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  • 1.  Self-Publishing a Gift Shop Book

    Posted 23 days ago

    Hi all! Our museum is looking to self-publish a coffee table-style book for our gift shop. Ideally, it would be hardcover, and include a mix of photographs and text. Do you have recommendations for printers, or advice on pitfalls to avoid? Thanks!



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    Audrey King
    Assistant Director
    Ellwood House Museum
    DeKalb IL
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  • 2.  RE: Self-Publishing a Gift Shop Book

    Posted 23 days ago

    Hi Audrey

    I hope you're well. Sorry I missed you at the One State conference. 

    We print high quality art books and they can be quite expensive to produce and distribute. We have historically used several publishers for our but have used Marquand Books (https://www.marquandbooks.com/) the most often. They managed the process and arranged the printing. Printing these days happens overseas, most often in China. 

    There are a few vanity publishers that serve the museum market, particularly history museums, if your needs are different than for an art museum. You might reach out to Arcadia Publishing (https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/). They serve a large portion of the museum market. 

    Good luck



    ------------------------------
    DIANE GUTENKAUF
    Senior Assistant Director, Operations & Strategy

    University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
    College of Fine and Applied Arts
    Krannert Art Museum
    500 East Peabody Drive | M/C 592
    Champaign, IL 61820
    217-333-3437 | dianeg3@illinois.edu
    kam.illinois.edu

    Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act any written communication to or from university employees regarding university business is a public record and may be subject to public disclosure.
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Self-Publishing a Gift Shop Book

    Posted 22 days ago
    Edited by Audrey King 22 days ago

    Hi Diane,

    It's nice to hear from you, and thank you for the recommendations! I had a chance to stop by the amazing Krannert Art Museum after the conference, and loved the exhibition on European prints! 

    Audrey



    ------------------------------
    Audrey King
    Assistant Director
    Ellwood House Museum
    DeKalb IL
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Self-Publishing a Gift Shop Book

    Posted 22 days ago

    Audrey, 

    I've personally used Bookbaby for printing. Beautiful books with lots of options for sizes, paper, binding etc. They also have wonderful customer service. 

    https://www.bookbaby.com

    Pattie



    ------------------------------
    Pattie Ann Smith
    Retired
    Tampa FL
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Self-Publishing a Gift Shop Book

    Posted 22 days ago
    Edited by Audrey King 22 days ago

    Pattie,


    This sounds like a really promising lead - thank you so much!

    Best,

    Audrey



    ------------------------------
    Audrey King
    Assistant Director
    Ellwood House Museum
    DeKalb IL
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Self-Publishing a Gift Shop Book

    Posted 21 days ago
    Audrey, artistic decisions can have massive cost implications.  Color printing is a huge generator of cost.  To minimize this only use color where it makes a difference to the story being told or adds marketing advantage.  You can take existing color photos and reduce the saturation to B&W, with no loss of detail in most cases.  Another trick is to combine multiple color images on one page.

    Mike Post
    Author
    Los Osos, California



    Original Message


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