anime south east panel- self publishing

Self Publishing

Or, making your comic into a book

So you made a comic

And you thought maybe you could sell some copies

Or perhaps you just wanted to give one to a friend

Either way, you want to make your comic into a book

If you have adobe in designThen this isn't going to be too hard

STEP 1: SCAN ALL OF YOUR COMIC PAGES. UNLESS THEY'RE ALREADY DIGITAL. THEN YOU'RE ALL SET.

Step 2Size all of your pages to the same size in

your graphics program.

Generally, most mini-comics are letter size paper folded in half, so you want

your comic pages to be about 8 inches tall by 5 inches wide at 300 dpi, or some

close semblance

Step 3Create a new document in in design

Step 4Place your pages (in order) into the

document

Step 5

When all the images are placed and sized

correctly, its time to print!

Go to file -> print booklet

Step 6In the print booklet dialogue, choose “print

settings” (at the bottom)

Set the printer to “postscript file”

Under setup, choose the landscape orientation

Step 7And print!

This will save a file to your computer that is a .ps file.

Use acrobat distiller to make it into a pdf file

But what if you don't havein design?

You'll have to manually make each page 'spread' in your graphics program. But

its easier than it sounds.

First, a little math.

Divide the number of pages you have by 4. This tells you how many sheets of paper

you will need.

Fold these sheets together to make a mock up

Number each page so you know which comic image to put where.

Take apart the book Now you know which pages you have to put next to each other, and which pages print on the backs of the others.

Make a new image in your graphics program

It should be letter size, or 10 inches by 8 inches for margins. Make sure it is the right direction (landscape)

Place the comic pages side by sideFollowing the way the layout is set up – so page 16 on the left, page 1 on the right. The next one will have page 2 on the left, page 15 on the right, and so forth.

printingPrinting can be done on a home printer or at places like office max or kinkos.

Home printers allow for you to be in control of each page and is better for figuring out how to put together a book, but is also more expensive and the quality may not be as high

Stores with printing services sometimes have helpful staff that can correctly print your comic, but sometimes have people who do not know what they are doing and will mess your work up. Black and white copies can be as little as 10 cents at some stores, color copies can run as expensive as $1.50

Add a nice coverAdding a cover makes the whole comic come together.

Then, its time for stapling and folding your comics.

Staple!Folding your comics in half lets you know where to staple

Use a long-arm stapler (available at office supply stores for around $20)

Other ways to print comicsSome websites such as comixpress, kablam offer reasonable printing rates

You have to have a .pdf file for them

They often offer templates to help you correctly make your comic

Can be expensive, and sometimes you have to order a certain number of copies

Usually good printing quality, larger sizes, color options