Desolation Preview

[chrisl]

Sadly it would have to be full colour throughout as it'll have 12 pages of full-colour comic + 4 profiles in the style above + the cover

Unless I got major dialogue re-working help from one of TMUK better writers - splitting the strip in half would only result in a TF comic so bad it made AHM look like Spotlights Shockwave and Kup rolled into one! Also, I don't have any black and white text based features I could put in the middle section to reduce costs.

A rough guide would be much appreciated but I think I know how Icarus felt............

[blueshift]

Could you split it into two parts maybe?

Or just publish it online? You could get a domain and everything!

[The Doctor]

It is indeed very expensive to print at full colour and so the price you would have to charge would put people off. There is a resistance amongst many fans to even paying 1p for a fanzine, I have observed.

All I can suggest is printing it with b and w interiors with colour copy version and having a PDF online of the full-colour version. You could publish a link in the mag. You may have to compromise on your vision for the mag but after 10 years effort surely it's best to get something out you can hold in your hands and take pride from. I'm sure folk here would shell out for a copy. I will. I pick up as many fan publications as I can, and I'd be happy to shill it on the youtube.

-Ralph

[chrisl]

Aug 20, 2009 20:01:19 GMT The Doctor said:

It is indeed very expensive to print at full colour and so the price you would have to charge would put people off. There is a resistance amongst many fans to even paying 1p for a fanzine, I have observed.

I know what you're saying Ralph - most 'fans' are willing to pay beans to jizz all over Dreamwave/AHM/Fun Pub type shite, but won't lower themselves to read a 'fan' publication because it's not 'official'. To be honest I'm only looking at doing a short run aimed only at my peers (i.e. TMUK) just so I have actually produced something to the best of my ability.

All I can suggest is printing it with b and w interiors with colour copy version and having a PDF online of the full-colour version. You could publish a link in the mag. You may have to compromise on your vision for the mag but after 10 years effort surely it's best to get something out you can hold in your hands and take pride from.

I did think about this but I really want to do a full colour print comic. I've had a look at a couple of online print places and it would cost about $2.99 a comic + postage. As the official stuff sells for £3.65 including postage what would my 'peers' consider reasonable for a fanzine? I know Hubris is at the super good value price of £2.30 including postage for 16 colour pages and 8 black and white. So pending advice from Graham, would a maximum of £2.75 sound reasonable for 20 pages full colour? Given it's a non-profit making hobby I'd be ok to subsidise to some extent if it was more and obviously charge less if I could find ways of cutting costs (i.e. distributing only at future AA's / sending bulk packs out to one address when there is a meet-up or something).

I'm sure folk here would shell out for a copy. I will. I pick up as many fan publications as I can, and I'd be happy to shill it on the youtube.

Thanks Ralph that would be much appreciated. You could even read the comic in the star dub style! Huraah!

[grahamthomson]

Off the top of my head, you'd be looking at around £4.50-£5.50 per issue (20 pp, "US Comic Size", full-colour on glossy stock) from Nuprint.

That probably seems expensive now compared to the American-based Print on Demand companies, but they have a lot of hidden fess (e.g. $100 per hour of "pre-press" if you don't have your files _exactly_ to their specs) and I dread to think how much shipping to the UK would be! Plus some can take as long as 40 days to process your order.

Ask Andy how he got his T-25 files to me just 3 working days before he needed 110 copies of them for AA (and how I spotted a layering flub on one of the quiz pages and still gave him time to correct it)!

[Andy Turnbull]

He did indeed.

Our Mr Thomson is a star!!

Andy

[Hero]

Something will get sorted Chris, I'm sure.

===KEN

[chrisl]

Aug 21, 2009 12:23:48 GMT @grahamthomson said:

Off the top of my head, you'd be looking at around £4.50-£5.50 per issue (20 pp, "US Comic Size", full-colour on glossy stock) from Nuprint.

Would printing only the cover on glossy stock and the inside bits on other paper be a decent quality/cost trade-off? Or is my only real option to bring down the number of colour pages to about 12 including the cover and then have 8 black and white / greyscale pages in the middle in order to bring costs down?

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Why don't you do a numbered limited-edition full-colour version for Hubbers who place their order in advance (I'll pay full whack for it), and then an un-numbered un-limited b/w interior version for non-Hub or cash-strapped punters who order after the fact?

Martin

[Benn]

Seems like a good idea to me.

[chrisl]

Aug 21, 2009 16:51:21 GMT Grand Moff Muffin said:

Why don't you do a numbered limited-edition full-colour version for Hubbers who place their order in advance (I'll pay full whack for it), and then an un-numbered un-limited b/w interior version for non-Hub or cash-strapped punters who order after the fact?

Martin

Dr M you are a genius! I think this is the route I will go down once the zine is finished and you sir shall have #1 of the limited editions.

Guys - I really appreciate all the thoughts and advice for sorting this out. As soon as I've got these two chapters of my PhD finished I shall hammer the artboard once more!

[chrisl]

I've put a coloured version of Ed's Deszaras pics up on my deviantart account: tf-desolation.deviantart.com/