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Our 2008 Catalog
is online at this time ...
Click right here to download the PDF (download size is 1.12MB),
and take as read your permission to copy, print, forward, and generally pass it along. (If
anyone gives you grief, send them here!)
Drop us an
email to request a catalog for a friend who
doesn't have internet (or computer) access. We can
mail direct to your friend, or mail to you, and
you forward. (If you'd like a block of catalogs to
send along to multiple friends, let us know how many
to send ... and many thanks for helping us 'get the
word out' that MK is back, and better than ever!)
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BOOKS > About POD Publishing
'POD' is an acronym standing for ‘print on demand.’ In fact, a better term would be ‘LPR,’ which would stand for ‘limited print run,’ since it’s much more fair to say that modest numbers of any book are usually printed as required ... and sometimes only ONE copy is needed. These days, ‘POD’ gives the quite correct impression that books are produced one at a time, and this is increasingly true! Now, any human being would swiftly lose their
marbles trying to do that, but then again ... humans don't do it. Computers do, using the internet as their
marketplace.
Whatever you choose to call it, POD publishing is made possible by new desktop technology. The whole thing is digital,
from the time the writer gets the idea for a book to the moment when the finished product is shrink-packed,
bubble-wrapped and shoved (by another machine) into a mailing box.
Books are written, edited, illustrated, designed, laid out ... and most importantly PRINTED digitally. In fact,
they are laser-printed at the very highest quality, on cream-colored papers, so the quality is superb throughout and
the end result is indistinguishable from a book you'd pick up at the store
Lulu.com is the POD printshop chosen by Mel Keegan and DreamCraft, for their quality, and their e-commerce
service. Their high-gloss covers are printed in full color, and the perfect bound (glued spine) books are ‘trade size,’ measuring 6" x 9". The whole volume is designed by DreamCraft at a desk in South Australia, uploaded to a computer
on the East Coast of the USA, and from there sent to a printing workshop closest to the reader ... US or Canada,
UK or Europe.
So what would be the difference between a POD paperback and one you'd pick up in the store? In all meaningful terms, nothing.
In fact, the POD book is produced on better paper! Twenty years from now, when your mass-produced paperback (which is
produced on newspaper-grade stock, called 'Bog') is suffering Yellow Page Syndrome, the POD book will still be that
ivory shade, just-off-white.
The covers are actually laminated, rather than being coated. The laminate won't be coming off, or wearing off, whereas
average paperback covers are prone to chip, crack, and lose their surface over time and handling.
All square-spine
paperbacks are glued; some very large books can 'break their backs' — that is, the spine cracks vertically, leaving
the book hanging together on a fairly flimsy card-weight spine. This should never happen with POD books; they're glued
with a much more sturdy substance. We don't say they're completely indestructible, but ... almost! Obviously, if
you want to tear the book apart, you can do it; you can tear apart any book, no matter how it was manufactured,
and POD books are no exception. But no ordinary handling will damage a POD so, any more than it will damage a
mass-market paperback.
Serif plays a major part in all the artwork appearing on this site, and wrapped around the Mel Keegan books.
DreamCraft and Jade have sworn by Serif for over a decade. This software is used to set type for the
books and ebooks, as well as designing covers, webpages, and a lot more:
 Click through the animated gallery of
our new-edition covers to see what you can do with Serif!
Why not visit Lulu.com right now and take a look at how
the whole process works? (While you're there, search the BOOKS category for Mel Keegan ...!)
See our Flash presentation of the
finished product
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