Old dpbanks blog.

1/31

Cover for Beta Tester 2.

The books from the third and fourth beta tester arrived. There was a missing issue in the books sent by the first beta tester. I was able to locate the missing issue at my local comic store. For the next several months I am selling samples on ebay. What works best for me it to sell one thing a day rather then a batch all at one time. I have some scan and bind projects that I probably can't sell on ebay. If you are interested in knowing what's available, send me an email.

1/30

Cover for Beta Tester 1.

1/29

The second book from a beta tester showed up today. Got the scan dones for both beta tester books. I will begin assembling cover drafts on Wednesday. (Yes I should have been answering emails.)

In the emails I receive I am asked what I have discovered between hardcover and soft cover binding. The first thing that stands out is that with a hardcover we can bind just about anything equally and get great results. With soft cover binding there seems to be unexpected limitations in the number of issues that will bind together well. This isn't because of the binding process but because of the paper used in the comics. Depending on what paper the comics were printed on will determine how many can be bound together and get a good result.

1/28

The first book from a beta tester showed up today. Began scanning issue covers in order to produce a wrap-around cover. In the same box was an order for a hardcover book. Continued to answer emails for pricing, etc. I am still about 3-5 days behind on some emails. I hope to catch up in a day or so.

1/27

Finished prepping all hardcovers to go to Capitol Bindery and sent out layout sheets for customer review. Continued to work on the backlog of emails. Three more softcover examples sold on ebay. Got them packed for shipping.

1/26

Had breakfast with the binders at Capitol Bindery. Picked up 5 finished books.

Met with Todd at Snow Dog and picked up the finished X-Men experiment.

Eleven new books arrived to be made into hardcovers. Ten of them are scan and bind jobs.

Hardcover Score Card
11 books at Capitol to be bound.
18 book at my house waiting to go to the bindery.
4 Books on the way.

1/25

Spent my time answering email requests for hardcover pricing and emails asking various questions about soft cover beta testing.

1/24

Notices to soft cover binding beta testers were sent out this early morning. We'll be working with 12 comic collectors.
Results will be posted as they are finished. I have already received some interesting design ideas for a couple books.

1/23

I am buried in email requests for information and pricing requests for both hard and soft cover projects. I am not
complaining! Wow. Amazing. Fingers keep typing!

After consulting with Todd at Snow Dog we decided to start working with the Beta Testers for the soft cover binding
process. Notices will be sent in the morning.

1/22

Shipped out 9 new books to Canada in two boxes. Worked on answering many email questions about softcover binding. The interest is very, very strong. The next step is the getting the beta testers involved.

1/21

Had the day off from the day job. Went to Snow Dog and dropped off some more soft cover books to be worked on. Brought Todd (the owner) up to speed on what is being said on the various bulletin boards. He finds the on-line chatter and emails interesting.

Went to Capitol Bindery to drop off lamination for one project and new replacement photocopies for another project.

1/20

Did some book prep and layout sheets for several new hardcover books. Then got distracted working on cover designs.

1/19

Had breakfast with Kevin at Capitol Bindery. Picked up 9 finished books and consulted with him on a problem with one book. Got the nine books photographed and packed. They will ship on Tuesday because of the holiday on Monday.

Hardcover Score Card
16 books at Capitol to be bound.
8 book at my house waiting to go to the bindery.
15 Books on the way.

1/18

Scanned images for new cover designs.

1/17

Dennis from Snow Dog dropped off some more finished tests. So far I like how the 12 issue size feels but I am not sure how I feel about the ones with 18 issues.

1/16

Well I can tell the holidays are over, the emails are starting to pile up again. A new batch of books to be made into hardcovers has arrived. This customer likes covers with either die stamps or lamination on them.

1/15

I am finding it a bit odd to be working on both hard and soft cover book projects at the same time. Especially when it comes to answering emails. With hardcover questions I find myself answering them effortlessly. With soft cover questions I find my self saying, "we haven't figured that out yet, but we are working on it."

1/14

Another day, another design idea.

I am now caught up on emails and price quotes.

1/13

Another cover design. This time for a volume containing 18 issues (up from 12).

Continued to answer emails. Almost done.

1/12

Had breakfast with Kevin at Capitol Bindery. I dropped off 15 books to be worked on and picked up two finished books.

One new book arrived to work on.

Hardcover Score Card
25 books at Capitol to be bound.
1 book at my house waiting to go to the bindery.
15 Books on the way.

1/11

Worked on answering email questions and catching up with price requests.

1/10

A couple more cover ideas. These will go to Snow dog next Monday.

1/9

Packed and shipped out a copy of the Cerebus Book of Covers hardcover to an eBay customer in England and a copy of the Generations 3 soft cover to an eBay customer in Germany. Picked up enough loose comics from Krypton Comics to make 53 more soft cover books. That will give me enough to have made 100 soft cover samples. Here is the results of the latest experiement.

1/8

Worked on scanning elements for soft cover samples. Got the go ahead on 15 books for Capitol Bindery. Did a final review in preparation for taking them to the bindery on Friday. Continued to work on backlog of email requests for information. Just a few to go. After that I will finish finalizing the production schedule for Capitol and alert people as to what slots are available.

1/7

Picked up 10 finished books at Capitol Bindery. got them photographed, packed and shipped out.
Hardcover Score Card
12 books at Capitol to be bound.
15 books at my house waiting to go to the bindery.
0 Books on the way.

Dropped off nine books to Snow Dog.
Softcover Score Card
9 books at Snow Dog to be bound.
38 books at my house waiting to go to the bindery.

1/6

I worked on scanning images for wrap around soft covers. The most challenging thing is figuring out the spine width when creating the art for the cover. Twelve issues of Generations 3 measures 9/16 of an inch on the spine while 12 issue of Archer & Armstrong measures 7/8 of an inch. I haven't gotten brave enought to try a project where the ad pages are removed.

1/5

A cover for our next test at Snow Dog Printing/Binding.

1/4

Picked up 5 finished books at Capitol Bindery. Got them photographed, packed and shipped out.

I am working with a local comics store to make the 100 softcover samples. Today I picked up enough comics to make 47 softcover books. I will be turning some of this over to Snow Dog Printing/Binding on Monday to print out wrap-around covers and make into books. The results will be on eBay soon.

1/3

Got this blog online. Here I was writing it and realized that I hadn't posted it. I feel like I am moving into a new house and I have a lot of boxes to unpack and a lot of furniture to arrange.

After 4 years with very little change we will soon be posting new pages on this site that give detailed information on how a hardcover book is made and what you get for the price you are paying. Not all hardcover books are made the same and these pages will show you the difference between a Capitol Bindery volume and those made by other binderies. Now what box did I put that in?

1/2

Here come the emails. A nice mixture of people asking if I was still representing Capitol Bindery (I am) and asking various questions about the new soft cover binding service from Snow Dog Printing/Binding.

We are still working on the details and one of the first things I have learned is measuring the spine thickness needs to be done when it is compressed not when it is expanded. Otherwise the art on the front and back is thrown off center.

The second thing I have learned it to keep the design a little loose in order to accommodate a shift of a 1/16 of an inch in either direction when attaching the cover.

1/1/08

I feel like I am starting over, changing from www.dpbanks.com to www.singleboundstudios.com.

Yet I spent a most of the day working on left over details for 37 books at Capitol Bindery or waiting to go to the bindery.

I dropped off and picked up the first of the soft cover sample books yesterday. (Yes, in one day.) They came out better than expected and I have put one up on eBay for sale.