Cafepress : A Worthy Site or a Rip-off?

Faub · Post by **Faub** » Mon Mar 08, 2004 2:57 pm

MixedMyth wrote:Hey Ghastly, where do you even get stuff to bind books yourself?

Also, are you printing/copying on 8.5 x 11 or 8.5 x 14 or some letter/number type page you can't get at Walmart? I've got some nice cardstock for covers but it only comes in 8.5 x 11.

Links! 8)

Zuri · Post by **Zuri** » Mon Mar 08, 2004 9:11 pm

Well, since I actually work in print, I've got all the connections to feasably get my stuff professionally printed if I wanted to. Its the cost that is kinda annoying. If you only want to print a few things, it will cost you a fortune. But the more you print the cheaper it gets.

I have a cafepress shop.. from like.. long time ago before they started all this charging crap.

I might have to order something just to get rid of my like 5$ worth of credit and close the damn thing.

I've gone all hardcore and aquired a 4 color silkscreen press of the professional variety to do my own shirts. And yes, I know how and have all the shit to make them. Go me.

The only think I don't have any way to do well at the moment is posters. If I wanted to have them professionally done I'd have to order 100 or more to make it affordable. I doubt I could sell 100 posters. Thats where the print on demand thing is neat. But the cost to profit, is as was stated, pitance.

I've seen cafepress' stuff. Its crap. I know there actually is a company local to me ( well relatively local.

) that does comic printing on demand at something like 1.70$ a book ( 22 bw pages w/color covers). Mind you they have a heafty setup cost. The quality however is extremely good. If it wasn't for the major setup cost, I'd probably be with them right now.

Anyway, random rantage.

KittyKatBlack · Post by **KittyKatBlack** » Mon Mar 08, 2004 9:46 pm

rkolter wrote:
Warren wrote:
rkolter wrote:Oh yeah! The art reminds me of this friend of mine who got stoned regularly and drew like that. When you took an LSD tab, the head started to move back and forth and back and forth. Freaked the shit out of me.
We have GOT to party sometime!
Would that be the "If you're not old enough to remember commercials selling LPs on TV you can't come" General Discussion Forum party?

It'd be a small party... you, me, Sortelli, uhm... who else?

Yay! I'd get to come... anyone remember the Chipmunk Christmas LP's?

Ghastly · Post by **Ghastly** » Mon Mar 08, 2004 10:09 pm

faub wrote:
MixedMyth wrote:Hey Ghastly, where do you even get stuff to bind books yourself?
Also, are you printing/copying on 8.5 x 11 or 8.5 x 14 or some letter/number type page you can't get at Walmart? I've got some nice cardstock for covers but it only comes in 8.5 x 11.

Links! 8)

That's why I said "digest size". Use 8.5x11" paper folded in half.

As for the long reach stapler and the heavy duty paper cutter. Thrift stores and yard sales sometimes turn them up, but you can buy them brand new at nearly any stationary store. Staples, Office Depot, Grand and Toy. I bought mine at Staples. I tell you, you never realize just how handy a heavy duty paper cutter is around the house until you've got one.

Brockway · Post by **Brockway** » Mon Mar 08, 2004 10:13 pm

Sounds neat, I'll have to try that someday. Too bad my comic doesn't fit the format or the number of strips yet... Plus I get free access to the work copier!

Bright spark · Post by **Bright spark** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 2:39 am

mcDuffies wrote:
bright spark wrote:Yay!!, I can draw art for acid junkies!!!!
I think it's the fact that girl from ava is looking at me with these weird eyes, as if she's preparing to kill me, eat my flesh and use my skin for book cover.

Hey, at least it would be a cheaper way to get your comics bound.

Warren · Post by **Warren** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 6:25 am

KittyKatBlack wrote:
rkolter wrote:
Warren wrote: We have GOT to party sometime!
Would that be the "If you're not old enough to remember commercials selling LPs on TV you can't come" General Discussion Forum party?

It'd be a small party... you, me, Sortelli, uhm... who else?
Yay! I'd get to come... anyone remember the Chipmunk Christmas LP's?

Get away from me.

Bluebug · Post by **Bluebug** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 3:15 pm

Can someone tell me the state of copyrights on fonts? As in ... can I sell a print that uses fonts from the default fonts on my computer without being embroiled in copyright infringement? And what about the fonts I've downloaded from the net from various sites?

And someone asked whether Cafepress still owns the rights of the artwork people post on their site. My impression is that they can use images of your products on their site, such as on the menus, without having to ask you, but that's it.

There used to be a very vocal campaign against Cafepress, which is why they changed their TOS. The site that seems to have started the campaign is the link I posted at the very end of my first post. The campaign has stopped, but it seems people are still silently boycotting Cafepress anyway.

Phact0rri · Post by **Phact0rri** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 3:21 pm

bluebug.. standard MS fonts are royalty free your rights are entitled with the purchase of software. most freeware fonts are royalty free unless otherwise noted. I make my own fonts but have looked into "free fonts"

i highly recommend learning fontographer saves a lot of grief I'd wager.

as to merch I'm looking at maybe doing some grind coffee mugs for decypher. anyone know much about where I'd get the best deal?

Axonite · Post by **Axonite** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 4:27 pm

rkolter wrote:
Warren wrote:
rkolter wrote:Oh yeah! The art reminds me of this friend of mine who got stoned regularly and drew like that. When you took an LSD tab, the head started to move back and forth and back and forth. Freaked the shit out of me.
We have GOT to party sometime!
Would that be the "If you're not old enough to remember commercials selling LPs on TV you can't come" General Discussion Forum party?

It'd be a small party... you, me, Sortelli, uhm... who else?

I'm there!

KittyKatBlack wrote: Yay! I'd get to come... anyone remember the Chipmunk Christmas LP's?

Does anyone want to?

Faub · Post by **Faub** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:11 pm

That would be me too. I think we actually had the Chipmunks LP. I know for a fact that my parents still have a couple hundred records and a specially made shelf for them.

Some digging:
Long reach stapler at Office Despot = $30
Paper cutters (15 pages only) = $(not worth it)
Samsung ML-1510 laser printer (B&W only) $199 with $100 rebate until 03/31
- Looks like a nice deal but the cartridges are $80 a piece!

Of course, I stopped by Circuit City on the way home and they had pocket size USB2 20Gb hard drives for $200. No power supply required. Of course, I would have to get the USB2 Cardbus card ($60) and an external Wi-Fi adapter ($75) to replace the PCMCIA version. I'm not sure $335 for a tiny hard drive would be worth it but I could SO use one. (Seriously, this thing is like the size of your hand! It's so cool.)

Having limited funds really sucks.

I'll try Staples this weekend maybe. It's in Jeff City so it's a little out of my way.

Axonite · Post by **Axonite** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 8:56 pm

A specially-made shelf for records... sounds nice! I could use one (several, actually) of those. The pocket-sized hard drive sounds nice too, though...

(I'm most likely not going to get either any time soon, so I'll stop thinking about this now)

Bluebug · Post by **Bluebug** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 9:10 pm

phactorri wrote:bluebug.. standard MS fonts are royalty free your rights are entitled with the purchase of software. most freeware fonts are royalty free unless otherwise noted. I make my own fonts but have looked into "free fonts"

i highly recommend learning fontographer saves a lot of grief I'd wager.

Thanks, phactorri. I figured as much but I wanted to make sure. I'm going to end up doing my own fonts anyway, since freeware fonts are somewhat bland and don't fit my needs all the time. Do you know of a way to make truetype fonts? Is there a special program I need to save the files?

Post by **Mercury Hat** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 9:26 pm

I made my own font using a program I downloaded called Font Creator Program 3, you should be able to find it for free download. It's by High-Logic if that helps your search. I used it to make an alien-type font because I'm obsessive.

I might go ahead and make a font based on my handwriting, too, if I ever get lazy enough.

Bluebug · Post by **Bluebug** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 7:01 am

Woo. Thanks, Mercury_Hat. I'll definitely look for that program.

ZOMBIE USER 16849 · Post by **ZOMBIE USER 16849** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 8:11 am

That IS a neat program.

Faub · Post by **Faub** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 6:10 pm

http://pfaedit.sourceforge.net/
It's not the friendliest thing in the world but it will output valid true type. It will even import EPS files if you want to scan convert to vector with something like autotrace and create your own fonts.

Sortelli · Post by **Sortelli** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 3:49 am

rkolter wrote:Would that be the "If you're not old enough to remember commercials selling LPs on TV you can't come" General Discussion Forum party?

It'd be a small party... you, me, Sortelli, uhm... who else?

I remember when it was okay to be a young boy and excited about Michael Jackson without it being creepy.

Mr.Bob · Post by **Mr.Bob** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 2:03 pm

rkolter wrote:Would that be the "If you're not old enough to remember commercials selling LPs on TV you can't come" General Discussion Forum party?

It'd be a small party... you, me, Sortelli, uhm... who else?

Well I'm sure Warren's old enough to remember commercials before the invention of TV, so he could go have a special party of his own.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 11:28 am

Sortelli wrote:
rkolter wrote:Would that be the "If you're not old enough to remember commercials selling LPs on TV you can't come" General Discussion Forum party?

It'd be a small party... you, me, Sortelli, uhm... who else?
I remember when it was okay to be a young boy and excited about Michael Jackson without it being creepy.

I liked all his long videos with speciall effects when I was a kid. Specially the one in clay.
It only gets boring when he starts to dance.