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superdewa
19 days ago
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inexpensive yearbook printing ideas?
My homeschool group puts out a yearbook every few years. We have always made it a very homemade affair -- each family turns in their own page, and a few people get together to make some group pages, then the whole thing gets printed and copied and spiral-bound at a local copy store.
In the past, our group was able to afford to pay for one of these for each member family and then asked that if families wanted more, they pay for them themselves. The cost was generally around $7 or $8 US. This year, however, our group just had a big raise in rent, so all our extra money's going toward that, and we're raising our fees because of it, and many of our families are struggling financially anyway, so we're looking for some alternatives.
One money-saving idea we had is that we create an electronic version, either in PDF or some other format (I'm open to recommendations) that we could either upload somewhere or give out on CDs. Then families could choose to print out their books or not, on their own, and ideally the printing options could range from their home printer to the local copy store to online photo book sites (if they had the money and wanted something a little sturdier)
So I'm wondering if my thought of going with a PDF format makes sense, where you might recommend uploading something like this where even people who aren't comfortable with computers could download it, and whether most photo book sites accept PDFs or whether we should go with something else to make it more flexible. Also, what are your favorite inexpensive or flexible photo book sites?
I'm also open to other thoughts on doing this on the cheap.
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photonic
19 days ago
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I would think that a PDF would work well. The problem would be getting the software to produce the final PDF. Acrobat works well, however it can be costly. Beware of PDF conversion software, some of them do not give good results. I have had a horrible time getting Google docs to produce an acceptable pdf.
Once you're done creating the PDF, any site can host the PDF for you. You may also want to look at lulu.com or some of the other on-demand publishing websites. That way those who want a published hardcopy can get one without the hassle of finding a place to get it printed.
Just my $.02
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Degilbo
19 days ago
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If you are all "locals", why not discuss it with a local printer to see just what format he/she would require in the way of a PDF file, Word document, etc., if it needs to be printed.
Alternatively, could someone in your group with PowerPoint skills, create a CD with the various pages on it? Microsoft have a download of a PowerPoint viewer for those who don't have MS Office suite (Open Office would be a good alternative, too). By using PowerPoint, it would be like a slide show for the families all without the need for costly printing.
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Willtastic
19 days ago
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PDF makes the most sense in this case. My high school did a PDF yearbook one year when the budget was tight.
Luckily the year I was editor we had full color hardcovers 
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superdewa
19 days ago
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Thank you all.
I actually have the full version of Acrobat. My husband won the full CS4 suite about a year ago. But I've used other programs, like Foxit, and also some program (can't remember the name now) that prints to PDF. I don't think creating the PDF will be the issue.
Degilbo -- I may speak with the local printer about that. I'd rather not do powerpoint or anything that has to be viewed on the computer, as many of these families are on the Luddite side and would have a difficult time figuring that out. I'd also considered a slideshow but decided against it for that reason. I should say, anyway, that my own girls really love having a hard copy -- having it only viewable on the computer wouldn't be the same.
So Will -- how did they do that? Did they hand out CDs or post it somewhere, and did people print them out or just look at them on their computers? And as yearbook editor, feel free to share any other tips or ideas that you think might be useful or interesting to me.
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studer2558
19 days ago
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"...each family turns in their own page..."
Using what program? Word, or something similar? Does everyone use the same software to build their pages?
Do you have the capability at present to assemble all of the individual pages into one document? If so, download a free PDF writer like CutePDF. This little program (really a printer driver) does one thing and does it well: It takes a document from a variety of sources (Word, Excel, etc.) and prints it to a PDF. I use it all the time.
At the very least, you could use CutePDF to create PDFs of the individual family pages. However, combining these into one PDF would require Acrobat or something similar--and a quick search of google Shopping suggests that you can buy a slightly older version of Acrobat Standard for less than $100.
But first check to see if someone in your group, or circle of acquaintances, might already have Acrobat Standard. It came bundled with my Fujitsu scanner and I've found it invaluable.
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superdewa
19 days ago
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Last time we did this (when we had it printed at the local copy shop), we had people turn in either hard copies (there's a lot of old-fashioned cutting and pasting with actual paper and scissors going on) or PDFs. We scanned in hard copies and because of knowledge level of this group also ended up with a fair number of other files that we had to convert to PDFs ourselves.
I actually have Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro, and I assume that is the top-of-the-line most-up-to-date version, so I'm fine there.
The thing I am most concerned with is that when I put this together on my old computer several years ago, it crashed my computer. I don't think that will happen now, but it's something I worry about.
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mm
19 days ago
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It crashed your computer? Yikes. How big was the book?
My initial thought was to make a DVD - But, as I know no Luddites, I'm not sure if some of the families would have TVs/DVD players. It would be nice, though, because it is easy to do (if I can do it...) and you can add more pictures, video, songs the students pick out to the pages that everyone makes. Then, when they grow up, they can see how they looked and sounded and moved and acted etc (after they convert the DVD to whatever form of media they use on the moon in their space cabins, of course).
I don't know how many books and pgs per book you would need. I know that on Blurb you could get small (7x7in) softcover, 40 page books for about $12-13 per book including shipping (depending on how many you order at a time. There is a flat fee shipping and a 10% discount for over 10 books).
Your best bet, though, still might be Deg's suggestion of speaking with the local printer. (Maybe offering an ad or shout-out in the yearbook- I know there wouldn't be a huge audience, but maybe they'll be interested?)
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richard wa
ng
19 days ago
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Deidre,
Put the PDF on a website and let them download it.
Also upload the PDF to www.blurb.com and let anyone who wants a hardcopy to buy their own.
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superdewa
19 days ago
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mm -- that was an old computer with a lot of problems. I have a much better system now, so hopefully it won't happen again. I can't remember how many pages. I think it was between 30 and 40.
No offense taken, Will. What do you mean by professional high school? I ask because I attended the High School of Music & Art in New York City, so I know all about "professional" high schools. My high school yearbook blows away my friends' high school yearbooks! There's some amazing art and a few names that went on to be quite famous. Thanks for the rundown though -- it's helpful.
I'll look at Blurb and Lulu, but upon some research, it seems that any format anywhere that would fit our usual 8 1/2 by 11 (portrait) yearbook is going to be very expensive, so I think I'll also check with the copy shop (it'll look homespun, but that's really okay with everyone).
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Willtastic
18 days ago
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I just meant that we focused on careers, so sometimes our arts got overlooked. That's why when we got around to the yearbook we decided to focus on it, we had enough of the career building stuff and wanted some expression.
I didn't mean professional as in "pro," I meant all students had a lot of focus on learning a profession  sorry for the mixup
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superdewa
18 days ago
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mm -- I forgot to respond to your DVD suggestion. I am thinking that would be a fun project, but not instead of a yearbook. I think it would be an excellent experience for the teens in the group to pull together some sort of presentation that can include photos, video, sound, graphics, etc. and put it on a DVD for distribution. But maybe next year. We only put out the yearbooks once every few years, so there's plenty of opportunity for a DVD that doesn't compete.
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reeltime
17 days ago
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I've worked with a couple of school groups on making yearbooks in the past, one of which was a homeschool group. The previous version of iPhoto had a yearbook template for making books. This does limit the content of pages, but looks like a traditional yearbook. One homeschool group did create their own content for each page, but the .pdf pages were absolutely huge files and very expensive to get printed.
Another option to consider is digital scrapbooking. This will enable individual content. Many of the programs also offer printing. I'm not well versed in it, but there are tons of yahoo groups on the subject, and lots of software available.
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superdewa
17 days ago
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Thanks, reeltime.
There's a tradition here that needs to be followed. Each child can create his or her own page, and each family can create a page. However they choose to do their page is up to them. It can be on a computer or by hand. The only requirement is that they understand the final product will be made up of black and white copies, and they try to plan for that. The submissions are always very creative. This leaves only a few group pages for the yearbook committee to put together, and there's never a lack of creativity there, either. I'd like to stay with this format, and for now it looks like CDs with PDFs and an arrangement with the local copy shop (that we used before) for those who want to print theirs out may be the best way to go.
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reeltime
17 days ago
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Best of luck on your project. Let me know if you need any photography curriculum for your kids. I teach some kids here locally and have a simple weekly curriculum online.
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tufteach
15 days ago
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Have you thought about having them make their own covers--sewing them. Fun, not expensive. If you wanted to do that, I have some instructions or there are web sites to help.
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superdewa
15 days ago
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Thanks reeltime -- I'd love to see your online curriculum.
Tufteach, I like the sound of the project for a smaller group, but there are over 35 families involved with kids ranging from babies to age 17, so I think we won't go there for this one.
I've pretty much decided we'll go with Lulu.com. They have what everything we're looking for for a price that is a lot better than any of the photo book sites. We will give people a choice of whether to get a CD, a book, or both. I think everyone can afford a dollar for a CD. The books, if we do a group order from lulu.com will be under $10 each, including shipping, and that's for 8 1/2 by 11, so it will fit in with previous yearbooks and also keep things consistent if some people choose to print from their CD instead.
Someone suggested that families who want to go with the CD can bring in autograph books so the kids don't feel left out when everyone else is signing yearbooks.
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reeltime
15 days ago
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Wow, lulu sounds like a fantastic option. I'll let the local homeschool groups know about it.
Is it ok to post a link to the curriculum here? There's also a good post about preserving your child's artwork/science projects/lapbooks etc.
How did everything work out with your version of Photoshop? That must've been pretty frustrating to have it continually crashing.
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photonic
15 days ago
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Reeltime, I would love to see a link to the curriculum. However, another thread would be a good idea so we don't hijack this thread.
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