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 :)

[Nick Calavera]

I just wanted to add to the discussion and say that I used  Docucopies to print my recent minicomic and I was really, really happy with both the cost and the quality of the finished product. 

To print 100 copies of a 32 page book with a full color cover ended up being about $175 (granted that was with a coupon for 10% off any order) and the cost per copy was right around 3 cents per side.  Having shopped around a bit I don't think I could have made copies for any less than 5 cents per side.  So ultimately it was cheaper to have Docucopies do it and I got a much better quality final product than what I could have made myself. 

I really can't say enough about how impressed I was with the service.  There was an issue with the PDF file I uploaded and I was promptly contacted so that could be resolved.  Delivery was free and I had my finished comics at my doorstep within a week of placing my order.  The cover stock (80# glossy cover) was a very nice weight and the colors (which I had agonized over) looked great and were very close to what I'd had on my computer screen while I was coloring it in GIMP.  The black and white art on the interior pages looked very crisp and both thin shading lines and dark blacks were reproduced perfectly.

I'll definitely be using DocuCopies next month when I print issue two of my minicomic and I would have no problem recommending it to anybody who is looking for a cost effective printer.

[Ken]

I got a workgroup sized laser printer from a thrift store for $25. I highly recommend it, considering the cartridges on larger laser printers can do 10000+ pages. If the store has outlets for testing electronics you can usually print out a diagnostic page that will help you verify the thing works and see how much toner is left, so you can avoid getting burned by a busted or our of consumables machine.

Definitely get one with a duplexer if you can though... I had to babysit my first real run of zines to flip the piles of pages over to print the other side constantly. It was a pain, but at least it was free.

[Eddie Russell Zine]

wouldnt you like to know...eheheh

[Tony Hickson]

I print mine my self I have a risograph so I often print for other poets I am based in london.

[bobby madness]

I get mine printed on the moon.

[Elaine]

I am SO wanting to use the machine at work, now that I'm back employed again, but they've got one of the oldest, crappiest photocopiers I've ever seen and the toner ink coverage just bites.   Using Office Depot is a hassle, I have to wait for the special coupons for a discount. They upped things to 9 cents a page (one sided) and that means $1.80 cents alone for a 10 sheet book (40 pages) and add in 18 cents a page for a card stock cover with 14 cents to print that double sided....  Impossible to sell at the $1 price so 'coveted' by dinosaurs.

 

Time, and pricing, has moved on from the 1970's folks.  I'm not looking to make a fortune but I DO want to at least cover my printing costs and any table costs at events.  Nobody likes to work at a continual loss.

[Eddie Russell Zine]

Find a way to do it for free so you can give them away for free. There is a way.......

[Gloria Glitzer]

I know this print studio in Berlin, named We make it.

They own a Risograph with 14 color drums and offer a printing service for artists, designers and people with a penchant for excellent and handcrafted printed matters. So it’s not one of these cheap and creepy copy shops. These guys are really passionate in what they do and speciallized on artists publications and art zines. But they also print and design flyers, business cards, posters, cd wallets, invites…

And they have several machines for folding, stapeling, scoring, cutting and stuff.

[James N. Dawson]

The last Junk Zine I did (30 pgs---15 standard sheets, doublesided, 160 copies) cost 152.49, including tax.  That's a little more than 95 cents a copy.  It costs $1.30 to mail without or without an envelope.  So that's about $2.25 to print & mail a copy.  I priced it at $3 which I'd guesstimated to cover costs, but I send out a lot of gratis copies and get some back "return to sender".  That works out to 3.17 cents a side.  I get it copied at Copy Junction and I do it myself, rather than hand it over to them.  
 
Elaine said:

I am SO wanting to use the machine at work, now that I'm back employed again, but they've got one of the oldest, crappiest photocopiers I've ever seen and the toner ink coverage just bites.   Using Office Depot is a hassle, I have to wait for the special coupons for a discount. They upped things to 9 cents a page (one sided) and that means $1.80 cents alone for a 10 sheet book (40 pages) and add in 18 cents a page for a card stock cover with 14 cents to print that double sided....  Impossible to sell at the $1 price so 'coveted' by dinosaurs.

 

Time, and pricing, has moved on from the 1970's folks.  I'm not looking to make a fortune but I DO want to at least cover my printing costs and any table costs at events.  Nobody likes to work at a continual loss.

[Aspire]

The work photocopier!!