Home publishing suggestions

[BA2]

Can anyone recommend a good site for putting together a DIY hard copy book?

I've used a few websites to make photo-books for less personal material and got to thinking that I might like to pay to get a bunch of my pictures and stories produced in professional looking book form for my shelves. This would immunise my artistic legacy against the future death of the internet through cyber terrorism / alien invation / government sensorship / lack of interest (delete as preferred).

A few random questions I'd like to ask:

1. Can anyone recommend an online service that will not cause problems with explicit but legal material.
2. Any advice on producing a book with both stories and pictures?
3. Anyone with experience able to give me any advice?
4. Anyone interested in buying the finished product? Not for profit but will probably cost quite a few quid per copy to produce.
5. Any thoughts on the market for a profitable version - I'm thinking 'art coffee table book' here..? Obviously there are copyright issues given the amount of ripped off porn and DA pics I've used without permission... Anyone interested in exploring this as a joint project?

[33cl33]

For images to look passable, I'd go with something like Blurb .com. Their photo papers are great, and the free layout software isn't bad if you need it. If you know something like inDesign, it's even easier.

To sell art coffee table style books, you basically need a book deal. I've yet to come across a place that allows you to do on demand or short runs of quality art books at a price that can be marked up for profit. At cost, they're usually well over $100 for a small book, and not many people are willing to pay more than that. Every gallery show companion book I've ever seen was done under a publishing deal.

[daphne]

This would immunise my artistic legacy against the future death of the internet through cyber terrorism / alien invation / government sensorship / lack of interest

Right, because no paper documents have ever been lost to catastrophe before!

[BA2]

Right, because no paper documents have ever been lost to catastrophe before!

You make a valid point there daphne.

I was thinking more in terms of retrieval and viewing post catastrophe rather than the physical durability of the media. Once (if) produced, I will seal one copy of my artistic legacy in a nitrogen container inside a heavy steel safe which I will embed in concrete in a secret location. Directions to future post digital humans on where to find this work will be passed down through folk tales and songs which I will seed amongst contemporary society. This will ensure that, in the far future, people will find the pictures and stories as they rebuild society and will be inspired to develop the technology to build sexy robot women to have sex with.

A second copy I will keep with me so that I can review the material privately by candle-light even after the West's power generation and distribution infrastructure has failed and computers are regarded as the tools of Satan. In this way I will preserve the memory of what we once had.

Until such time as society falls, at least it means I can flick through the pages without having to boot up the laptop which, to be honest, is making my eyes go a bit funny these days...

[KingJeremy]

Right, because no paper documents have ever been lost to catastrophe before!

You make a valid point there daphne.

I was thinking more in terms of retrieval and viewing post catastrophe rather than the physical durability of the media. Once (if) produced, I will seal one copy of my artistic legacy in a nitrogen container inside a heavy steel safe which I will embed in concrete in a secret location. Directions to future post digital humans on where to find this work will be passed down through folk tales and songs which I will seed amongst contemporary society. This will ensure that, in the far future, people will find the pictures and stories as they rebuild society and will be inspired to develop the technology to build sexy robot women to have sex with.

A second copy I will keep with me so that I can review the material privately by candle-light even after the West's power generation and distribution infrastructure has failed and computers are regarded as the tools of Satan. In this way I will preserve the memory of what we once had.

Until such time as society falls, at least it means I can flick through the pages without having to boot up the laptop which, to be honest, is making my eyes go a bit funny these days...

Brilliant...with just the right amount of snark!

[daphne]

Until such time as society falls, at least it means I can flick through the pages without having to boot up the laptop which, to be honest, is making my eyes go a bit funny these days...

Hee. Yes, there is that to be sure. Paper is the ultimate non-volatile memory storage! No electric charge required for containment nor access!

[WilloWisp]

Holy crap, I think BA is The Doctor

Ridiculous. I would remember.

Hastily changing the subject: BA, while I probably wouldn't be picking up a physical copy, I would be quite keen on an eBook version. That may sound silly, considering we can read the stories at any time here on this site or the wiki, but there's something to be said for an authoritative collection. I could listen to Queen's Night at the Opera album in random order and enjoy the songs, but if I listen in their official sequence, there are nuances of the juxtapositions which become more evident. An official playlist is itself, however subtly, an expression of creativity.

Factor in the difference in interfaces (an eBook is divided into sequential pages of fixed size, a discussion forum is divided into non-sequential pages of variable size), and the convenience of offline reading, and an eBook version becomes pretty appealing.

I've been thinking of compiling an eBook collection of my all-time favorite stories here, but the main thing which holds me back is something I'm currently guilty of: A lot of series here are, sadly, incomplete with no clear indication of when or whether the series will continue (Mine will... but I can't commit to a date yet). Should I consider Tales of Syntech to be done for the time being? Will Merger remain unfinished? Will Kano ever deliver any other days of the week? What was the aftermath of the events of Tech Refresh? (I like to think it went something like this)

True, I could keep updating my little compilation mix tape as I go, but that grates on an OCD corner of my brain.