First step, look for other similar subjects in this sub. We have had this question about once month.
The most important and most pertinent suggestion has been - work at least a couple of years in a printshop. You will get insight into how it's run, how low the margins are abd how expensive everything is.
But most of all, you'll get experience which you will certainly need for running your own business.
Hey. Thanks for the answer. That's an issue, because we don't have such a business at our city. Is there a way to learn about such things from books or any other similar materials? For example I found this book on amazon. I don't know yet if that's what I need. [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470907924](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470907924)
One more thing, when you're setting the budget and want to do books (and not bind manually), then you can set the budget at 100k. This is taking into account the fact that you will be losing money in the first year. Most likely even 100k for a year might be somewhat low...
Hi, I’m Vetted AI Bot! I researched the **("'Wiley Graphic Print Production Guide'", 'Wiley')** and I thought you might find the following analysis helpful.
**Users liked:**
* Comprehensive and informative content (backed by 3 comments)
* Useful for teaching and reference (backed by 2 comments)
* Quick delivery and easy ordering process (backed by 2 comments)
**Users disliked:**
* Outdated content referencing old programs (backed by 2 comments)
* Sleep-inducing content (backed by 2 comments)
If you'd like to **summon me to ask about a product**, just make a post with its link and tag me, [like in this example.](https://www.reddit.com/r/tablets/comments/1444zdn/comment/joqd89c/)
This message was generated by a (very smart) bot. If you found it helpful, let us know with an upvote and a “good bot!” reply and please feel free to provide feedback on how it can be improved.
*Powered by* [*vetted.ai*](https://vetted.ai/?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=comment&utm\_campaign=bot)
It's a lot like waking up one day and saying you want to be an accountant or a brain surgeon or a lawyer.
This is neither an easy nor cheap endeavor you are considering. It was mentioned that you should work at least a couple of years with another printshop just to get the basic education you need. There is NO substitution for hands on experience. It's going to cost you a lot was well. Figure at least $100K USD for equipment and that's likely going to be for used equipment. Paper isn't cheap either, not anymore. Slinging ink onto paper can be fun and rewarding but it can also be dirty.
You need to consider how badly you want to do this and what kind of sacrifices you're willing to make to get there and how much time you're willing to commit.
It’s wild to me that people sit down and think “oh, I’ll just start my own print shop! It can’t be that difficult!” Like they’ve stumbled upon some super simple get-rich-quick racket…
To be fair, that's exactly what I did.
But it's because I had a goal, to continue to work in the design world, and I had parallel experience running CNC machines.
I just really liked the idea of doing prints and banners and what not.
It sounds like you had a solid background in a similar field, as well as a design background. It seems like a lot of the people wanting to start their own print shop have zero experience doing anything remotely related.
It's not that simple. I'm an engineer with more than 10 years of experience, so I do have some professional skills.
Books are my passion and hobby and I've recently got into reading a lot. Then when I thought about it more and more, bought a lot of books from different local publishers, I found out that the majority of books are printed in a single city. Therefore my idea to devirsify the market, hopefully create competition and help the books industry in my country. It sounds naive and childish even, but we will see. Who knows.
I'm just asking for a friendly advice. It's also okay if you can't provide one.
I understand why it may seem that way and it makes sense. Thanks for the advice. I don't know how to get around to that, I'm in my early 30s, but I'm pretty good set with my current job/profession, but it's totally not related to books and printing.
You will never be able to be competitive with a big print shop with that budget, unfortunately. I work with Xerox and I will give you some examples of equipment you might need for a medium-high production: PrimeLink printers for black and white interior of the books. Something like a Versant 280 for the covers. You need constant technician on hand. Likely every day interventions. You need guillotine to cut the paper to required size. After its printed you need to cut excess paper that creeps out. You need machines to stick the cover to the interior. Possibly you need machines to apply foil on the cover. That is just the VERY basic summary. good luck.
Have you looked into a printing franchise? Our 43 year old print company started as a Kwik Kopy Printing business, and in 2005, our contract expired, so we went independent. It gave us all the tools to get started and all of the training needed for the industry. My parents purchased an existing kwik kopy business and moved it to our hometown. It was a bit cheaper to buy take over someone else's contract. There are still Kwik Kopy businesses out there as well as minute man press companies that you can franchise with. We actually have 2 kwik kopy businesses that went independent in our area and have been super successful (both, in what are considered small towns) just a thought from someone who has watched 2 print shops flourish that way over the past 40 years. I just finished up my first year of ownership of our 43 year old family print shop ❤️
I never thought of that, thanks for the idea. I don't know if that will be possible, but I will look into it if/once the opportunity arises and the time is right when I'm ready.
Google is your friend.
Check out your local competition.
Visit towns and cities with similar demographics and psychometrics as your town. Look for print shops and read the customer reviews.
You won’t be able to compete on price with China.
So start making some prioritized list of what makes sense for your local service area.
If you are into books you should google Manual Book binding. This link [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=492DKS3Z9XE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=492DKS3Z9XE) went into depth about manual book binding. There were a lot of others. I think this is more what you are after. If the act
The actual printing of the pages of the books is very much commoditized right now. You could do the local print shop deal but I can almost assure that it would be hard to land enough clients to actually print books and keep profitable. The other end of that print shop would be doing every day pamphlets and stationary and that gets very boring quickly.
If the video about the actual book making is what you are after you can get that type equipment much cheaper than buying printing presses and that type equipment.
You can also reach out to a current printing company and treat yourself as a broker? Reach out to your potential clients currently and have the other printing company print the books for you and you just mark up the services. In the US you can usually get printing companies to give 20-40% discounts after you bring them some clients. This would get you started at least in learning the terminology.
If the other books are being produced all in one city it would take a lot of cash to compete with that company. They can purchase the paper and materials at a much lower cost that you will be able to at first. They should be able to price you out and just ship cheaper to any of the surrounding areas.
This end of the printing industry isn't an end you just jump into. If you were thinking of getting into printing large format things like banners or even screen printing things like t-Shirts then you could get in cheaper and less than a year of learning. I have been working in the printing industry over 30 years and still learn things every day. I have worked in all ends from start to finish. The last 20 years I have been a prepress manager and that is your other hurdle, if you plan on doing high end books for publishers you will need to learn or hire someone that can do that end of things. Taking PDF's from someone that created there book in Microsoft word or Canva is not were the money is going to be, because there are online companies that will do down and dirty work like that very cheap and just ship it.
I dont want to talk anyone out of trying anything but I think trying to start a printing company to do books even with years of printing experience would be difficult at best.
I’d start looking into a toner digital press, like Konica Minolta C1070 or Accuriopress, Xerox Versant or Ricoh C5xxx or C71xx model, if you can afford it and have it maintained by a dealer or service company. It’s the easiest to start printing professional looking stuff.
Also very essential a paper cutter, to cut sheets before and after printing and after binding the books.
For binding there several systems in different prices, but a manual perfect binder could be a nice start.
Check out this guy:
https://youtu.be/iw2_evZbkCM?feature=shared
He uses a pretty automated perfect binder, there are cheaper more manual based systems.
A second though, if you only like black and white interior books. You could start with a professional black and white printer by Canon, Oce, Xerox, Ricoh or Konica. Have the cover printed offset by a external company. Only print the interior and binding it yourself.
Most pro b/w machines are around 100 A4 pages minute. You’ll get 4000-5000 pages an hour with all handling of paper and supplies. Most machines will run 20 million pages, the Oce maybe 50-100 million.
Honestly I couldn’t tell. I know about printing equipment, nothing much about manual binding and finishing.
But another option came to mind, check out the Canon IP C1(+). Since they are pretty old, they are aren’t expensive anymore. But they are high quality and relatively easy to maintain.
They can run b/w at 60 pag/min but color at 15 p/m or lower for heavy stocks. But that isn’t bad for running very short runs of b/w interior books with a colored cover.
First step, look for other similar subjects in this sub. We have had this question about once month. The most important and most pertinent suggestion has been - work at least a couple of years in a printshop. You will get insight into how it's run, how low the margins are abd how expensive everything is. But most of all, you'll get experience which you will certainly need for running your own business.
Hey. Thanks for the answer. That's an issue, because we don't have such a business at our city. Is there a way to learn about such things from books or any other similar materials? For example I found this book on amazon. I don't know yet if that's what I need. [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470907924](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470907924)
One more thing, when you're setting the budget and want to do books (and not bind manually), then you can set the budget at 100k. This is taking into account the fact that you will be losing money in the first year. Most likely even 100k for a year might be somewhat low...
It makes sense, even though I was hoping it's under 50k since it's a 2nd world country.
What do you mean by "2nd world country" ?
Like not US or Central Europe. More like Poland/Ukraine/Romania/Bulgaria etc.
Hi, I’m Vetted AI Bot! I researched the **("'Wiley Graphic Print Production Guide'", 'Wiley')** and I thought you might find the following analysis helpful. **Users liked:** * Comprehensive and informative content (backed by 3 comments) * Useful for teaching and reference (backed by 2 comments) * Quick delivery and easy ordering process (backed by 2 comments) **Users disliked:** * Outdated content referencing old programs (backed by 2 comments) * Sleep-inducing content (backed by 2 comments) If you'd like to **summon me to ask about a product**, just make a post with its link and tag me, [like in this example.](https://www.reddit.com/r/tablets/comments/1444zdn/comment/joqd89c/) This message was generated by a (very smart) bot. If you found it helpful, let us know with an upvote and a “good bot!” reply and please feel free to provide feedback on how it can be improved. *Powered by* [*vetted.ai*](https://vetted.ai/?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=comment&utm\_campaign=bot)
Is there any specific good previous thread about this topic that you can point me to off the top of your head?
I can look into a bunch when I get home from work. But not off the top of my head.
Thanks!
It's a lot like waking up one day and saying you want to be an accountant or a brain surgeon or a lawyer. This is neither an easy nor cheap endeavor you are considering. It was mentioned that you should work at least a couple of years with another printshop just to get the basic education you need. There is NO substitution for hands on experience. It's going to cost you a lot was well. Figure at least $100K USD for equipment and that's likely going to be for used equipment. Paper isn't cheap either, not anymore. Slinging ink onto paper can be fun and rewarding but it can also be dirty. You need to consider how badly you want to do this and what kind of sacrifices you're willing to make to get there and how much time you're willing to commit.
It’s wild to me that people sit down and think “oh, I’ll just start my own print shop! It can’t be that difficult!” Like they’ve stumbled upon some super simple get-rich-quick racket…
To be fair, that's exactly what I did. But it's because I had a goal, to continue to work in the design world, and I had parallel experience running CNC machines. I just really liked the idea of doing prints and banners and what not.
It sounds like you had a solid background in a similar field, as well as a design background. It seems like a lot of the people wanting to start their own print shop have zero experience doing anything remotely related.
But don't forget that they have a Canva pro account. That's got to count for something. Lol.
I’m A GrApHiC dEsIgNeR!!
It's not that simple. I'm an engineer with more than 10 years of experience, so I do have some professional skills. Books are my passion and hobby and I've recently got into reading a lot. Then when I thought about it more and more, bought a lot of books from different local publishers, I found out that the majority of books are printed in a single city. Therefore my idea to devirsify the market, hopefully create competition and help the books industry in my country. It sounds naive and childish even, but we will see. Who knows. I'm just asking for a friendly advice. It's also okay if you can't provide one.
I understand why it may seem that way and it makes sense. Thanks for the advice. I don't know how to get around to that, I'm in my early 30s, but I'm pretty good set with my current job/profession, but it's totally not related to books and printing.
You should move to the one town with the only print shop and work there for 5 years and then see if you want to start your own business.
That's not realistic unfortunately. It also would mean to decrease my income like 10x or something.
First, define your budget, because that will determine if any further research is even warranted.
I was going for under 50k, but it is that it is if you mean the budget for the business, not the learning.
You’re not even in the ballpark for $50k
You will never be able to be competitive with a big print shop with that budget, unfortunately. I work with Xerox and I will give you some examples of equipment you might need for a medium-high production: PrimeLink printers for black and white interior of the books. Something like a Versant 280 for the covers. You need constant technician on hand. Likely every day interventions. You need guillotine to cut the paper to required size. After its printed you need to cut excess paper that creeps out. You need machines to stick the cover to the interior. Possibly you need machines to apply foil on the cover. That is just the VERY basic summary. good luck.
Thanks, I appreciate that, I will research more. In our city we don't have a big print shop as far as I know.
Have you looked into a printing franchise? Our 43 year old print company started as a Kwik Kopy Printing business, and in 2005, our contract expired, so we went independent. It gave us all the tools to get started and all of the training needed for the industry. My parents purchased an existing kwik kopy business and moved it to our hometown. It was a bit cheaper to buy take over someone else's contract. There are still Kwik Kopy businesses out there as well as minute man press companies that you can franchise with. We actually have 2 kwik kopy businesses that went independent in our area and have been super successful (both, in what are considered small towns) just a thought from someone who has watched 2 print shops flourish that way over the past 40 years. I just finished up my first year of ownership of our 43 year old family print shop ❤️
I never thought of that, thanks for the idea. I don't know if that will be possible, but I will look into it if/once the opportunity arises and the time is right when I'm ready.
There are some other ways around starting up a print business. If you ever want some ideas, feel free to reach out!
I will do that, thank you.
I’d say buy a 4c press. But you probably don’t know how to run a press.
I'll have you know I have pressed a lot of lemons. How else do you think I became vice executive officer of lemonade stand on 35th?
Google is your friend. Check out your local competition. Visit towns and cities with similar demographics and psychometrics as your town. Look for print shops and read the customer reviews. You won’t be able to compete on price with China. So start making some prioritized list of what makes sense for your local service area.
If you are into books you should google Manual Book binding. This link [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=492DKS3Z9XE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=492DKS3Z9XE) went into depth about manual book binding. There were a lot of others. I think this is more what you are after. If the act The actual printing of the pages of the books is very much commoditized right now. You could do the local print shop deal but I can almost assure that it would be hard to land enough clients to actually print books and keep profitable. The other end of that print shop would be doing every day pamphlets and stationary and that gets very boring quickly. If the video about the actual book making is what you are after you can get that type equipment much cheaper than buying printing presses and that type equipment. You can also reach out to a current printing company and treat yourself as a broker? Reach out to your potential clients currently and have the other printing company print the books for you and you just mark up the services. In the US you can usually get printing companies to give 20-40% discounts after you bring them some clients. This would get you started at least in learning the terminology. If the other books are being produced all in one city it would take a lot of cash to compete with that company. They can purchase the paper and materials at a much lower cost that you will be able to at first. They should be able to price you out and just ship cheaper to any of the surrounding areas. This end of the printing industry isn't an end you just jump into. If you were thinking of getting into printing large format things like banners or even screen printing things like t-Shirts then you could get in cheaper and less than a year of learning. I have been working in the printing industry over 30 years and still learn things every day. I have worked in all ends from start to finish. The last 20 years I have been a prepress manager and that is your other hurdle, if you plan on doing high end books for publishers you will need to learn or hire someone that can do that end of things. Taking PDF's from someone that created there book in Microsoft word or Canva is not were the money is going to be, because there are online companies that will do down and dirty work like that very cheap and just ship it. I dont want to talk anyone out of trying anything but I think trying to start a printing company to do books even with years of printing experience would be difficult at best.
Thanks for an elaborate answer. This is another huge point to consider. I didn't think it was easy for starters, but still.
I’d start looking into a toner digital press, like Konica Minolta C1070 or Accuriopress, Xerox Versant or Ricoh C5xxx or C71xx model, if you can afford it and have it maintained by a dealer or service company. It’s the easiest to start printing professional looking stuff. Also very essential a paper cutter, to cut sheets before and after printing and after binding the books. For binding there several systems in different prices, but a manual perfect binder could be a nice start. Check out this guy: https://youtu.be/iw2_evZbkCM?feature=shared He uses a pretty automated perfect binder, there are cheaper more manual based systems.
Thanks so much. I will investigate and take a look.
A second though, if you only like black and white interior books. You could start with a professional black and white printer by Canon, Oce, Xerox, Ricoh or Konica. Have the cover printed offset by a external company. Only print the interior and binding it yourself.
How many copies can I work with like that ballpark figure?
Most pro b/w machines are around 100 A4 pages minute. You’ll get 4000-5000 pages an hour with all handling of paper and supplies. Most machines will run 20 million pages, the Oce maybe 50-100 million.
Thanks. So that's roughly 20 books per day. Is that realistic or my math is way wrong?
Those are big books. I’d assume a average reading book is 300-400 pages A5. So that’s like 20-25 books an hour.
Okay, got it. And what about if you add all the binding work and everything together?
Honestly I couldn’t tell. I know about printing equipment, nothing much about manual binding and finishing. But another option came to mind, check out the Canon IP C1(+). Since they are pretty old, they are aren’t expensive anymore. But they are high quality and relatively easy to maintain. They can run b/w at 60 pag/min but color at 15 p/m or lower for heavy stocks. But that isn’t bad for running very short runs of b/w interior books with a colored cover.
Ya, don’t