online comic printing services?

[d2k]

are there any that do black and white comics where you can select to do some colour pages?

like chapter covers in colour or something

[eishiya]

ComicXpress and Sidekick will do it, not sure about others. It's not something anyone advertises, so you really have to ask. I think most of them will, save for the huge automated ones like Lulu and CS.

I feel bad responding to a necro'd thread, and to... ugh.

[SuperBiasedMan]

E-mailing them is a good way to ask, because they'll technically all do it...but you might end up paying for full colour the whole way through the book.
Also, it tends to be cheaper if you have a group/s of colour pages altogether rather than isolated ones all over the book.


Also this thread is worth stickying to be honest, it tends to come up often.

[d2k]

ya but when i eventually make a book i'd like to keep my coloured chapter covers
well
in colour
i won't have to worry about it for a long time i just wanted to be sure before i go to make a book and when i come to ask here WOOP the thread's a year dead

[SuperBiasedMan]

ya but when i eventually make a book i'd like to keep my coloured chapter covers
well
in colour
i won't have to worry about it for a long time i just wanted to be sure before i go to make a book and when i come to ask here WOOP the thread's a year dead

I'm pretty sure this isn't what you're intending, but just in case...
If you're doing the chapters as separate books then as far as I know all the printers will allow an option for colour covers with black and white pages inside.

[d2k]

ya but when i eventually make a book i'd like to keep my coloured chapter covers
well
in colour
i won't have to worry about it for a long time i just wanted to be sure before i go to make a book and when i come to ask here WOOP the thread's a year dead

I'm pretty sure this isn't what you're intending, but just in case...
If you're doing the chapters as separate books then as far as I know all the printers will allow an option for colour covers with black and white pages inside.

no I intend to do like 10 chapters in a book so it's sort of like a regular manga i know the covers will be in colour but i'd like the ten or so chapter covers i have inside ,in colour

[eishiya]

There are some limits to where you can have coloured pages, though. If you have one page colour, there's going to be a corresponding one elsewhere... for this reason, mixed B&W and colour is something you have to work closely with the printers to achieve.

[d2k]

oh well guess no colour pages but the cover

[SuperBiasedMan]

oh well guess no colour pages but the cover

Not necessarily, if it's a big enough book to have an actual spine on it, technically you can do it in spite of what eishiya pointed out.
The difference is the black and white pages that correspond to the colour ones will be charged at colour rates, but it still ends up cheaper.

Depending on price, it may be worth offering both a colour and non-colour version for your readers to choose from.

[d2k]

oh well guess no colour pages but the cover

Not necessarily, if it's a big enough book to have an actual spine on it, technically you can do it in spite of what eishiya pointed out.
The difference is the black and white pages that correspond to the colour ones will be charged at colour rates, but it still ends up cheaper.

Depending on price, it may be worth offering both a colour and non-colour version for your readers to choose from.

maybe i'll make a specific little book for colour drawings but as i said this isn't gonna be for ages so i'm ok

[SuperBiasedMan]

oh well guess no colour pages but the cover

Not necessarily, if it's a big enough book to have an actual spine on it, technically you can do it in spite of what eishiya pointed out.
The difference is the black and white pages that correspond to the colour ones will be charged at colour rates, but it still ends up cheaper.

Depending on price, it may be worth offering both a colour and non-colour version for your readers to choose from.

maybe i'll make a specific little book for colour drawings but as i said this isn't gonna be for ages so i'm ok

Actually yeah, you could do a separate little book with just the colour covers that could be bought separately. Or even make posters of some of the colour pages (Comixpress definitely allow you to print single images as a poster/flyer)

[DrLuck]

You may want to check out Createspace https://www.createspace.com/ as well. Pricewise they aren't as competitive for low page counts as Comixpress or Kablam but you get listed on Amazon and get an ISBN. For pagecounts of books 48 pages or above there prices are very competitive.

Not sure about Createspace's quality as I haven't used them yet. I have seen books from both Kablam and Comixpress and they look very good.

This. This so hard. I've been using CreateSpace for a good chunk of time now, and not only are the books immaculate compared to KaBlam and ComixPress, but they're at great prices too considering what you get. The trade-off for CreateSpace is that CreateSpace won't hold your hand in making a book. You basically need to figure out how to make the PDFs to their specifications and make according changes. They have a forum for that, so other customers can help you if you're having issues. When you get used to how they work, it's so easy and customizable it's insane.

Now, I've tried KaBlam and ComixPress before too. In my experience, ComixPress took over two months to get my book onto the shopping center (the reason I wanted to self publish). After emailing a couple times about it and being ignored, I went to KaBlam. KaBlam was just a mess, always messing up my orders. There have been multiple times where they'd short-stock me on books and I'd have to email them to get all the books I ordered. Not to mention there were some issues with mis-aligned binding and the like as well. Lulu is outright overpriced for what they serve, so don't even bother with it.

In terms of book quality, ComixPress and KaBlam are pretty much the same. KaBlam screws up more often, but you're basically paying for typical comics you get in those plastic sheets. Not the best, but not the worst. Pretty, "meh."

If there's ever an error on CreateSpace's part on your proof, they'll not only fix it right away, but they'll even super-fast-ship a new proof to you for free. One time, I changed one of my books and got a proof for it, but the old files were still being used on the interior while the cover changed accordingly. I called them about the issue, and I got a new proof fixed in two days.

In terms of book quality, I was nearly in tears when I got my first proof from them. Semi-glossy softcover perfect bound with good quality paper and rich colors. Their proofing system even allows you to make changes after you get the proof for such occasions as a page looking too dark or a typo (which has happened to me before). Make the changes, you get a new proof, you approve it.

So yeah, overall, pay a little more for what you get and you get a lot more quality. I will tell you: if you're selling books at conventions, CreateSpace books turn heads.

[Rivana]

I've looked through Createspace a bit, but they seem to be expensive. I assume you also need some sort of a PDF editor software for this? I also haven't seen a comicbook template from them so I guess you just need to format it to PDF and according to their size specifications.

I guess the plus side is that you can have it hosted on Amazon's site (good trusted website with tons and tons of visitors) but they actually take more than 50% royalty of the price from what I gathered. Well, from the sounds of it, you do get what you pay for from them.

On Ka-blam - is the quality similar to the regular marvel/dc comics that we see on print shops or sub par?

[eishiya]

I've looked through Createspace a bit, but they seem to be expensive. I assume you also need some sort of a PDF editor software for this? I also haven't seen a comicbook template from them so I guess you just need to format it to PDF and according to their size specifications.

I guess the plus side is that you can have it hosted on Amazon's site (good trusted website with tons and tons of visitors) but they actually take more than 50% royalty of the price from what I gathered. Well, from the sounds of it, you do get what you pay for from them.

On Ka-blam - is the quality similar to the regular marvel/dc comics that we see on print shops or sub par?

Createspace is actually one of the cheaper POD options for colour, from what I've heard (I haven't looked into colour printing much myself, as all my comics are B&W).

Ka-Blam's quality is worse than the pro-published stuff. POD printers in general are worse than offset printing, but they stay afloat because there are tons of people who simply can't afford the minimum runs of offset printers. If quality is an issue, look into non-POD printers that do small runs. Indigo Ink is one such printer, I think (I haven't used them).
I've also heard that Lightning Source has pretty good quality for a POD printer (they're pretty expensive, but they also offer distribution channels, might be worth it).

If you need the quality of Marvel books, POD is likely not an option for you. At least, I've never heard of a POD printer that has that sort of quality. With POD, it has always been a quantity/price - quality trade-off.

As for PDF editors, there are a number of free ones.
Photoshop also has PDF capabilities, and you can make a PDF out of multiple files. File -> Automate -> PDF Presentation. Make sure all the "Include" options are unchecked. Save as "Multi-Page Document." Each "page" will be the size of the source file, so make sure all your files are of the correct size, and make sure any guide marks, etc are hidden so they don't show up. This isn't as powerful as a full-fledged editor, but if all your text is set into the image, it should be enough. And remember to double-check the page order.

[Rivana]

Thanks Eish. I don't need a pro quality printer atm (this is something that I would consider if I were to print an entire volume/book).

In the interim, I might try one of the POD stuff just to see what it looks like once I finish the first chapter.