bigbywolfe Posted December 24, 2014 Report Share Posted December 24, 2014 It's not so much that this is the "wrong" forum, but there is a forum I mentioned by name in my last post called "Company Questions". It is at the very top of the page, first Sub-forum on the entire site. I don't know how often Jason checks any of the forums, but I would expect him to check that one in particular more frequently than "Hero Games Product Line" forum (unless he was coming to post something here anyway). You could also Private Message him as was suggested by LL on the first page.EDIT: There is also a Contact Us button at the very top of the page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greywind Posted December 24, 2014 Report Share Posted December 24, 2014 Just FYI, I sent Jason a PM a few months back. It took him a few weeks to respond to that PM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zslane Posted December 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2014 Okay. Good to know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zslane Posted January 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2015 So here are the results of my feasibility study. My cost, not counting shipping: Vol 1 - $9.19, Vol 2 - $6.60. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dino Posted January 18, 2015 Report Share Posted January 18, 2015 Which printer did you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost-angel Posted January 25, 2015 Report Share Posted January 25, 2015 More importantly, what's the paper, cover stock, and binding quality? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sketchpad Posted January 25, 2015 Report Share Posted January 25, 2015 I'm intrigued with which service you used as well. They look well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zslane Posted January 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2015 More importantly, what's the paper, cover stock, and binding quality? I don't have the technical specs, like paper stock or weight, available to me. But when I compare them side-by-side with the other core library books on my shelf, like The Hero System Martial Arts or The Hero System Equipment Guide, I detect absolutely no difference in quality between them. The cover stock feels exactly the same and the binding seems the same as well. The interior paper stock used in my 6E1/6E2 softcovers is maybe a teensy bit thicker, but overall I would say these volumes are indistinguishable from all the other core library books (and I have them all). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost-angel Posted January 25, 2015 Report Share Posted January 25, 2015 Then you must share where you had your personal copies made. Because printing off/creating a personal copy of a digital file for your personal use falls under Fair Use making the question originally asked moot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azato Posted January 25, 2015 Report Share Posted January 25, 2015 I have avoided POD services because I believed they were too expensive. If you can get something of this quality at that price...it is well worth it for me to look into. I am definitely interested in which service you used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zslane Posted January 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 I use Lulu (www.lulu.com) for all my personal POD book projects. All told, I have created and printed nearly two dozen books, both hardcover and softcover, using their service. Every single one of them has met or exceeded my expectations in terms of the quality of the final product delivered to me. However, I want to stress that not all PDFs are the same, at least not as far as a POD service like Lulu is concerned. In order to get the best results, one must learn how to prepare a PDF for the proper paper size, especially if printing full-bleed. One must understand the quirks of font embedding and other esoteric concerns. In almost every case, all I had to do was make sure all the pages were the correct size (and all the same size, which is not always the case if a PDF is the result of scanning the original), upload them to my Lulu project page, and then let them do their magic. But the 6E1/6E2 books were a different matter. The PDFs that you get when you buy them from Hero Games are full-color and they make liberal use of advanced PS/PDF transparency features. Lulu's printer RIP will not print them properly. In order to get flawless output, I had to convert the documents to grayscale (which I wanted to do anyway in order to keep costs down), and flatten all transparency effects before uploading to Lulu. If you have tools like Adobe Acrobat Pro, these steps are fairly trivial, but if you don't then you'd probably have to negotiate with Lulu customer support to have them do it for you. Then there is the matter of the cover art. I am a graphic artist, and so working in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop is second nature to me. I spent an afternoon or two reconstructing the front and back cover graphics from the PDF files into properly-sized wraparound cover files (the dimensions of which are calculated and provided to you by Lulu after you've uploaded the main PDF and the thickness of the spine is determined). If you are not similarly inclined, then you will not get books from Lulu (or anyone for that matter) that look like mine. I mention all this because I don't want anyone to get the impression that it is always just a simple matter of uploading the original PDF files and then having them printed. If you know what you are doing, the final results can be impressive and the costs can be very low (well, as long as you stick with B&W interior pages), but preparing the material for perfect, error-free printing can require a bit of work (especially the wraparound cover). Caveat emptor and all that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Baker Posted January 26, 2015 Report Share Posted January 26, 2015 Thanks for sharing that information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewomble Posted February 7, 2015 Report Share Posted February 7, 2015 I have combined the two core 6e volumes into one book and had it printed by Lulu. Results were spectacular. The (FULL COLOR) interior is perfect, and the cover is passable but next time I'd hire a graphic artist to do a better job than I did. This is the true bullet-stopping tome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zslane Posted February 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2015 I hope you waited for a good discount code; the full cost for that many full-color pages is quite sobering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewomble Posted February 7, 2015 Report Share Posted February 7, 2015 I hope you waited for a good discount code; the full cost for that many full-color pages is quite sobering. Yep I got a very good deal with discount codes. Best thing with setting up something like that on Lulu is that anytime in the future, as long as Lulu is still in business, you can replace a book with another mint copy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zslane Posted February 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2015 Yeah, I love that too. My experience with Lulu has been so good that I find myself constantly trying to think of new book projects to create. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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