Printer Notes

I had a meeting with the printer today. And I called my stock broker account manager.

First, the printer. I don't know what I am doing - but I am sure I am about to figure this all out. And that is what I told them

Printing has changed. My employer is a BIG EDA firm and used to do TONS (literally) of paper manuals. $$$$$$ Two years ago - that stopped. Everything went CD and Internet (on-line documentation). Everything.

And the printers in the area could see thier business erode.

This will happen to the rest of publishing. Not as fast, maybe. Perhaps. We old folks like to hang on to books. At least, until our eyes go and we need big print and then - we, too, will switch to the eBooks which can enlarge text. And we won't have to wait for an enlarged text version.

The baby boomers are aging. And we will change the face of publishing.

Bookstores already carry eBooks.

Back to the printer.

Seeing the business go away - and knowing that it will never return, they are developing into service bureaus. First, they are straight to press - no film. Second, they will host the commercal web page, provide a merchant account (theirs), do the confirmation, collect the money, ship the book (yep, fullfillment) and send you a check. This particular printer will print 1,000 to 2,500 runs, a little heavier paper and a little more expensive than a big press would do. I am getting 1,000 and 2,500 lots quoted.

Since I have a site and an address - and I could get another domain name that fits the book and point it right to my website (different folder in the web directory) - and that could link to the commercial site with an ORDER NOW button, I could be in businees in a heartbeat.

I already know that I can print 24"x36"posters - 5,000 of them at $1.00 each. I am getting a quote on bookmarks. No tassles. (They fall off.) A die (For embossing the cover.)

A larger printer - who I will be contacting next week and with whom I have done business before, and who can run on tissue paper and is also all electronic, has - the SAME SERVICE.

The printers know.

The question is - can they also sell (fullfill) the eBooks? Will they do the formatting? Or better, when will they be ready to since the paper format is of fading importance now. I will read the 74 page spec - and see about the software - you know MicroSoft has it or soon will. You know they will promote it. You know the college kids will be all-electronic textbooks in 5 years or sooner. Probably sooner. The Internet Generation is here.

My stock account manager is a resource. His mother has gone through this. The advice is simple - do NOT give thousands (or even hundreds) of books to ANYONE - Amazon, Borders, Barnes&Noble, B.Dalton, or whomever. Give them 1 or 2. Because they do not pay you. They float you. And return unsold books DAMAGED with their covers torn off as your payment. They do not take the risk. You do.

Taking books to Star Trek Conventions is a better deal - those that don't sell on-line. I need to investigate a bit further.

I need to have steel balls.

Come to think of it, I do.