My wife, the tennis pro, has an idea for a kids activity book. Does anybody have any suggestions for the best way to publish such a thing? I was thinking about printing ourselves and binding with plastic spiral bindings, but wasn't sure if that would be better/worse or cheaper/more expensive than some other routes.

I'm sure many of you have published before - everything from lecture notes to actual books. Any advice based on experiences?

Thanks!

How many pages? What size? How many copies? What's your market (kids? parents? both together?)? These sort of things weigh on how you publish it, so if you can give us a bit more info, I know I'd be more able to give some advice :o)

Best wishes,
Andy

Thanks - it's a tennis "activity" book. Planning 8 1/2" x 11" sheets that can be copied by tennis pros & coaches who buy the book and want to pass out a sheet to their class or team. It's geared toward kids of all ages to both teach tennis themes and sports oriented life skills. There will be coloring, mazes, word searches, etc. Purpose will be for pros to give as "homework", parents who want to help teach kids about tennis/sports, and for the rainy days at camps, classes, etc. when they want to have a tennis related activity to fill time.

Still not sure on numbers, but guessing an initial run somewhere around 500 to see how it goes. Binding should be such that it allows easy copying, assuming spiral. Have an artist hand drawing pages to be colored etc. and am assuming they'll need to be scanned.

Thanks again and look forward to any feedback/advice!

Yup, I'd go with spiral, too. Be warned, though, that spiral is somewhat pricy (depending on where you go, it's at best the same as comb binding, but it can be a bit more expensive since it's a longer process). It's pretty much the only way to make it easy to photocopy, though, not to mention that it looks much better than comb binding.

Although it's more costly per unit, I'd suggest a possible smaller run first unless you're fairly certain you can sell 500. (I'm not sure your distribution method, whether you'd be having stores sell it (either through direct contact or via a distributor) or doing it yourself, that would obviously affect quantity. You can always print more if you need 'em; you can't return extras if you don't.

I've found the most efficient and cost-effective printing method is to do it all on the computer, including scanning and cleaning up the pics, and then having a copy shop like Kinko's do digital printing. Basically, they have a computer hooked up to a copier as if it were a gigantic laser printer. It costs about the same as standard photocopies and the quality is much better, especially on photos and shaded drawings.

That said, if it's only line drawings, you might do just as well to lay it out by hand and have it done via standard photocopies.

Since on the subject, I was wondering what would be the best way to publish/make a Science Fiction book?
I was making one and then the movie The Matrix came out which was like the exact same thing so I ditched that idea. Now I'm going to start a different Sci. Fiction book that still should be as good. I was just wondering if I start this new one and decide to publish, how to and what would be best.
Any info would help if I decide to start a new book and do this.
Thanks!!

Andy - good info and thanks for the advice...

Jon