Anyone used Swallowtail Printing for books?

[Tobers]

I’m likely to give them some business for a book project. I’m about to get some hardback samples done (150-ish pages) ahead of a print run of several hundred to start with. Wondering if anyone has used them.

 

[Harlequin565]

I’m likely to give them some business for a book project. I’m about to get some hardback samples done (150-ish pages) ahead of a print run of several hundred to start with. Wondering if anyone has used them.

Not me, but would be interested to hear your thoughts when you get one!

 

[droj]

I’m likely to give them some business for a book project. I’m about to get some hardback samples done (150-ish pages) ahead of a print run of several hundred to start with. Wondering if anyone has used them.

No, you're at the sharp end here!

Not me, but would be interested to hear your thoughts when you get one!

Ditto.

 

[Tobers]

Righto. will report back

 

[ancient_mariner]

Righto. will report back

Thanks, I'm interested too.

 

[Tobers]

Ordering day is close. I’m about to order 250 hardback copies of my Skye at Night book. Swallowtail have been great so far.

 

[Box Brownie]

Ordering day is close. I’m about to order 250 hardback copies of my Skye at Night book. Swallowtail have been great so far.

You mentioned getting samples......have you gone "straight to a press run" of 250 off?

I too will look forward to your experience of using the company and the quality of the final product.

All the best with them selling well and raising a goodly amount for the charity

 

[Tobers]

You mentioned getting samples......have you gone "straight to a press run" of 250 off?

Not straight to print. I’ve had a set of samples to select ink density for 100%, 95% and 90% densities. I’ve decided to go for 100% as the images are rich and lovely. I’ve had to lighten a few of them in Lightroom to avoid them looking too dark in print. It’s tricky getting monitor brightness correct to match print, as I’m sure everyone knows.

Next, I’ll receive an unbound proof copy to check everything, proof read it all for an 8th time (!), check layout alignment etc. Then I say “go” and they print 250 of them and ship them on a pallet.

I’ve got my Amazon seller account set up, ISBN sorted, first local shop agreed to stock & sell, and online sale fulfilment sorted. I need to get a bunch of additional shops on Skye signed up, and work out the logistics of a launch night.

 

[Box Brownie]

Not straight to print. I’ve had a set of samples to select ink density for 100%, 95% and 90% densities. I’ve decided to go for 100% as the images are rich and lovely. I’ve had to lighten a few of them in Lightroom to avoid them looking too dark in print. It’s tricky getting monitor brightness correct to match print, as I’m sure everyone knows.

Next, I’ll receive an unbound proof copy to check everything, proof read it all for an 8th time (!), check layout alignment etc. Then I say “go” and they print 250 of them and ship them on a pallet.

I’ve got my Amazon seller account set up, ISBN sorted, first local shop agreed to stock & sell, and online sale fulfilment sorted. I need to get a bunch of additional shops on Skye signed up, and work out the logistics of a launch night.

Thanks for the the update and explanation.....pretty much as I recall from my days selling into the print trades.

All the best with the launch and the sales..................you never know you might get enough interest for a 'second run'

PS As for getting it right................(back when I was working) one of my customers was printing the last(?) Don McCullin book and I was permitted to see some of the early proofs (on one of my visits to them) and was told they had some corrections to make to satisfy Don's requirements. None too surprisingly they considered this one of the most important jobs they had done for a while.

PPS it was IIRC a larger format book and vaguely recall (I think?) that it was a Limited Edition and they were also making slipcases for it NB I am thinking back around 8 to 10 years?

 

[Ed Sutton]

Not straight to print. I’ve had a set of samples to select ink density for 100%, 95% and 90% densities. I’ve decided to go for 100% as the images are rich and lovely. I’ve had to lighten a few of them in Lightroom to avoid them looking too dark in print. It’s tricky getting monitor brightness correct to match print, as I’m sure everyone knows.

Next, I’ll receive an unbound proof copy to check everything, proof read it all for an 8th time (!), check layout alignment etc. Then I say “go” and they print 250 of them and ship them on a pallet.

I’ve got my Amazon seller account set up, ISBN sorted, first local shop agreed to stock & sell, and online sale fulfilment sorted. I need to get a bunch of additional shops on Skye signed up, and work out the logistics of a launch night.

Is Amazon worth it if you're only getting 250 printed, or is the margin good enough that you can let them take their cut?

 

[Box Brownie]

Is Amazon worth it if you're only getting 250 printed, or is the margin good enough that you can let them take their cut?

A good point about the 'gouging' that Amazon apparently levy?

@Tobers having seen & read what's on your website I wonder whether Amazon should be a last resort i.e. could the book be of interest to any independent booksellers on the Scottish mainland.......where perhaps the margin (to the benefit of the SMRT) will be higher than Amazon? Afteral with 250, in the scheme of things, is not that large a print run.

If you are prepared to say, as you mentioned on your website, how many are currently "pre-ordered"?

 

[Tobers]

All good points. I’ve approached the main 2 book resellers in Scotland and both don’t see enough margin in it. The book quality and print cost is too high for them to leave sufficient money in it to donate to the Skye Mountain Rescue Team.

Amazon isn’t too bad actually. I was quite surprised. Definitely do-able, especially as I will be arranging for a friend who runs one of the gift shops on the island to handle online dispatch logistics for me (packing & posting). If it doesn’t work out I’ll just do orders direct from my Squarespace website (Thomas Heaton has a lot to answer for).

I haven’t opened pre-orders yet. I’ll be doing that once I have the printed article in hand. I’ll have a month to show the book around retailers during which time I’ll have pre-orders running. I’m hoping the whole run of 250 sells quite quickly (obviously), but literally have no idea what is going to happen. Everyone who I’ve featured in the book will buy one, so that’s 50-60 sales, and hopefully they’ll buy some for relatives, and then it’ll be pushed to hotels, B&Bs etc, as well as local retailers. It’s a bit of a leap into the unknown. There’s a 3-4 week lead time on getting another print run done, so I’ll know quite quickly what’s happening and will be able to trigger another order if need be.

Having a smaller initial print run means there’s a bit of FOMO which will hopefully encourage more orders.

 

[Ed Sutton]

All good points. I’ve approached the main 2 book resellers in Scotland and both don’t see enough margin in it. The book quality and print cost is too high for them to leave sufficient money in it to donate to the Skye Mountain Rescue Team.

Amazon isn’t too bad actually. I was quite surprised. Definitely do-able, especially as I will be arranging for a friend who runs one of the gift shops on the island to handle online dispatch logistics for me (packing & posting). If it doesn’t work out I’ll just do orders direct from my Squarespace website (Thomas Heaton has a lot to answer for).

I haven’t opened pre-orders yet. I’ll be doing that once I have the printed article in hand. I’ll have a month to show the book around retailers during which time I’ll have pre-orders running. I’m hoping the whole run of 250 sells quite quickly (obviously), but literally have no idea what is going to happen. Everyone who I’ve featured in the book will buy one, so that’s 50-60 sales, and hopefully they’ll buy some for relatives, and then it’ll be pushed to hotels, B&Bs etc, as well as local retailers. It’s a bit of a leap into the unknown. There’s a 3-4 week lead time on getting another print run done, so I’ll know quite quickly what’s happening and will be able to trigger another order if need be.

Having a smaller initial print run means there’s a bit of FOMO which will hopefully encourage more orders.

PayPal has a simple 'Sell on Social' feature that creates a page where people can buy direct from a link. I use it for zines and books I churn out and it does the job. Might be worth using on your Instagram and/or other social media platforms where you promote the book. It costs nothing to set up but Paypal fees apply.

 

[admirable]

There are umpteen mountaineering clubs on FB, worth a mention

 

[Box Brownie]

All good points. I’ve approached the main 2 book resellers in Scotland and both don’t see enough margin in it. The book quality and print cost is too high for them to leave sufficient money in it to donate to the Skye Mountain Rescue Team.

Amazon isn’t too bad actually. I was quite surprised. Definitely do-able, especially as I will be arranging for a friend who runs one of the gift shops on the island to handle online dispatch logistics for me (packing & posting). If it doesn’t work out I’ll just do orders direct from my Squarespace website (Thomas Heaton has a lot to answer for).

I haven’t opened pre-orders yet. I’ll be doing that once I have the printed article in hand. I’ll have a month to show the book around retailers during which time I’ll have pre-orders running. I’m hoping the whole run of 250 sells quite quickly (obviously), but literally have no idea what is going to happen. Everyone who I’ve featured in the book will buy one, so that’s 50-60 sales, and hopefully they’ll buy some for relatives, and then it’ll be pushed to hotels, B&Bs etc, as well as local retailers. It’s a bit of a leap into the unknown. There’s a 3-4 week lead time on getting another print run done, so I’ll know quite quickly what’s happening and will be able to trigger another order if need be.

Having a smaller initial print run means there’s a bit of FOMO which will hopefully encourage more orders.

I did have a look at the website and the images there.

As some of the featured people appear to be businesses, if they are willing they might another source of 'outlet'.........at the very least to put a PoS with an A5 flyer promoting the book.

Re: the flyers ~ is there a general printer on the island who would entertain doing some at cost or FoC in support of the charitable cause.

Or at the very least, if you have a printer you could print off some and place them in PoS displays, placed as appropriate.

 

[Box Brownie]

There are umpteen mountaineering clubs on FB, worth a mention

And no doubt a goodly number of climbers who have either climbed on Skye and potentially know of others who might have been helped by SMRT.

 

[Tobers]

PayPal has a simple 'Sell on Social' feature that creates a page where people can buy direct from a link. I use it for zines and books I churn out and it does the job. Might be worth using on your Instagram and/or other social media platforms where you promote the book. It costs nothing to set up but Paypal fees apply.

Thanks Ed. I have a SumUp card reader which allows me to take contactless payments with the reader, with a QR code, and also by NFC direct on my phone without needing the reader. Amazing stuff. I’ll be using this for face to face sales. No up front fee, just the usual transaction skimming.

For online sales on my own website, I will need something that can keep track of stock quantities and handle international shipping, which is why I may go down the Squarespace Commerce route, as it will integrate into the website nicely. Or I could just throw people over to Amazon. My thinking is that many people have Amazon accounts so will be able to buy really quickly and easily from there, rather than entering all the details into Squarespace. Amazon can also track stock, do preorders and so on. It’s more expensive than just using Squarespace, but less hassle factor. I can always tweak as I go.

There are umpteen mountaineering clubs on FB, worth a mention

Yes, thanks! I’ll ask my friends at Skye Mountain Rescue to pump it out all over their own socials and anywhere they can think of.

I did have a look at the website and the images there.

As some of the featured people appear to be businesses, if they are willing they might another source of 'outlet'.........at the very least to put a PoS with an A5 flyer promoting the book.

Re: the flyers ~ is there a general printer on the island who would entertain doing some at cost or FoC in support of the charitable cause.

Or at the very least, if you have a printer you could print off some and place them in PoS displays, placed as appropriate.

Definitely. Some of the hotels and restaurants are featured for exactly that reason ;-)

And no doubt a goodly number of climbers who have either climbed on Skye and potentially know of others who might have been helped by SMRT.

Yep, SMRT will be pushing it out on their own socials, and it will be picked up by other MRTs around as well I hope.

Thanks for all the excellent ideas & info!