which is the usual format for commercial printers.


1. See if you can find a commercial printer who will accept a Pages file to run through their RIP directly


2. Always talk to your printer about what they require and what is achievable


3. Commercial offset works off a different price structure than digital printing. Much of the cost is up front and the greater the print run the more the price comes down. Find out how many books you'll have to print before you beat the $8 you have been quoted by blurb.


4. As compensation commercial offset, when done correctly, is markedly better quality than digital


5. Please please please don't use Photoshop Elements or Photoshop they are not DTP software and rendering all your vector objects and text as bitmaps is such a bad idea that of course everyone is doing it now


Peter

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Use Pages for template to commercial printer

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