Printers and Typography

I have now managed to contact a printer and have got some ball park costings as well as the technical details of handing over a typeset book. It cost rather less than I was expecting so I’m starting a spread-sheet of the various other hidden costs I am going to build in for this project.

Casting around I had discovered printers used by other publishing houses – or at least those who would list the printers they used in their books. This was extremely handy as I could contact them directly. Out of the 5 printers I contacted I only got 2 replies which says a lot about their working practices and need for new business.

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks learning about protocols for typesetting, kerning, leading, and what a lachrymal terminal is. This may seem a little like overkill for a small self-published pamphlet but I could have gone down the route of making a limited edition book from scratch myself.

Another excellent resource I found on my travels is the Internet Archive lending library. This has a wealth of books that can be borrowed for free for either an hour or a week – depending on demand. I’ll certainly be ploughing through these in the next fortnight.