Central Park Deluxe Book Arrives
Even I was shocked by how good the quality and presentation were. Damn it was simply gorgeous. Heavy paper and size made all the difference. It really is like thumbing through fine-art prints. The images were printed better than I’ve ever seen them. One image (two couples) I’m going to either remove or tweak - it’s not quite up to the rest. And the two pages of thumb nails - I’m going to pick two large images to go in there. But in short, I’ve finally got a book without compromises.
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One more note about MyPublisher: the discount that’s applied is based on the cost of a single book, not the total order. So if you’re book is $50 you get the 20% discount, no matter how many books you order.
If the book is $100 + you get the 40% discount. That’s interesting.
Now - just for the hell of it - I ordered two books at the classic size (8.5 x 11) and the cost (before taxes and shipping) is $31 for 43 pages. So that’s way within everyone’s means. And I could sell it with a bit of profit in it for me. Not nearly as impressive as the larger book (deluxe) with the heavier paper, but you gets what you pay for.
My next step in this process: I’m going to redo the Mementos of New York book that I did last year with SharedInk - with MyPublisher in the Deluxe size. I’ve already got all the files ready and it shouldn’t take me very long. In other words - you can see the direction I’m headed in.
Comments
Comment from Charles Maclauchlan
Time: May 19, 2008, 12:30 am
Did you find that you needed to make adjustments to your images to have them print properly? I occasionally will use commercial printing vs doing it myself and the profiles usually indicate i need to nudge the contrast (and brightness) a bit. Did you experience anything like this?
Comment from dave
Time: May 19, 2008, 1:21 am
Charles - absolutely. With MyPublisher, I’m submitting files in Adobe RGB (all b&W); I increase the contrast slightly; and try to open up the midtones. That works fine for me. Also, I’m pretty careful not to use much sharpening. I give them 300 dpi files; they interpolate down to whatever. I’ve gotten excellent results with MyPublisher this way.
Comment from Charles Maclauchlan
Time: May 19, 2008, 3:53 pm
Thank you Dave, and thanks for the tip on sharpening also. Much of my recent work is about subtle changes in tone and color. The risk of losing this in (any) printing process is large, particularly without profiles. I’ve followed your progress on your Central Park book with interest.
Comment from Broderick
Time: May 17, 2008, 4:41 pm
Congratulations on your book, it looks amazing. I hope you don’t mind that I added you to the blogroll on my new blog, I love your work.