Small press table at Dublin City Comic Con?

Patrick Brown

Is anyone planning on booking a table at the Dublin City Comic Con? We could get a bunch of us with books to sell, share the cost and all take our turn behind the table. Or if anybody's way ahead of me, can I buy in?

Tommie Kelly

Hi,

I think this is a great idea to spit a table. A table costs 150 euro so halfing the expense sounds good. Check out my comic and let me know if you think our stuff is compatible.

http://www.roadcrewcomic.com

Fysh

Out of curiosity, where did you get the €150 figure? Seems awfully steep compared to the likes of Thought Bubble and BICS. Sharing a table sounds like a great idea, although I can't really offer much since I wasn't planning on heading over for the con. I might be able to pass on some copies of the boards zine for you to give away if this goes ahead, I'll know more after this weekend.

Tommie Kelly

150 is the price for a table, I asked the organizers. It cost that much last year too.

I'll stick some of the Zine on my table if it helps.

Fysh

Tommie Kelly wrote: »

150 is the price for a table, I asked the organizers. It cost that much last year too.

Ah, fair enough - I hadn't seen anything about it on the website so I wasn't sure if they'd announced the exhibitor costs or not.

Patrick Brown

Well, that's two of us. Anybody else want in? The more we have, the more we can wander and go to panels and stuff and the less time we each have to spend behind the table.

Do tables in the small press room cost the same as tables in the two dealer rooms?

Slothman

i would be very interested in splitting a table, but dont have a book to show as of yet, i was more likely going just for a portfolio assessment.
would that work?

niall mc cann

Tommie Kelly wrote: »

Hi,

I think this is a great idea to spit a table. A table costs 150 euro so halfing the expense sounds good. Check out my comic and let me know if you think our stuff is compatible.

http://www.roadcrewcomic.com

Sorry to butt in on a thread that has nothing to do with me, but I've just read some of your stuff at the link, and it's great.

Really enjoyed it, very funny stuff. Keep it up.

Patrick Brown

Slothman, generous of you to offer, but are you sure? It'd cost you money and I don't think you'd get anything out of it. If you're going for portfolio reviews you need to be mobile.

Tommie Kelly

niall mc cann wrote: »

Sorry to butt in on a thread that has nothing to do with me, but I've just read some of your stuff at the link, and it's great.

Really enjoyed it, very funny stuff. Keep it up.

Thanks very much, I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

Patrick Brown

Sorry to say, but it's looking more and more likely that I won't have any books to sell at the Con, and therefore less likely that I'll be getting a table. Both POD services I've tried have been very good at getting proof copies printed, but less reliable in meeting larger orders. I've emailed the current printer for an update, but if it turns out they can't keep their end of the agreement I'm going to have to rethink the whole business.

Cliodhna, Al Nolan, I believe Bob Byrne drops by from time to time - you've all dealt with printers. How do you make it work?

ztoical

Patrick Brown wrote: »

Cliodhna, Al Nolan, I believe Bob Byrne drops by from time to time - you've all dealt with printers. How do you make it work?

Yell alot only kidding.

With POD's like comixspress you really have to give them loads of notice as they are super slow. And you need to keep an eye on the calender, with APE on last weekend and Leeds on shortly I'd say most POD's in the UK and US that print comics are majorly backlogged. Depending on the time of year you would need to give them between 6 to 8 weeks notice and then keep at them. I know from getting stuff printed with comixpress that we had to keep emailing and emailing.

A friend of mine in Bristol has just started a POD for small press comics if anyone is looking for a printer - website is here. but I think you might have left it to close to the dublin con to get stuff printed with them as I know they are very busy getting ready for Leeds.

If you want something printed with such a tight turn around time then you need to pay for it I'm afraid. A decent digital or litho printer [thought I don't think you'd use a litho printer unless your doing a massive print run] can do a turn around in less then 4 days [I've had very small runs done in a day] but you pay through the noise to get it done. How big a run are you looking to print?

*update* just after posting I got a phone call from a client I'd just done a poster design for and they are having an awful time with the printer who doesn't seem to be able to open a PDF file, had to laugh [It's a printer they found not one I rec'd] it really is trail and error finding a decent printer.

Patrick Brown

You'd be absolutely right about the tight turnaround if I hadn't been banging my head off this particular brick wall since the summer.

If Lulu had played fair I would have had them ages ago, but after printing two proof copies quite happily, they announced when I put in an order for fifty copies that there was something wrong with the pdf, I'd need to redo it with different software, and if I liked I could pay them extra to do it for me. That to me was a blatant attempt to retrospectively change the terms of the contract unilaterally to my disadvantage, and I wasn't prepared to do business on those terms.

So I went to Ka-Blam, which some friends had recommended. They did a proof copy quite happily, I made corrections and placed an order for 50 copies, and agreed to pay a little extra to guarantee delivery the Wednesday before the con. That was a week and half ago. They're supposed to send me an email when they've accepted the order so I can pay for it, and I haven't heard a peep out of them. I suspect that, like you say, they're backlogged and can't meet the order, but I'd appreciate it if they'd tell me that rather than just ignore it.

If I don't get a satisfactory response from them I'll just go to the con as a punter and not bother with a table. Then I'll go back to the drawing board, again. I'll certainly consider your friend in Bristol - a printer on this side of the Atlantic would save a fortune on postage, and phoning them wouldn't cost a fortune.

ztoical

Patrick Brown wrote: »

If Lulu had played fair I would have had them ages ago, but after printing two proof copies quite happily, they announced when I put in an order for fifty copies that there was something wrong with the pdf, I'd need to redo it with different software, and if I liked I could pay them extra to do it for me. That to me was a blatant attempt to retrospectively change the terms of the contract unilaterally to my disadvantage, and I wasn't prepared to do business on those terms.

I heard the same story from someone else recently [trying to remember who it was, if it was someone on here shout out] who had a proof printed fine but then the full run didn't print right. Lulu claimed it was an issue with the PDF but wouldn't say what the issue was and at the creators end the PDF was fine. They asked lulu to give them a page number on the pdf that was wrong so they could compare but lulu wouldn't and said they'd have to pay to have it reprinted but even then they didn't know if it would print correct. I also seen one rep from lulu at a couple of British cons be very aggressive towards people myself included, put me right off printing with them.

Patrick Brown wrote: »

So I went to Ka-Blam, which some friends had recommended. They did a proof copy quite happily, I made corrections and placed an order for 50 copies, and agreed to pay a little extra to guarantee delivery the Wednesday before the con. That was a week and half ago. They're supposed to send me an email when they've accepted the order so I can pay for it, and I haven't heard a peep out of them. I suspect that, like you say, they're backlogged and can't meet the order, but I'd appreciate it if they'd tell me that rather than just ignore it.

Sounds like Ka-Blam is still working in pretty much the same way as comixpress. Couple of years ago we printed a book with comixpress and heard nothing back from them for ages - we emailed and emailed and were tempted to show on their door as we were in new york at the time and they were only down the road in jersey. In the end the book arrived the day before the con so we got our book but were so stressed the week leading up to the con. This seems pretty standard from comixpress, nearly everyone I know who prints with them says they are really bad for answering emails but they usually meet deadlines so maybe Ka-Blam will get back to you yet. My only worry as I mentioned is that APE, which is pretty big US con, was just on and might have backlogged them.

For such a small run it might be worth looking local for a small printer to just print the pages and then trim and bind them yourself. It can be royal pain if you've never done it before but a free evening with a decent long flick to watch and you'll fly through them.

Patrick Brown

I've done that with stapled booklets (comics and CD booklets) before now, but this is 90-odd pages with a spine. I suppose if the equipment isn't too expensive I could do that - even stock up with toner and print the in terior pages myself, and all I'd need to pay a printer for would be the cover. Might be worth thinking about.

ztoical

Patrick Brown wrote: »

I've done that with stapled booklets (comics and CD booklets) before now, but this is 90-odd pages with a spine. I suppose if the equipment isn't too expensive I could do that - even stock up with toner and print the in terior pages myself, and all I'd need to pay a printer for would be the cover. Might be worth thinking about.

You can pick up termal binders off ebay for dirt cheap but you prob don't have time. Easier thing to do is divide the 90 pages into signatures, sew them together then glue the covers together - Toby Craig has a nice photo guide here.