My son, DJ, is turning twenty July 1st, and he has written a number of stories while he’s been away at college. For his birthday, I’d really like to have his stories bound and then wrap it as a present for him. But, I have no idea of how to accomplish this, or if it is even possible.
Any help from the Teeming Millions?? 
Thanks,
Judy
If his stories are already typed up and ready to roll
you don’t need a publisher. Look in the yellow pages for
BOOKBINDER.
In a pinch, KINKO’s will do. But be forwarned that this
is not cheap!
Yay for your son! I am a writer myself, so I would like to encourage his talents.
Frist, try your local public library; if you live in a sizable town, they may have the binding equipment you need.
If that fails, go buy a copy of Writer’s Digest magazine (and a subscription for your son, possibly). In that publication are dozens of options to have a book or colllection of writings professionally bound. Those options are more costly than the public library route, but they’re nicer-looking in the end.
I’ve had a number of my works bound by both means, and been very pleased with the results.
Best of luck!
** Margarita ** thanks for the encouraging words! He is very good, at least I think so. He was taking a Creative Writing Course at school this year, but it doesn’t seem to have challenged him very much. I was hoping he’d find someone who could tell him how good he actually is. I live in Atlanta, so it’s a sizable town, but I REALLY like the idea about the Writer’s Digest. I remember having seen one at the newsstand. * Thanks! *
** Doug Bowe ** thanks for the recommendations for Kinko’s. It’s Deejie’s twentieth birthday, leaving the teen years behind, so how much it is, isn’t a problem, it was only how to go about it.
The Teeming Two have done it! And all in the same night too! 
A lot depends on how fancy he wants to do it. Printing one copy is hideously expensive under traditional printing methods (the first copy costs a fortune; additional copies cost on the the cost of the materials).
One option would be to see if there’s a printer that offers “print on demand.” If so, you should be able to give him the material on disk and can get a copy for a reasonable rate. However POD equipment is very expensive, so it may be hard to find a printer who has it.
Another option is to use something like a comb binding, spiral binding, etc. It won’t look like a regular book, but it will be something more than just a bunch of stapled pages. You can desktop publish the stories to make an actual booklet, too.
I think, in this case, the thought will count here quite a lot.
Writers Digest is a good source (though ignore the ads from “agents” and “publishers” – they’re almost all ripoffs). The Writer is a bit better. WD talks more about selling; The Writer talks more about honing your craft --which you need to do first. Fiction Writer’s Market – a yearly book – is very useful in finding markets, as is The International Directory of Little Magazines and Small Presses (for poetry and literary fiction).
If your son write science fiction/fantasy, send me an e-mail. I have lots of information on that.
My grandfather had his first book self-published. I’ll e-mail him tonight and get the straight dope for you.
Anti Pro said:
Telling him how good he is is your job-- the minute he finds an instructor that does that he will stop getting better. What he needs is someone to tell him how terrible he is, and then to point out all the little hints of genius in what he is doing which, with five or six years worth of hard work can be turned into something good. I have seen many people with good potential never blossem into writters because they were heads above everybody else they knew personally, and thus got only praise, even from their instructors.
I would try calling local universities and asking them where there doctorial canidates get thier dissertations bound. It is often done on-site, and it is likely to be a lot less expensive and possibly quicker than vanity publishers.
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** Any ball park figures as to ‘how expensive’ hideously expensive is? **
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** RealityChuck, does this mean, I’d have to put all of DJ’S stories on a computer disk? He’s already got his stories on his own Compaq laptop, but I’d have to get him involved in his birthday present to put the stories on a disk myself, since I’m computer impaired, except for tying. **
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** Is this like the idea using Kinkos? **
**
** THAT sounds great! ** I can’t say that it is science fiction. Though some of them have a ‘fantasy’ feel to them. I’d say on the whole, they tend to have an everyday story lines with twists to them.
**
I’m copying this whole post for him, and just deleting my part in it! This has turned out even better than I had hoped! You’re answering beyond my question. I appreciate all the great ideas. ** SingleDad ** THAT is so sweet! Congratulate your grand dad, how neat he’s doing things like that!
** Manda JO ** You are absolutely right, it has been my job to encourage Deejie, and tell him that I think he is good, I meant that a teacher would have been able to tell ‘good’ from ‘pursue it’ kind of good. Maybe I can check around here in Atlanta and find some of the kinds of courses you’re referring to, that might not be available at Liberty University.
[I edited this post in hopes of fixing the scrolling thread problem. -manhattan]
It’s not expensive at all to get a bound copy of a book. It may not be the prettiest thing in the world, but you can do it. I had to get a thesis-type report bound when I was in college, and it cost me something like $20/copy. I provided the pages (printed on a laser printer) and brought them there, and a week later I picked up a hardbound copy, gold lettering, etc.
If you have a university close to you, there’s gotta be a bindery that caters to the student crown. Look in the yellow pages. IIRC, the process was pretty simple.
This may not be exactly what you’re looking for, but you might want to try http://www.xlibris.com. What they offer is the ability to have your book published for sale, without going through a publisher.
If you send them a manuscript (formatting instructions on their site), they will, for FREE:
-design a cover
-send you a proof
-get it an ISBN number
-register it with Amazon, BN.com, and others.
You, the author, still retain all rights. You get 25% of the sales (trade PBs go for $16.95, HBs go for $25.95).
So, if you use this site, your son will not only get a copy of his stories in print, but someone may actually buy them too.
Xlibris is just a cut-rate vanity press. In this case, it could be of use (they do offer a bottom-of-the-barrel free POD publishing), but don’t expect to sell another copy via them. Their job is to sucker writers. They do offer free publishing, but do everything to bait and switch the author into their more expensive packages. One thing Xlibris is not particularly interestested in is actually selling books.
But you can rip them off and it’ll only cost you the cost of the book.
It’s been awhile. Could be hundreds or even thousands of dollars, depending on the services.
You would need it that way (or for Xlibris).
Yes.
It doesn’t sound like the need here is for someone who can do a beautiful job of binding… maybe of the printing as well.
I’d check to see if any art gallerys around represent book artists. Many of these folks have a real love for the art and craft of binding and I bet they would love to sit down with you and talk about the possibilities for your son’s work. You might also ask antique book dealers and university librarys depending on the type of binding you’d like to see.
I might be able to put you in touch with a guy in Florida who does bookbinding. I haven’t seen his work, but someone told me he’s the real thing.
As for the printing, if you have copies on different kinds of paper and would like them made into uniform sheets, or on special papers or gilt-edged, you’d need to talk to a commercial printer or graphics service bureau. Kinko’s *might[/] be able to help, but it might be easier to find knowledgable help from places that ctaer to ad companies, architects, etc. Again, if you talk to a book artist, he or she might answer all your questions and be able to describe more options than I would know about.
Then if you want to “publish” it, you would of course need the author’s permission.
** Athena ** We have Georgia Tech here in Atlanta, and Georgia State University is in Athens. I wonder if I could just reach them online. Thanks for your help!
** Guy ** I appreciate the link, I’ve not checked on it yet. ‘Publishing’ wasn’t my main idea really, just getting it bound.
** Dystopos ** you mentioned about my needing permission for ‘publishing’ but that isn’t for just getting it bound, right? It would kind of take away from the surprise of his birthday, if I have to get his okay first.
Thanks!
Technically, you do need his permission. However, I doubt he’d sue you over it if you didn’t ask.
No, you don’t need permission to get it bound as long as you possess the material. It’s when someone starts making money off of your son’s work that his permission is required. If you were making copies for the binding, some places might want to see your copyright permission… Kinko’s lost a big lawsuit a while back for allowing duplication of copyrighted material. In this case, I’m sure that the people you would want doing the work will be willing and eager to help you and that your intention is both noble and lawful.
Whew! Thanks.