Quick-turnaround perfect-binding in Bay Area? like Espresso Book Machine

February 5, 2020 9:02 PM

I'm racing to finish a crazy book project. Last time I did something like this I used an Espresso Book Machine but they seem to have died out. Does anyone know a similar vendor that could do a one or two day turnaround, at a reasonable price? I got a quote from Kinko's for $57 per book which is at least 3x too expensive, if not six times. Thanks!
posted by msalt to Writing & Language (5 answers total)

Mod note: Sorry, removed the link to the book; better to put it on your profile page and people can check it out there instead.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:42 PM on February 5, 2020

Best answer: Disclaimer: I have not used any of these services.

Digitek (assuming color; if you want black and white try this link instead.)

Blurb.com (it's unclear if they offer fast turnaround, but they are based in San Francisco.)

A list of print on demand publishers; perhaps some will suffice.
posted by blob at 7:36 AM on February 6, 2020 [3 favorites]

Are you getting more than one? That price from Kinko's sounds like it includes a setup fee to me. (I mention because, when I worked there, there was only one perfect binding machine in the city and only 1-2 people who knew how to use it, so would-be customers fairly frequently received incorrect information about it and its pricing. I think set-up was something like $30.)
posted by teremala at 7:39 AM on February 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

Whenever I have bought stuff from Blurb (formerly Magcloud), it ships from Oregon. I have only made "magazines" and spiral bound, not their perfect bound books, so the facility may vary. They do offer overnight shipping for semi-reasonable prices, but their printing time even for small projects is at least a day, if not two, again for what I've printed, which is maybe 500 pages at a time. What format are you looking for, since the link was removed?
posted by wnissen at 10:09 AM on February 6, 2020 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks all for your help. The size was a quirky one suggested by IngramSpark; 4.72" by 7.48". Since that first print run, I changed it to 8.5 by 5.5, to get the most value for the expensive AP photo we licensed. Yes, I was looking for 25-100 copies.

We did find one place that could do this job: Copy Edge on Ocean Ave. in San Francisco. Friendly, efficient, quality work. They had one quirk though -- though they are a digital shop, they would not do any size order until I approved their proof in person. So I sent them the files Thursday at 5pm, drove all night and got to SF just at 10am. They were done by 1:30.
posted by msalt at 8:12 PM on February 12, 2020 [1 favorite]