An excellent question, to which the short answer is “no” and the longer answer is “no, but the majority of costs are frontloaded into setup of the job to get it on press, so very short runs are pretty cost-inefficient.”
We’ve got it set up this way around, rather than having a lower unit price that’s fixed no matter how many copies are ordered, for a couple of reasons. First, it’s the best way to operate the presses we use – doing it the other way around involves taking some shortcuts that risk standards, which is more trouble than it’s worth. Second, this allows for price breaks with scale, so the more you order the cheaper each copy is. For people selling at cons/online/through kickstarter this generally makes it easier to get into profit, which is where we all like to be!
Well, there’s your budget – that’s the main one. You want to get as much as you can for what you’ve got available to spend. So with that in mind you want to consider numbers, paper quality, size etc. It may be that we take a look at what you need and conclude that we can’t do you the best deal on it (this happens sometimes, especially with short runs). In that case we’ll be able to recommend the best course of action for you.
That’s one of those questions that doesn’t really have an answer, I’m afraid! There are so many variables going on that even nailing down a definition of “small graphic novel” isn’t possible. We actually have an article about this very topic here: https://comicprintinguk.com/?p=72
Your best bet is to submit a quote request via the form and give us an idea of the kind of budget you have available. We can tailor the quote accordingly and let you know what’s doable.
I want to print a manga style comic that reads from right to left and most of pages are in black and white but I have some in colour besides the covers. Do I need to send you an email to ask for more specific quotes?
No problem – we do quite a lot of those. Yes please, if you could fill in the form, or else drop an email with the page count, the size, the quantity needed, and in this case a list of where the colour pages are, we’ll sort the quote out for you ASAP.
Hi… when you say “CPUK standard” is that more like the traditional 30-odd page issues (as opposed to a trade paperback or graphic novel, I mean?) It’s a long way off in the future, but I’m hoping at some point to offer special edition single issues.
Sort of, is the deeply unhelpful answer to this one. All the saddle stitched options (self cover, CPUK standard, small press standard) are stapled and suitable for lower end page counts up to about 48pp inc cover. Most of the single issues you’ll find in stores these days are self cover at weights ranging from about 80-115GSM. When we first started working in comics the standard was to have a thick card cover on small press stuff (hence the “small press standard”), which we found to be a bit much – it makes comics pop open a lot and feels quite unbalanced because of the big difference in weight between the cover and interior pages. On the other hand, self cover is quite fragile and prone to damage when being lugged between cons or posted.
The CPUK standard is a middle ground between the two. We’ll usually put the cover on something around a 170GSM (as opposed to 250-300GSM on a SPS spec) and the interiors on a 115-130GSM. The slightly thicker cover stands up to a bit more punishment without overpowering the interior pages.
When we get a quote we’ll assess it and let you know if there’s anything that looks a bit off, so you don’t need to panic about this too much. We’ll quote you for what you’ve asked for, of course, but if we think there’s a better way of doing things we’ll also quote for that and explain our reasoning so you can make an informed decision.
Great website here; I think I’ll definitely be using your services in the near future. If anyone is looking to do some illustrating, I write horror tales that are needing artistic life breathed into ’em! Who knows what can happen…
Cheers, Steve! Nice feedback is always nice! Give us a shout any time and we’ll be happy to help.
Not sure how many people trawl the comments here, to be honest. Have you tried putting out a call for artists on Twitter, or else on the CVA? The latter can be found here and is usually a good place to connect with other creators.
Unfortunately we don’t ship outside the UK at all. We’re a pretty small company and we just don’t have the resources to manage international shipping and the admin burden that comes with it. It’s something we’re looking to do in the future, but for now I’m afraid it’s out of reach for us!
Really sorry we can’t help. If you have a friend in the UK that we could ship for them to send onward we’d be more than happy to do that – it’s not the world’s most elegant solution, but it’s the best we can do.
Unfortunately not. Most of the costs to us of printing are in the setup of the job, rather than the materials. If all your comics were, for the sake of argument, 16pp long then printing 6 x20 would mean 96 setups, whereas printing 1 x120 would only be the one.
With prints, posters, and other single sheet printing there’s a definite cost advantage to ordering batches, but for comics you’re already doing multi-page printing, so the savings are already factored in.
Hi, I’m very early on in the comic making process (I’ve only just finished the script for my first issue out of five) but I was wondering if I would be able to get a general idea of the cost and get a quote. This would help me figure out how much money to set aside as I make the comic. Certain things such as page numbers would be an estimate and depending on the price I might have to make some big changes. This is my first time doing this, so I was just wondering if I should wait until I’m further along in the process to do this. Thank you for your time.
It’s never too early to start thinking about the costs! At this early stage we’d be talking ballparks, certainly, but it’s usually very helpful to know what you’re aiming towards. By all means either fill out the quote form or send an email & we’ll work through some examples with you.
i am a student. im just looking to see where is the best place to get my comic printed
Hi Joshua,
Well, we’d like to think that’s here, but there are a bunch of things to consider. Drop a quote request through the form and we’ll get back to you.
Cheers
R
Hi CPUK,
Long time listener first time caller. Do you have a minimum qty order? Ta
P.s Sorry if have answered this somewhere on here already.
Hey Rich,
An excellent question, to which the short answer is “no” and the longer answer is “no, but the majority of costs are frontloaded into setup of the job to get it on press, so very short runs are pretty cost-inefficient.”
We’ve got it set up this way around, rather than having a lower unit price that’s fixed no matter how many copies are ordered, for a couple of reasons. First, it’s the best way to operate the presses we use – doing it the other way around involves taking some shortcuts that risk standards, which is more trouble than it’s worth. Second, this allows for price breaks with scale, so the more you order the cheaper each copy is. For people selling at cons/online/through kickstarter this generally makes it easier to get into profit, which is where we all like to be!
Cheers
R
what kind of things are there to consider ?
Hi Joshua,
Well, there’s your budget – that’s the main one. You want to get as much as you can for what you’ve got available to spend. So with that in mind you want to consider numbers, paper quality, size etc. It may be that we take a look at what you need and conclude that we can’t do you the best deal on it (this happens sometimes, especially with short runs). In that case we’ll be able to recommend the best course of action for you.
Cheers
R
What’s the average cost for a small graphic novel?
Hi Kian,
That’s one of those questions that doesn’t really have an answer, I’m afraid! There are so many variables going on that even nailing down a definition of “small graphic novel” isn’t possible. We actually have an article about this very topic here: https://comicprintinguk.com/?p=72
Your best bet is to submit a quote request via the form and give us an idea of the kind of budget you have available. We can tailor the quote accordingly and let you know what’s doable.
Cheers
R
I want to print a manga style comic that reads from right to left and most of pages are in black and white but I have some in colour besides the covers. Do I need to send you an email to ask for more specific quotes?
Hi Damian,
No problem – we do quite a lot of those. Yes please, if you could fill in the form, or else drop an email with the page count, the size, the quantity needed, and in this case a list of where the colour pages are, we’ll sort the quote out for you ASAP.
Cheers
R
Hi… when you say “CPUK standard” is that more like the traditional 30-odd page issues (as opposed to a trade paperback or graphic novel, I mean?) It’s a long way off in the future, but I’m hoping at some point to offer special edition single issues.
Also, your templates are a life saver, thanks!
Hi hi,
Sort of, is the deeply unhelpful answer to this one. All the saddle stitched options (self cover, CPUK standard, small press standard) are stapled and suitable for lower end page counts up to about 48pp inc cover. Most of the single issues you’ll find in stores these days are self cover at weights ranging from about 80-115GSM. When we first started working in comics the standard was to have a thick card cover on small press stuff (hence the “small press standard”), which we found to be a bit much – it makes comics pop open a lot and feels quite unbalanced because of the big difference in weight between the cover and interior pages. On the other hand, self cover is quite fragile and prone to damage when being lugged between cons or posted.
The CPUK standard is a middle ground between the two. We’ll usually put the cover on something around a 170GSM (as opposed to 250-300GSM on a SPS spec) and the interiors on a 115-130GSM. The slightly thicker cover stands up to a bit more punishment without overpowering the interior pages.
When we get a quote we’ll assess it and let you know if there’s anything that looks a bit off, so you don’t need to panic about this too much. We’ll quote you for what you’ve asked for, of course, but if we think there’s a better way of doing things we’ll also quote for that and explain our reasoning so you can make an informed decision.
Cheers
R
Hi guys,
Great website here; I think I’ll definitely be using your services in the near future. If anyone is looking to do some illustrating, I write horror tales that are needing artistic life breathed into ’em! Who knows what can happen…
Steve Deighan.
Cheers, Steve! Nice feedback is always nice! Give us a shout any time and we’ll be happy to help.
Not sure how many people trawl the comments here, to be honest. Have you tried putting out a call for artists on Twitter, or else on the CVA? The latter can be found here and is usually a good place to connect with other creators.
Cheers
R
Hey, I was wondering if you accept international orders? I’m living in Japan and the costs of printing are really high here.
Hi Luke,
Unfortunately we don’t ship outside the UK at all. We’re a pretty small company and we just don’t have the resources to manage international shipping and the admin burden that comes with it. It’s something we’re looking to do in the future, but for now I’m afraid it’s out of reach for us!
Really sorry we can’t help. If you have a friend in the UK that we could ship for them to send onward we’d be more than happy to do that – it’s not the world’s most elegant solution, but it’s the best we can do.
Cheers
R
I happen to have a contact in the UK so maybe we can try and figure something out.
Would it be possible to get a quote on prints and posters, not comic books? Not sure where to look for that!
Thanks!
Hi Katie,
No problem. Just drop us an email through the quick contact form with details of what you need & we’ll get to it asap.
Cheers
R
Hey ! I’m new to this website and I wanted to know if you can ship in Switzerland, or UK only. Thanks
Benjamin
Hi Benjamin,
We can arrange shipping overseas if you need it. I think you’ve sent an email about this as well – you should have a response to that in your inbox.
Cheers
R
would it be the same price for 20 copies of 6 comics as 120 of the same
Hi Ben,
Unfortunately not. Most of the costs to us of printing are in the setup of the job, rather than the materials. If all your comics were, for the sake of argument, 16pp long then printing 6 x20 would mean 96 setups, whereas printing 1 x120 would only be the one.
With prints, posters, and other single sheet printing there’s a definite cost advantage to ordering batches, but for comics you’re already doing multi-page printing, so the savings are already factored in.
Hope this helps
R
Hi, I’m very early on in the comic making process (I’ve only just finished the script for my first issue out of five) but I was wondering if I would be able to get a general idea of the cost and get a quote. This would help me figure out how much money to set aside as I make the comic. Certain things such as page numbers would be an estimate and depending on the price I might have to make some big changes. This is my first time doing this, so I was just wondering if I should wait until I’m further along in the process to do this. Thank you for your time.
-Eva
Hi Eva,
It’s never too early to start thinking about the costs! At this early stage we’d be talking ballparks, certainly, but it’s usually very helpful to know what you’re aiming towards. By all means either fill out the quote form or send an email & we’ll work through some examples with you.
Cheers
Rich