by Dan Gayle
Associate Editor

You know that screenplay that you’ve been kicking around for the past few years? Wouldn’t it be cool to see it printed up with a nice cover and a solid binding?

How about that novel that you’ve got sitting on your laptop, doing nothing? Wouldn’t it be nice to see that novel spring off of the computer monitor, and into print where it belongs?

Until recently, it was all a dream. Too expensive, too esoteric. Nobody wants to read about the life of an environmental activist prosecuted because of his “furry” fetish (at least, I hope not...).
Not long ago, a person could never afford to print anything on their own, and the publishing industry held all the keys to the kingdom.

But not anymore.

Thanks to print-on-demand (POD) services such as LuLu.com, and CafePress.com, a person can have his or her cake, and eat it too.

You can make that secret fantasy of being the next Charles Dickens reality, and you can do it at a price that even Oliver could afford.

Think I’m kidding? As proof, I’ll tell you a little tale.

Last year, I got it into my head to make a fine-art photography book. I had no idea how, I just wanted to make one. Luckily, I remembered that someone had mentioned LuLu.com
in passing, and so I investigated that as an option.

Whoo boy, I’m glad I did!!

Under the guise of the Photo Forum photography club on campus, I, along with Hannah Olson, Steve Bye, and the other club members, managed to put together a book containing thirteen different students’ photographic art, entitled Friends of Don in honor of our photography instructor. Our book was not only a great success, and of high quality, it was affordable to produce.

Print-on-demand is basically a process that involves a written computer file, a large Xerox machine, and a bindery to fix it all up.

Unlike traditional printing, POD allows a person to print one copy of a file, without the need for massive press runs. You slap the computer file in one end, the machine prints off all of the pages, and it spits your completed book out the other end to be wrapped or boxed for delivery.
So, what’s the catch? As far as we could tell, there wasn’t one.

You retain all rights to your publication because LuLu.com is a print service, not a publishing service. Also, because of the way the presses work, there is no need for them to charge any money up-front. All you pay for is the cost of printing. No more, no less. There are many options available, including size, color, and the option of hard- or softcover.

Heck, they’ll even set it up so that you can sell your book through Amazon.com and other online retailers!

So I can’t stress this enough: If you are interested in getting your words/thoughts/poems/photographs/art/whatever into print, check out print-on-demand services. You won’t be disappointed.

And if you don’t believe me, hunt down Don Metke in the Visual Arts building and ask him for a copy of Friends of Don. He’ll be happy to show you, because it is a book that we are all proud of, despite its cheap cost.