b/w Lulu does really well. Did some calendars through Lulu this year and the colour was pretty good. Not earth-shatteringly good, but it looked passably professional.
We used Lulu for the first time a month ago. Was not at all impressed with their website. Nor with their instructions on creating the PDFs. And getting an answer from their chat room or forums was a complete joke.
Despite the initial difficulties we printed a color book, 6x9, paperback. The color wasn't bad, but certainly not stellar. We went ahead and printed an additional copy. This time the binding was awful—way, way too much glue. We sent it back and Lulu redid the job (for free). Fortunately the turn-around time for both print runs was very quick.
In the end, I would recommend Lulu, but not wholeheartedly.
I've recently become obsessed with Lulu, though interior color jobs leave much to be desired.
I've scanned a number of old photocopy collections of documents that I had and designed a few covers and presto, I can toss the photocopies (or pass them off to someone else).
The books aren't really cheap enough to wholesale, unless you've got some really good stuff that would demand high-dollar, but I'm putting together some facsimile collections of booklets for my wife's store.
When they send out lousy product, I've heard nothing besides that they'll fix it right away for free.
10 Jan 2008 — 6:58am
Recommending a printer depends on what your project is.
It also depends on how you define "print on demand." that term means different things to different people. It ain't codified yet.
If you tell us more about your project, recommendations will be given, I'm sure.
Good luck. I'll wait to see what you tell us.
powers
10 Jan 2008 — 7:32am
yeah good point, thanks will
its a personal portfolio, so very low volume (20-30 copies)
I'm looking for good quality and low volume, with cost or time not being a huge issue.
thanks
10 Jan 2008 — 7:36am
It may come down to what trim size you are willing to work with.
https://www.lightningsource.com/
10 Jan 2008 — 8:19am
thanks jupiterboy,
I'm open to trim size, probably in 5.5x8 range
10 Jan 2008 — 8:26am
what do you guys think about lulu.com? ive never used it
10 Jan 2008 — 11:29am
are we talking color or b/w?
powers
10 Jan 2008 — 1:51pm
color
10 Jan 2008 — 8:22pm
b/w Lulu does really well. Did some calendars through Lulu this year and the colour was pretty good. Not earth-shatteringly good, but it looked passably professional.
11 Jan 2008 — 4:20am
You should check out BookMobile. See them at Bookmobile.com. They are my preferred short-run book printer. Many university presses use them also.
Color / b+w / paperbind / casebind.
good service. excellent quality. Much better than any I've sen from Lightning. I have not used Lulu.
powers
11 Jan 2008 — 1:53pm
We used Lulu for the first time a month ago. Was not at all impressed with their website. Nor with their instructions on creating the PDFs. And getting an answer from their chat room or forums was a complete joke.
Despite the initial difficulties we printed a color book, 6x9, paperback. The color wasn't bad, but certainly not stellar. We went ahead and printed an additional copy. This time the binding was awful—way, way too much glue. We sent it back and Lulu redid the job (for free). Fortunately the turn-around time for both print runs was very quick.
In the end, I would recommend Lulu, but not wholeheartedly.
sarah
14 Jan 2008 — 10:29am
cool, thanks
16 Jan 2008 — 2:08pm
I've recently become obsessed with Lulu, though interior color jobs leave much to be desired.
I've scanned a number of old photocopy collections of documents that I had and designed a few covers and presto, I can toss the photocopies (or pass them off to someone else).
The books aren't really cheap enough to wholesale, unless you've got some really good stuff that would demand high-dollar, but I'm putting together some facsimile collections of booklets for my wife's store.
When they send out lousy product, I've heard nothing besides that they'll fix it right away for free.