Printing...?

[bigcaat]

Have any of you yet set your designs to print? If so, where did you go, and how many did you have to print to make it worth your while.

I would like to print some cards, but I really don't have enough money to do a 5000 deck run. The problem is, mine are a two sided process. IOW, not all of the backs are the same.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Caat

 

[Adam McLean]

I would like to print some cards, but I really don't have enough money to do a 5000 deck run.

Any input would be appreciated.

Caat

Please don't consider a 5000 print run ! You will never sell them. You would not even be able able to give them away. Even five hundred is a massive amount for a self publisher to sell. Try a small edition of 100. That is manageable for a self-publisher.

 

[bigcaat]

Please don't consider a 5000 print run ! You will never sell them. You would not even be able able to give them away. Even five hundred is a massive amount for a self publisher to sell. Try a small edition of 100. That is manageable for a self-publisher.

That's my point. I'm looking for someplace I can print a small amount, but still have the per deck cost low enough that I'd be able to sell them at a profit.

 

[The crowned one]

My brother did a run of two for his deck. One for me, and one for him. I will ask him where he had it done.

 

[Ryan]

Deck Printing

Hi there,
five years ago I had 18 sets of cards [with each set 70 cards] made up and laminated with a special film. The backs of the cards were all the same, but I wanted a set. rep card that said stated which deck it which out of the 18.

The run cost me $1200. While I only wanted 18 rep cards, the printer had to print each one 18 times. So it can be an expensive process but the cards I printed were larger than the average tarot set too. 5000 would probably cost a fortune!

hope this helps?

 

[Chronata]

Sometimes you can get lucky and find a local printer that has experience doing cards.
That is the first hurdle...because although they will be realitively inexpensive (as opposed to big printing companies with large minimum orders) they don't always know what they are doing.

I can't remember what the first run of the All hallows Majors cost me...I think it was something like $20 per deck...but the cost went down the more of them I bought...and I could only buy a few at a time. (that price was for 27 double sided cards per deck on decent card stock, and laminated)

The upside...I could just put jpegs of the images on a disc and they did all the formatting and everything for me...

The downside...they kept messing up the order, and even with all their fancy equipment couldn't seem to get the colors right, or the borders lined up properly...or even cut them straight all the time. Oh...and they also didn't have a working corner rounder, so I had to do all that by hand (as well as trimming the lamination)
They ended up fixing most of the problems eventually...but then they "accidently" printed too many decks, and ended up selling them to me at a discounted rate. Which is why there was a second edition.

They also screwed up the printing of the Minute deck...which isn't easy, since it's essentially one sided color copies on heavy cover stock.

Still...they were the cheapest thing I could find at the time, and they were local, so I could go in every day and yell at them if I needed to.

I think that NOW both the printers and myself... have a better understanding of how to make a card deck too.