Hello All! For Catherine & other lace authors, I did not intend to add to your angst over publishing issues! I should have used a different example as I had no idea that Country Bumpkin is a big company. You made me think of two embroidery authors who have self published & their "coil bound" books do not have the covered spine. That said, a quick Google search brought up more results than I could ever read in a day regarding POD & coil bindings. One discussion on Create Space Community in 2011 informed me that coil binding requires more labor & the unit cost (in 2011 USD) is $1.30 to $2.50 higher. It noted that coil bound books are more difficult to store, display, shrink wrap & ship. It would seem that a covered spine would overcome those drawbacks. Another site--Book Patch--specified that the maximum page count for perfect bound books 8.5"x11" is 310, all other sizes 880 pages. Spiral binding maximum page count is 880. Perhaps this is another reason why some lace! books are published in odd sizes, in addition to aesthetic reasons? Another site--Formax--mentions short run printing, as in 100 or 1,000 books instead of 10,000. Although they are in the US, there is convenient contact info & we ARE a global economy! And what about ebooks? Mary Corbet (www.needlenthread.com) has been using this format, although I don't know to what level of success. Lastly, I would urge our very excellent designers & authors to consider Six Degrees of Separation to help solve the puzzle. Networking does work!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_degrees_of_separation This discussion has allowed our designers/authors to explain the limitations they face but it's also given them valuable customer feedback. Customers want quality & ease of use at a reasonable price. The last time this issue was aired, I thought that a consortium of authors had been developed to pool information so that each did not have to plow the same ground. If not & I were an author, I would email or phone some POD publishers & inquire about a covered spine coil binding. Perhaps a short print run in the US could serve US/Canadian customers, while a publisher in the UK could supply the UK & beyond. Best wishes--I truly want you to succeed in publishing your books!! Sincerely, Susan Hottle, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, USA - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
