Ideas for Really Inexpensive Spiral-binding And Printing?

[Kitty Pryde]

So, my partner and I are putting together a small cookbook of her recipes (they are awesome!) to give out to people who are donating money in a fundraiser we're doing (see my sig!) I want something spiral-bound, around sixty pages, color covers and clear plastic protectors. I will probably order 25-50 copies of it. (ETA: I forgot to say, I'm going for a smallish size like A5 or 8.5x5.5 or similar.) It seems like everyone will print something like this--Kinkos, UPS store, Staples, Office Depot, Office Max, local copy and print places, and Lulu. I can't figure out how much any of them cost, though!

Does anyone have a good suggestion for who would do this cheaply? Thanks!

PS I have looked at the websites that make cookbooks for churches and nonprofits and such, and they are really not cheap and they are also moderately ugly.

 

[CaoPaux]

Yeesh, they sure don't want folks to know their rates, do they. The only one to cough it up is Kinko's, where it'd be about $12.00/book for coil binding (using their Standard Manual Printing & Binding option), and $7/b for comb-binding. But at least that gives you a benchmark for shopping around.

If you have a college or university nearby, check if they have a printer/bindery, too.

 

[Kitty Pryde]

Yeesh, they sure don't want folks to know their rates, do they. The only one to cough it up is Kinko's, where it'd be about $12.00/book for coil binding (using their Standard Manual Printing & Binding option), and $7/b for comb-binding. But at least that gives you a benchmark for shopping around.

If you have a college or university nearby, check if they have a printer/bindery, too.

Yikes, that's high! I'm hoping for something more like $3 or $4 if that were possible. I wonder if any of my friends own a spiral binding machine...

 

[frimble3]

Along the lines of the 'college or university', try local banks, hospitals, etc. Some of them have small printing operations for in-house stuff. Manuals, training guides, etc. If you only want 50 copies, you might find a place willing to do it at cost as a charitable thing.

 

[DoctorMandaBenson]

Might work out cheaper just to buy a coil binder. You can get them on eBay for 100 USD-ish. Assuming you have a laser printer at home to run off the pages, and if not, you can get one of them for about the same.

 

[ninjas]

I pay about $3.50 at Office Depot for spiral or comb binding of a 20 page "book" printed on normal computer paper. If you want them to print it it's a bit more. The $3.50 is just the binding, clear cover and black back.

Kinkos tends to be a lot more expensive for this type of thing.

 

[Deleted member 42]

I've had really good luck with Kinkos in SM, and in West Hollywood.

N.B. You can dicker over price per if you get 25 or so at once.

Also: it's worth looking at the price of getting it punched and printed on good paper, and then buying the combs and binder and doing it yourself.

 

[Kitty Pryde]

Thanks for the suggestions, everybody! I looked into the binding machine dealies. I like doing stuff like that by hand, but it seems like that won't be the best value for the number of books I want to print. I'm still looking at potential solutions for the next couple of weeks

 

[Deleted member 42]

There's no crime in going to a local print shop and comparing quotes.

Keep in mind the possibility of buying nice paper by the ream at Staples or Office Depot or Kelly Paper (http://www.kellypaper.com -- they do comb bindings too) and having the printing and binding done on your paper.