How / where to print...

[Lee Taylor]

I'm not sure if anyone already posted anything about this but I was wondering how and where everyone else gets their zines printed / copied? At the moment I'm at Uni and thankfully have access to free photocopies by borrowing lecturers' copy cards mwah haha so I can do it pretty easily there, but I leave in about 7 months and I'm not sure how I'll do it from then on.

Does anyone print stuff from home on their own printer, or do people tend to get them done somewhere or go to places like libraries and use their photocopiers...?

Thanks :)

[Elaine]

The toner on our printer is too expensive.

When I priced things out at Office Depot, they had the best per-issue costs. They have price breaks over 100 imprintings (not pages, the imprints--so double sided gets you there faster). They gave me a quote on the double sided pages and then on the card stock covers. And recommended I buy a ream of card stock separately from their shelf and then have them use it to reduce the cost further (I got the extra back). It saved me money so I went with it.

10 pages double sided, card stock printed one sided, 100 copies of each issue, two issues printed came to $214. I did the folding and stapling, so the cost per issue was $1.07. The issues were 40 pages inside--standard paper used, folded once. We have a heavy duty stapler so that was not a problem. They had the whole print job done in an hour.

But the mini-comics.....don't tell anyone (Shh!) but I copied those at work. The mini's were one page comics, folded twice and stapled. I ran off 50 of each one.

[kit feral]

Ohhh, you're lucky, I wish I could do that at uni. I use my printer at home right now, since my parents will replace the ink every month or so (though, I usually have to replace it in between that.) But I'll be somewhere else by the end of the month, so I'm going to have to do something different. Hopefully I'll be very near by to the zine library here, which offers very cheap photocopies.

I wouldn't recommend a library, at least the ones here, they tend to be overpriced. If you can find some sort of zine resource, that'd be your best bet. Otherwise, see if photocopying places have bulk discounts.

[Lee Taylor]

Thanks for the reply :) hmm, I actually don't have a printer at home at the moment but was considering getting one if this was a possibility. Does it tend to eat ink pretty quick then? How many copies of how many pages do you tend to make from home? And what kind of printer do you have? I'll have to browse photocopy places for discount type things but I'm not aware of any zine based places local to me. I'll look into it :D

star blanket river child said:

Ohhh, you're lucky, I wish I could do that at uni. I use my printer at home right now, since my parents will replace the ink every month or so (though, I usually have to replace it in between that.) But I'll be somewhere else by the end of the month, so I'm going to have to do something different. Hopefully I'll be very near by to the zine library here, which offers very cheap photocopies.

I wouldn't recommend a library, at least the ones here, they tend to be overpriced. If you can find some sort of zine resource, that'd be your best bet. Otherwise, see if photocopying places have bulk discounts.

[Lee Taylor]

Thanks for replying :) that sounds pretty cool; I hope I can find somewhere like that. It seems that in the UK, a lot of places charge about 5p per b&w copy, so if you do the maths, it costs like 80p to copy a 32 page zine which is £8 to do 10 copies which is just a tad steep I think, especially if I wanna sell 'em quite cheap. I need to find discount places I think. Or get a job in a place with a photocopier...

Elaine Moertl said:

The toner on our printer is too expensive.

When I priced things out at Office Depot, they had the best per-issue costs. They have price breaks over 100 imprintings (not pages, the imprints--so double sided gets you there faster). They gave me a quote on the double sided pages and then on the card stock covers. And recommended I buy a ream of card stock separately from their shelf and then have them use it to reduce the cost further (I got the extra back). It saved me money so I went with it.

10 pages double sided, card stock printed one sided, 100 copies of each issue, two issues printed came to $214. I did the folding and stapling, so the cost per issue was $1.07. The issues were 40 pages inside--standard paper used, folded once. We have a heavy duty stapler so that was not a problem. They had the whole print job done in an hour.

But the mini-comics.....don't tell anyone (Shh!) but I copied those at work. The mini's were one page comics, folded twice and stapled. I ran off 50 of each one.

[kit feral]

It eats ink INSANELY quickly, I would not recommend it. I bought a new cartridge yesterday and did a fairly big print run (probably abooout... 60 copies of a zine that ends up being 3 pages, double sided) and it's already telling me I'm running low. surprisingly, it is cheaper than going anywhere, as I can't get to that zine library right now. However, if you get a laser printer, it's supposed to be something like 10 times more efficient than the deskjet setup I'm working with. The printer and cartridges costs more, but lasts much longer.

Lee Taylor said:

Thanks for the reply :) hmm, I actually don't have a printer at home at the moment but was considering getting one if this was a possibility. Does it tend to eat ink pretty quick then? How many copies of how many pages do you tend to make from home? And what kind of printer do you have? I'll have to browse photocopy places for discount type things but I'm not aware of any zine based places local to me. I'll look into it :D

star blanket river child said:

Ohhh, you're lucky, I wish I could do that at uni. I use my printer at home right now, since my parents will replace the ink every month or so (though, I usually have to replace it in between that.) But I'll be somewhere else by the end of the month, so I'm going to have to do something different. Hopefully I'll be very near by to the zine library here, which offers very cheap photocopies.

I wouldn't recommend a library, at least the ones here, they tend to be overpriced. If you can find some sort of zine resource, that'd be your best bet. Otherwise, see if photocopying places have bulk discounts.

[Josh Vidal]

I scan and lay it out all on my computer with photoshop. then bring it to staples. It seems to be the cheapest way that i know of.
its 6 pages double sided b/w with one of the pages on colored paper. costs me a little less than $1 per zine.
I fold and staple them all myself.
check'em out! free downloadzzz eyetriangle.blogspot.com

[Adrian Fynch]

I go to a copy place nearby. It's 5 cents per b&w page, so 10 cents a double-sided page, and most of my zines are 40 pages half sided, which means it comes to about $1 per issue to copy. It's a lot cheaper to copy quarter sized zines, as I found out when I made my first one last year, but I like having more room on the page. I just saw a sign for the photocopy room at school today though, so I'm gonna check that out and see if it's possible to finagle some free/cheaper copies.

I try to copy everything myself if I can. I have a long reach stapler at home and my dad just got me a paper guillotine for Christmas [Best Dad ever!!]. I have a laser printer as well, but I do my zines with a typewriter and all cut and paste by hand, and without a scanner I don't really have a way to get them onto the computer to print out.

[Lee Taylor]

Yeah I use photoshop for everythin at the moment, and there is a Staples near me ish so I might check it out. Cheers for that :)
xox

Josh Vidal said:

I scan and lay it out all on my computer with photoshop. then bring it to staples. It seems to be the cheapest way that i know of.
its 6 pages double sided b/w with one of the pages on colored paper. costs me a little less than $1 per zine.
I fold and staple them all myself.
check'em out! free downloadzzz eyetriangle.blogspot.com

[Nick Cato]

Home printers can be way MORE expensive than looking for the cheapest copy place near you...although if you're only doing a few copies it's okay.

[kit feral]

Oh wow, I love your dad. So jealous.

Adrian Fynch said:

I go to a copy place nearby. It's 5 cents per b&w page, so 10 cents a double-sided page, and most of my zines are 40 pages half sided, which means it comes to about $1 per issue to copy. It's a lot cheaper to copy quarter sized zines, as I found out when I made my first one last year, but I like having more room on the page. I just saw a sign for the photocopy room at school today though, so I'm gonna check that out and see if it's possible to finagle some free/cheaper copies.

I try to copy everything myself if I can. I have a long reach stapler at home and my dad just got me a paper guillotine for Christmas [Best Dad ever!!]. I have a laser printer as well, but I do my zines with a typewriter and all cut and paste by hand, and without a scanner I don't really have a way to get them onto the computer to print out.

[Saling Pusa Distro/closed]

i scan all my zines in the university (which the copier converts into pdf files) and send it to my email for free. I usually cheat by printing a few copies with my cousins' printer, then if i have to make more copies, that's when I go to staples. I generally dont make a whole heck of a lot of copies though. I have small print runs, so this works for me :D

[Lee Taylor]

Hmm, seems like a few people use Staples. I only make like 25 at the moment; is that what you'd consider a small print run? How many do you usually make?
xox

Saling Pusa (I Am) said:

i scan all my zines in the university (which the copier converts into pdf files) and send it to my email for free. I usually cheat by printing a few copies with my cousins' printer, then if i have to make more copies, that's when I go to staples. I generally dont make a whole heck of a lot of copies though. I have small print runs, so this works for me :D