# I need to find a company to print a magazine **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 29, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-find-a-company-to-print-a-magazine/587290 "2011-06-29T18:22:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-find-a-company-to-print-a-magazine/587290/1 "2011-06-29T18:22:58Z")
I am putting a bid on a job to become the editor of a quarterly magazine for a nonprofit organization. The bid has to include the printing and shipping of the magazine and I have no idea what that costs. I have emailed the guy who currently has the job but he hasn’t gotten back to me and the bids are due on Friday. Does anyone know of any companies that do this kind of printing, or can help me google more efficiently? FWIW the magazine is 48 pages and needs 1300 copies printed and shipped quarterly. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-find-a-company-to-print-a-magazine/587290/2 "2011-06-29T18:52:22Z")
(So far most of the companies I’ve found do bigger runs) ---
**Author:** ![Zyanthia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Zyanthia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyanthia)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-find-a-company-to-print-a-magazine/587290/3 "2011-06-29T19:22:17Z")
I don’t know if this meets your needs, but I Googled Jiffy Print Magazines and found a few hits, including one site where the minimum quantity was 500 copies. The also make they claim to be 50 to 60% cheaper than other printers. > **[Your No.1 Choice for Catalog Printing, Magazine Printing | Heidel Print](http://www.heidelprint.com/)** > > Get an Online Instant Quote, Your No.1 Choice for Catalog and Magazine Printing, 2 Day Delivery and FAST Turnaround Guaranteed, Order Online and SAVE 50~60% ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-find-a-company-to-print-a-magazine/587290/4 "2011-06-29T19:34:24Z")
I would take a look at [Omnipress](http://www.omnipress.com). Several years ago I started a nonprofit and they handled the printing of our materials - about the quantity you described - easily. They were great to work with, as well. No idea if they still handle those size runs, but certainly worth a shot. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-find-a-company-to-print-a-magazine/587290/5 "2011-06-29T20:06:07Z")
Two suggestions above, but I think we need at least three. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-find-a-company-to-print-a-magazine/587290/6 "2011-06-29T20:09:12Z")
You should start by talking to local printers. They may or may not do magazines, and probably won’t be the one you wind up with, but just talking with them will make you realize that there are probably 50 questions whose answers you don’t know yet you need. Understanding the answers yourself will help you get to a final - and better - choice much more easily. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-find-a-company-to-print-a-magazine/587290/7 "2011-06-29T20:53:43Z")
I like Publication Studio – they are decent folks and will do it with high standards. Talk to them and see. > **[Publication Studio](https://www.publicationstudio.biz/)** > > We are a publisher of original books distributing through a global network, a printer and binder able to make books one-at-a-time and a social gathering place for those interested in publication or in publishing their own work. I think they do this type of stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-find-a-company-to-print-a-magazine/587290/8 "2011-06-29T21:24:01Z")
Yeah try [printbid.com](http://printbid.com) and look for local printers. Find someone hungry enough and you should get a decent deal. Make sure they toss in delivery otherwise for a run that short it can cost more to get it to you than to print it. Drop me a line if I can help. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-find-a-company-to-print-a-magazine/587290/9 "2011-06-29T23:29:30Z")
1300 copies is definitely not too small a run for a local print shop. But there are a lot of answers you need to have before they’ll be able to give you a bid: Saddle-stitched or perfect-bound? Paper type? Paper size? Full bleed? Full color or one color? Will the printer be responsible for addressing and shipping the magazines, or is that something you or a third party will do? A baseline bid you could get from [Magcloud.com](http://Magcloud.com) which does on-demand printing. It’s $0.15/page (if you order more than 20) plus $1/copy if you get it perfect bound. So even if you’re not doing perfect binding, you’re looking at more than $9,000 per issue, not including shipping. My guess is a local printer could come in well under that. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-find-a-company-to-print-a-magazine/587290/10 "2011-06-30T00:47:29Z")
I’ve managed publications of that size. Your local printers would bend over backwards to bid on a job like that. But there are dozens of questions they’ll have to ask before they could give you a bid. For starts, I’d try going to any local printer that has four-color capability (even if the magazine isn’t four-color.) They have all the equipment you’d need. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-find-a-company-to-print-a-magazine/587290/11 "2011-06-30T02:38:41Z")
I get excellent prices from [this company.](http://www.ebaprinting.com/) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-find-a-company-to-print-a-magazine/587290/12 "2011-06-30T04:19:16Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I’ve managed publications of that size. Your local printers would bend over backwards to bid on a job like that. But there are dozens of questions they’ll have to ask before they could give you a bid. > > For starts, I’d try going to any local printer that has four-color capability (even if the magazine isn’t four-color.) They have all the equipment you’d need. 1. I agree. Talk to any high-quality local printer. 2. If they’re good, and techno-savvy, they’ll have a digital press by now. Cheaper for short run, but not quite as high-quality as Offset Lithography. 3. Ummm, Hi…what’s yer name again? ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-find-a-company-to-print-a-magazine/587290/13 "2011-06-30T15:57:36Z")
1300 is way too many for the digital press to be the most cost-effective. While you may choose to use a local printer for a number of good reasons, lowest price is not likely to be one of them. You’ll get a much better price from a place such as [ebaprinting.com](http://ebaprinting.com) or [printplace.com](http://printplace.com) that either gang-prints such things or is set up with presses that do 12 x 18 sheets very efficiently. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-find-a-company-to-print-a-magazine/587290/14 "2011-06-30T16:30:23Z")
> [@Mr\_Downtown](#): > > 1300 is way too many for the digital press to be the most cost-effective. While you may choose to use a local printer for a number of good reasons, lowest price is not likely to be one of them. You’ll get a much better price from a place such as [ebaprinting.com](http://ebaprinting.com) or [printplace.com](http://printplace.com) that either gang-prints such things or is set up with presses that do 12 x 18 sheets very efficiently. Do the online print resources also handle shipping? Whenever I’ve worked with a local printer, they’ve always been happy to bid the job either way, even to the point of working directly with the sheltered workshop we sometimes used for mailing services. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-find-a-company-to-print-a-magazine/587290/15 "2011-07-01T01:50:32Z")
^Yes, of course. They’re not online printers; they’re just ordinary printers who happen to have websites. EBA specializes in “catalogs,” so they have presses set up to do 12 x 18 sheets very efficiently. PrintPlace gangs together jobs from different customers and prints them at the same time for efficiency; I like them because they have an online price calculator. **Any** printer will _ship;_ if you mean mailing services, they’ll usually either have their own department or get a good deal from a place down the street. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-find-a-company-to-print-a-magazine/587290/16 "2011-07-02T05:41:20Z")
Thanks for the info everyone. I’m finding that there are definitely questions I don’t know the answers to, like what weight paper. I have no idea and the guy who currently does the magazine certainly isn’t going to tell me that info. The magazine is stapled together in the middle–what kind of binding is that? The magazine is all black and white except the cover and the inner-most 6 pages, which are in color. The cover is the same paper as the interior. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-find-a-company-to-print-a-magazine/587290/17 "2011-07-02T06:10:58Z")
Get a physical copy of the mag and walk it around among some local printers to get a better description. For instance, in a magazine that is folded and stapled in the center, each separate sheet of paper has four printed pages, a front and a back on each half. So it strikes me as kind of odd that there would be six color pages in the center, rather than 4 or 8. Or, if you are talking about six sheets of paper, that would be 12 pages assuming the sheets are folded and stapled in the center. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-find-a-company-to-print-a-magazine/587290/18 "2011-07-02T15:43:20Z")
Do you know what company is currently printing/distributing the magazine? Sometimes there’ll be a credit in the magazine. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-find-a-company-to-print-a-magazine/587290/19 "2011-07-02T17:09:05Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > For instance, in a magazine that is folded and stapled in the center, each separate sheet of paper has four printed pages, a front and a back on each half. So it strikes me as kind of odd that there would be six color pages in the center, rather than 4 or 8. Or, if you are talking about six sheets of paper, that would be 12 pages assuming the sheets are folded and stapled in the center. Exactly this. If I were production planning this book, I’d break it out into 3 sixteen-page forms. You can’t have a six page form, and I’d guess that it would probably cost more to run this as 2 sixteens and 1 eight in one color and 1 eight in four color. I did a lot of short run, industry specific magazine printing back in the 90s, and in every case I can remember, the color form was on the outside, so they could have a color cover. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-find-a-company-to-print-a-magazine/587290/20 "2011-07-02T17:19:46Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > Exactly this. If I were production planning this book, I’d break it out into 3 sixteen-page forms. You can’t have a six page form, and I’d guess that it would probably cost more to run this as 2 sixteens and 1 eight in one color and 1 eight in four color. > > I did a lot of short run, industry specific magazine printing back in the 90s, and in every case I can remember, the color form was on the outside, so they could have a color cover. Er, I got it wrong. If there were 6 sheets, that would be 24 color pages, not 12. Now back to your regular programming… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-to-find-a-company-to-print-a-magazine/587290.md?page=2)