How much does it cost to make your own calendars?

[arcadian]

For instance, to sell for a fundraiser or something. Will use my own pics and a graphics. Also how does one do this? Don't want cheapy ones, want the paper and photo quality to look nice. Thanks for the help in advance. :D

[NMDemDist2]

1. most quickieprint or kinkos could make them and give you a good estimate

and try office depots too

[arcadian]

2. nice

Thanks! :hi:

[grace0418]

3. Kinkos charges an arm and a leg and their photo quality is for shit.

I have not been impressed by them over the past few years.

[surrealAmerican]

4. You might ask at a local copy shop or camera store.

Be sure to ask to see a sample of their work, so you will know if the image quality is adequate for your purposes.

[grace0418]

5. There are lots of places online that do a pretty nice job. I think Zazzle and

Cafepress do them. Also snapfish.com and kodakgallery.com. There are tons of places. They range in price and you have more control over the layout on some more than others.

[graywarrior]

6. I designed a calendar for a college Illustrator project and had it put together

at Kinko's using a spiral consisting of 7 pages that included a cover and plastic cover and back. Cost me $15.00.

[arcadian]

7. Is that just the design work?

Just putting it together? Or was it per unit?

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

8. Stay away from Kinkos

if only for the price. If you are using them for fundraising, in order to get a decent price you'll have to buy in the range of 500. If you googled calendars and fundraising you'll find lots of answers. If you'd rather go local, use someone like Minuteman.

[graywarrior]

10. I did the design work

That was for printing on decent paper and putting it together. I gave them PFD file.

[TreasonousBastard]

9. I downloaded several calendar software packages that...

never worked, so it took a little time but I formatted some very nice calendars in WordPerfect. Word, Open Office, or, better yet, any desktop publishing program, should work just as well, or better.

I printed them on heavy, double-sided matte photo paper that I got at Staples on super sale for around a dime a sheet. It's usually closer to a buck a sheet.

Binding I did with a binding gizmo I got at OfficeMax. Alternatively, OfficeMax and Staples will spiral bind the calendar you print a buck or two.

I now have a color laser printer, so it should be a lot cheaper, and more permanent, to print the calendars on card stock.

OfficeMax and Staples occasionally run sales on printing and binding the whole thing using their calendar templates, but that's usually around Thanksgiving. They, or your local copy shop, will normally charge maybe half a buck or so a page (each side) plus the binding. More for larger sizes than 8 1/2 x 11.

Yeah, there's that size thing. You probably can't print anything bigger than legal size paper and most calendars are more like 11x14, or bigger. If you want the big ones, try to cut a deal with your local printers or copy shops, or look online. Unless you want to buy a larger printer for a couple of hundred bucks.

Googling will turn up tons of online printshops, but last I looked there are no deals much better than Staples unless you order by the hundreds.

So, who prints those beautiful calendars you see all over the place for 10 bucks? I tried to find out, and even an outfit I worked for that sent us all gorgeous calendars wouldn't tell me where they were printed. Best I could find out was Mexico had the actual printing presses and you had to be connected with a publisher to get in on the deal.

[gmoney]

11. or try Lulu.com

Free to publish it, and as author, you can buy "at cost" to sell on your own, while referring others to buy it at retail from your web store. Lulu handles the payment, printing and shipping for people who order from your store.

I presume you're getting a start on next year?

[gmoney]

12. here's details, and save 30% for a while with a coupon code

http://www.lulu.com/publish/calendars/?cid=my_lulu_cal_promo_1109

coupon code NEWYEAR gets you 30% off 10 or more calendars... not sure how long the promotion lasts.

[jmowreader]

13. I think you're late

You really need to do calendars in November or December. By January everyone already has their calendar.

(Donning my lithographer's hat...) If you're going to sell calendars for a fundraiser, you have to go offset. A calendar is a 28-page document--24 pages plus cover. They usually fold down to 8-1/2 x 11, which makes the flat sheet size 11 x 17. You can print this three ways: three sheetwise signatures on a half-size (26 to 29 inches across the cylinder), a sheetwise and a work & turn signature on a full-size (40 to 42 inches across the cylinder) or six signatures on a baby press like a Heidelberg Quickmaster. (Hint: if you're going for real short runs, see if you can find someone with a direct-imaging press; they give real nice quality for relatively cheap.) The cover is always run separately, and it's usually on a different sheet.

My favorite sheet is Utopia. For a calendar, go 80-pound text and 100-pound cover.

Your pics need to be 300dpi at 100 percent enlargement--if you're running the picture all the way across the sheet, the photo needs to be at least 3375 pixels wide.

[gmoney]

14. Depends how many they think they can sell, too.

If they're doing offset, they're going to pay for 500 or 1000 pieces, even if they only need 200. Plus they need to pay for them upfront, regardless of how many sell. With a print on demand service like Lulu, they at least only pay for what they use, even if the unit cost is higher. Lulu can also give them an ISBN number and barcode for a nominal fee if they want to try to get it into stores. Also, Lulu makes most products available through Amazon.com as well as their own site, so it's easy to blast out an e-mail or post bulletins telling people to go buy the calendar online to support the cause.

Don't get me wrong, I love traditional printing. It's just that the upfront costs would probably be prohibitive in this instance. (Pay $2000 or so for 500 calendars, and hope to sell more than 100 of them at $20 each just to break even.)

However, if they start now for 2011, they might be able to find an offset printer willing to donate the printing and paper in exchange for some sort of plug/credit on the calendar, or find a sponsor to pay for the printing in exchange for an ad or something. But unless the content is really compelling, calendars are a hard sell.

Of course, it seems the OP has lost interest in this thread anyway, so it's probably a moot point.