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WHAT :: HOW :: WHO :: WHY :: THE END :: AGAIN
THE HOW
COPY NUMBER PER EDITION
Kitsch In Ink: "Usually about 20."
cold tea press: "Usually 20-30."
Wood & Coal: "Several reprints of 20 copies."
semi-precious press: "semi-precious: 20-50; dANDelion: 50-100."
yardpress, iloveyougalleries.com -- 26.
BookThug: "Anywhere from 26-104 copies."
housepress: "usually between 40 and 125 copies of any given item. but editions have been as small as 2 and as large as 225..."
Misprints Press -- 100
The Expert Press: "100 or under. More than that would be madness given the tiny amount of interest."
maple spitS: "previously, around 100. lately, and more realistically, i do them on demand, 25 at a time, and judging from the last run, 50 for the first print run. sometimes the runs are very small. i just did a small run of about 10 for that christmas gift item i mentioned above. didn't even keep one for my self cuz i ran out of materials."
above/ground press: "Of the chapbooks, I typically do runs of either 200 or 300. STANZAS magazine now does handout runs of 1,000, and the broadsheets have a standard run of 250-300, but I've done as many as 1,000 of those as well. (As you might have guessed, one of my goals is distribution.) I find nothing more frustrating than the idea of someone finding out about a particular publication a couple of years after the fact, and having to tell them that the thing is out of print, they can't have it, I only made 50 or 100 copies. Sorry."
PUBLICATION FREQUENCY
The Expert Press, maple spitS, yardpress publish infrequently, "in fact so infrequently that it would almost seem like yardpress doesn't exist beyond an idea, beyond ideas... Maybe it doesn't." -- Jason Christie
cold tea press, Kitsch In Ink, Wood & Coal publish approximately once a year.
semi-precious press: "When i am active, about 4 times a year -- for events."
Misprints Press: "About every 4-5 months."
iloveyougalleries.com -- Ongoing.
housepress: "it was i think on average weekly for about 5 years then about monthly..."
above/ground press: "When I have money enough to publish, and work I actually want to. I've made up to 60 items a year, I think."
BookThug: "When the time is right."
DISTRIBUTION METHODS
45% of micropressers send by mail.
45% sell at book fairs.
64% hand-deliver.
55% distribute at readings.
27% announce via e-mail.
Misprints Press distributes "to several indie bookstores within transit range."
BookThug sells "through Apollinaire's Bookshoppe -- an imaginary bookstore specializing in the books that no one wants to buy. Apollinaire's often shows up to various events, includings literary readings and gatherings, and at smallpress bookfairs."
FONTS AND MATERIALS
91% of micropressers interviewed stated that the format for published items varies according to the text being treated and available materials. For Misprints Press, size and interior design stay the same, although covers change.
yardpress: "[It] varies with publication. Transparency is a real pain in the ass because it is difficult to cut accurately."
Kitsch In Ink: "Pastel coloured paper. Either Courrier or Times New Roman in 12 point font."
maple spitS: "paper -- whatever is on hand and/or whatever suits the project. fonts etc depend on the project since i do almost all my layout on the computer. if i don't have the font i want, i go grab it online."
Wood & Coal: "Plain paper, 10pt Joanna or Bembo."
Misprints Press: "E2 for guts, basic cardstock for cover. Captials and Times at 9-12 points."
iloveyougalleries.com: "white cardstock, 10 pt.verdana. but i like magnets, sterling silver, alphabet beads, t-shirts."
The Expert Press: "Any elegant book paper I could get for a good price and Adobe Garamond, 12 points."
cold tea press: "I'm big on affixing watercolor paper with ripped edges to the cover for titles, heavier paper for covers, and off-white paper for the insides. Size 10 or 11 font, and I often use Arial, Georgia, and Courier New. I've typically poked holes and bound on the side with some type of cord, or just used staples. Given more time and resources, there's lots more I'd like to do and learn, such as more sophisticated binding techniques. I've always wanted to incorporate photography -- especially polaroid transfers and various alternative photography techniques."
BookThug: "Things vary. I like classic fonts -- Garamond, for instance. It's been around for a few hundred years so it seems like an excellent medium to get language across in. I once designed a font based on an author's handwriting and then set a book of his poems in it. That was my most extreme attention to the project at hand."
semi-precious press: "i prefer unusual materials and more ornate fonts, but it really depends on the piece. Every chapbook is different. i've published a concrete poem on a balloon, a chapbook printed on joss paper, a typewritten chapbook with fabric sewn on, coloured transparencies..."
SOFT- AND HARDWARE
Kitsch In Ink: "Up until last year -- WordPerfect 5.1, run on a 486! Sometimes typewriter, almost always a photocopier. Kwick Kopy on College and Ossington and Kinkos at Bloor and Robert are the usual haunts."
yardpress: "I tried Microsoooft pub(lisher) but I can't figure it out. I defaulted to Wordperfect 8 simply because it is the wordprocessing system on my computer."
housepress: "almost everything is designed in microsoft publisher or microsoft word, and laser printed. sometimes i do some handprinting (ie: linocut covers, etc) -- but for the most part publisher..."
semi-precious press: "Word, typewriter, professional printer."
cold tea press: "Nothing too sophisticated -- some combination of Microsoft Word and cut & paste. I'd love to learn Quark, or some such software."
BookThug: "Quark. MS Publisher. Adobe Pagemaker. Adobe Photoshop. PC computer. HP Deskjet 612C. Photocopiers. Hand paper cutter. Needle & thread. Stapler. Glue."
The Expert Press: "Quark Express to design, HP laser printers to print, a variety of silk threads to bind. Often moveable rubber type is used for cover designs."
Wood & Coal: "QuarkXPress, photocopier."
Misprints Press: "Quark Xpress at home, xerox at STAPLES, cut and stapled at home with own gear."
maple spitS: "software -- adobe indesign. hardware -- whatever printer i have access to at the time. currently an epson. also, just got hold of a free photocopies that's about 15-20 years old...so that will likely be a future weapon of choice."
iloveyougalleries.com: "adobe photoshop, ink jet printer."
FUNDING
Most micropressers interviewed said that funding for their press is out of pocket, although some use the revenue from previous chapbooks to fund future projects.
WHAT :: HOW :: WHO :: WHY :: THE END :: AGAIN
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