Hey Crusty,
there is a self publishing website called lulu.com
I have used them and they basically let you load up your content, set out your title page etc. They keep it all electronically, you own the rights to your material. You order as many or as few as you want, and they charge you per book printed and delivered. They will send direct to your chosen postal address.
The site is based in the US, so it is all in US dollars, but fairly cost effective.
You are not committed to any pre set order numbers and you are not required to continue to be active on the site.
They also have a function where people can order direct off the site, at a price that you determine (+ their printing and mailing fee), therefore if aunty beryl wants to buy a book, just direct her to your listing and she can deal direct.
and btw,I am not related to the company at all...

If you publish through a printing business, it is the setup cost that is the big outlay. The more units that are run from the plates once they are set up, the less each unit costs.

50 is not a lot at all from the point of view of a printer. 200 units would probably only cost you twice of the price for 50 units, as setting up the artwork and plates is the big cost.

With more digital media and printing processes these days, other options are probably more cost effective than traditional printers for small print runs (as JulianRoss mentions). Just check on the quality of the finished items before you commit- print resolution, photo clarity etc.

Given the options available, self publishing is far less complex these days than it used to be.

Clarence

we checked out lulu, interesting way of getting your product produced, and then additional purchases can be made direct through their website, and a percentage taken.

Where we may have gone wrong with the initial few books we had done, was it was compiled using the online sites propriety software, and the PDF you get access to, or that I have printed from, results in a purposely inferior reproduction in order to lock you in to the initial site.

Agreed that 50 or so is small bikkies for a printer.
I'll let the author get past the exam period, and see how much legs this project has.

Thanks again guys.

crustysailor said..

we checked out lulu, interesting way of getting your product produced, and then additional purchases can be made direct through their website, and a percentage taken.

Where we may have gone wrong with the initial few books we had done, was it was compiled using the online sites propriety software, and the PDF you get access to, or that I have printed from, results in a purposely inferior reproduction in order to lock you in to the initial site.

Agreed that 50 or so is small bikkies for a printer.
I'll let the author get past the exam period, and see how much legs this project has.

Thanks again guys.

No problem, what I did was uploaded my content, then played around with the formatting, then ordered one copy to see how it looked, made a couple of changes then was ready to order a few more. A good way to edit is to read backwards, to make to really see each word, no doubt you've seen those paragraphs of completely misspelled words to show how the brain adapts to what it is expecting..... just a thought.