Hi all -

I have a gaming project with legs going on with some other people and we want to do it POD. Ideally we'd like it to be digest-sized (8.5 x 5.5) with a parchment cover, like old third party D&D stuff from the seventies. Lulu is great for POD but they don't seem to have that size.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Hi Sean,

Last year, I found this excellent webpage: Ind-e-pubs POD list compiled by GLB E-Books.

From calling and assessing printers from that list, I found Publishers Graphics and Total Printing Systems. Both did the size you're talking about, and I think their prices and quality are both really good.

Since I spoke to them about short-run printing, I don't know whether they do true POD, and under what terms.

Best, Ron

Thanks Ron!

Those are great links. Paul called and may have talked me into just printing them locally and selling on-line. I like the no-hassle of POD (just go to lulu and click) but there are some good reasons to print and do the mailing yourself too. Mulling it over...

Lulu can do 6x9, which is pretty close to digest.  You might have a hard time replicating the "old skool" cover stock with them, though.  If you have really specific requirements, a short-run printer might be a better bet.  We've recently used Publisher's Graphics and they did a great job for us.  We'll use them in the future. 

If you have specific book design requirements (which I do, all the time) it's better to go with a short-run printer or best yet a local shop (where you can go in and take a look-feel at the paper stock) than with POD. POD is great, but there isn't a lot of flexibility in book design.

yrs--
--Ben