Publishing and reducing costs

[ian.smythe at ukonline.co.uk]

To add to the discussion, may I offer few of points to consider when making
decisions about publishing:

1) Web publishing is good, and cheap, but make sure everyone can read it.
Some compressed formats will not be accepted by Apple Mac users. Probably
the best format is the pdf file, which is readable through Adobe Acrobat
(available free, though you need to purchase the software to create the
file), and allows text and images to be read in the original form.

2) For short runs, most big repro organisations (Xerox, Canon etc) have
book making facilities available at their local branch, whereby if you
provide the book on disc, they will produce a finished "paperback" for
around the same price as photocopying costs. This is very cost effective
for low runs, and the quality is very high.

3) Conference committees should consider publishing books themselves,
working in collaboration with independent designers and printers.
Mainstream publishers offer marketing and more widespread sales. However
this is not always as important as costs to delegates. As an example, I
have just costed a "Conference Book" of 300 pages, for 700 delegates. The
book was to be available free for each delegate at the conference. If
produced through the normal publishing house, the conference committee
would have to buy the books, at a discounted rate of 20 pounds each - that
is, 14000 pounds. If the conference produced it themselves it would be
around 8000 pounds, and they would have a further 300 copies to sell! For
reasons of marketing and editorial support the publishing house route has
been chosen. However if the conference has the necessary support, many
options are possible, and books costing need never be 100 pounds each!

Regards,

Ian Smythe