I got my comic professionally printed! Ask me anything!

[thecrystalrook]

I started Space Pirate in August 2019 and I've been on Tapas now for about a year. Almost 2 years after starting and I got my first volume professionally printed. Up until now I've been printing and binding single issues myself (and I intend to continue to do so, the pro printing is just for volumes). Check it out!

All that said, I'd like to try to pass on some of what I've learned with the printing process. So, as the title says, ask me anything! And check out Space Pirate while you're here!

Space Pirate | Tapas

[IndigoShirtProd]

Which printing company did you use? I'm hoping to print in the future and I'm leaning towards maxim printing. Oh, and how many copies did you order?

[Inspector_Spinda]

All of the above plus how much did it cost per issue? And how many pages in the book?

[thecrystalrook]

Mixam is who I used! I ordered 25 copies

[thecrystalrook]

It was Mixam comics. It was about $5.33 per issue (with shipping) for 25 books @ 196 pages (192 + 4 cover pages)

[IndigoShirtProd]

What are the dimensions on your book?

[thecrystalrook]

it is a WHOPPING --- 5.5" x 7.75"

[IndigoShirtProd]

Did you consider making it bigger? I'm think of making mine 7" x 10" or 6" x 9"

[thecrystalrook]

I could have if I wanted. You can send them whatever size you'd like. My manga is typically 5x7 when I print, so I made it a bit larger for the volume

[IndigoShirtProd]

Can you show what you put in the inside cover? Like this part of the book:

And, if you're american, did you register a copyright for your manga?

[thecrystalrook]

Difficult to get a decent shot, but it looks like this:

I don't have a registered copyright on this volume, but I do have each individual chapter registered. The cheaper way to do it would be to just register the volume instead of each, but I didn't really think that through ahead of time

[gabriellabalagna]

That's awesome, thanks for sharing.
Are you planning on selling these?
Where?
For how much?

[thecrystalrook]

yup! I have an etsy shop over on http://etsy.spacepiratemanga.com
They're not up on there yet, will probably have them up tomorrow but they'll be listed for $12.50 USD

[BlueDragon]

Oh that is so frickin' cool!

Congratulations! This is seriously no small feat (putting your comic into print form takes so much patience, work, and consideration! But man, I love holding a finished copy! :D)

My questions:

What was the hardest part of the process? and what was the most rewarding part?

[thecrystalrook]

Formatting it for print was probably the hardest part I did it wrong like 3 times so I had to keep doing it over. The most rewarding part was getting the shipment and actually holding the finished copy in my hands

[BlueDragon]

Ha ha! I HEAR ya on the formatting!

Yes! Man, I'm like happy on your behalf. Seriously get feeling ^_^

[thecrystalrook]

For the one or two of you that asked, the book is now on my etsy shop linked in an earlier post

[SpookyLocker]

how da fuck did u do it, id love for mine to be as well. have a link to a place?

Snarf-Kai | Tapas

[thecrystalrook]

I do! https://mixam.com/ will do you good

Make sure you read over how to format your pages for print. Lots of stuff regarding safety margins

[SpookyLocker]

holllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet dude