Got two separate Soft Cover binding iami1 blog book copies from Mumbai based big printer and Delhi online printer

Last updated on 7th May 2018

Today (5th May) I was very pleasantly surprised to receive an iami1 blog book copy with excellent cover page quality, soft cover binding as well as clear printing of black & white inner content pages, from a large Mumbai based printer company (as of now, I am not sure whether this large printer company would want me to mention their name publicly). I had explored the option of printing 25 copies of good Soft Cover binding copies with them but was informed that minimum order is 50 copies. I was still interested to know how much 50 copies will cost but I did not hear from them for some time. I had presumed that they had lost interest in me as a customer prospect.

So today when I received a very well packaged delivery from a courier company, I thought it might be a book that I had recently ordered from amazon.in. It turned out to be 1 copy of iami1 blog book whose file details I had shared with this big printer company. Note that this company has branches/offices in South India. This book copy seems to have been printed and bound in its Bangalore branch/printing facility and then shipped to me from there.

I was so pleased to see this book copy! It had an excellent look and feel! The quality was significantly better than both local (Puttaparthi) printing services for few copies of iami1 blog book that I had tried (may be much better quality for printing order of 100 or more copies, which I was not willing to order from them or from anybody else), and even one Delhi based online printing service provider's printing & binding.

7th May Update: This book copy was printed by the large Mumbai based printer company as an order from  Pothi.com! Pothi.com confirmed to me today that this book copy was delivery of my Pothi.com order. End-7th May Update.

6th May, around 4 PM Update: Given below are pics taken today around afternoon under sunlight (as against electric tubelight used for pics taken yesterday night/today early morning):

[To open pic in higher resolution, right-click on pic followed by open in new tab/window. In new tab/window you may have to click on pic to zoom in.]

I have also put up a small around 1 minute video of it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_UTPdFtnAI.

----- end 4PM, 6th May Update -----

Given below are some pics I took late at night today (5th May late night) of this book. I plan to take additional pics in the daytime tomorrow and if they come out better, I will replace some of the pics.

In above pic the binding seems to be uniform without any particular points/areas in the inner border being seen as stitching areas/points.

7th May 2018 Update: The above book pics are Pothi.com's Soft Cover binding copy (Price Rs. 159 + shipping) order fulfilled by the Mumbai big printer company.

I also have yet to receive printonweb.in's (another Delhi based online printer) Soft Cover binding copy (it has been dispatched by courier and is in transit now).

This printed book is my first book-baby! I am so glad to see that through Pothi.com I am able to get few copies (even one copy) of such good quality.

The less expensive copies would be ideal for Puttaparthi bookshop(s) as they may find it easier to sell and re-order in small quantities of around 3 copies. There is no way that they will want to pay a big amount up front to order 50 copies at one go and be stuck with that many copies that may either not sell at all, or sell very few copies.

I showed the above book copy to three to four people in Puttaparthi all of whom immediately liked the book cover (some of these people have seen the other book copies too). They found the inner content to also be printed well and be easily readable (big font). I had a concern about whether print was light but most, if not all, brushed that concern away, with some saying that on the particular white paper (background) used, this print is good enough and appropriate. So the feedback for this book copy has been very, very positive from those that I showed it to.

One Delhi online printing service provider Soft Cover binding book copy

Note that I have found another Delhi online printing service provider - printonweb.in - to be providing good quality printing so far. I have yet to receive a Spiral binding as well as Soft Cover binding copy(ies) order that I had placed with them recently. So I don't know how good their quality will be for the binding part. However, on ordering, printing and delivery I find printonweb.in's services to be of good quality.

I have chosen not to name this Delhi online printer (whose Soft Cover binding copy is discussed below) out of not wanting to harm them with a named negative review.

Two or three days ago (if I recall correctly), I got one Soft Cover binding iami1 blog book from a Delhi online printing service provider with whom I had placed an order perhaps over two weeks ago! They had said that the courier company returned their package and so it was taking time. Anyway, I got it eventually. I had also ordered one stapled copy. Instead of a stapled copy I got only the inner content of the book (NOT cover pages) unbound! And no explanation why it was not stapled and why the colour cover pages were not provided for that copy.

I also saw that the some of the pages had dark patches (maybe patches is not the right word for it). Overall, I found this Delhi online printing service provider to be problematic in ordering (their web based order facility did not work due to which I had to email them the order after co-ordination over phone), delivery (took very long due to courier problems according to them), and quality of printing (dark shades/patches).

Given below are some pics of this book copy.

In the above pic, the three places where the stitching has been done are visible.

Above pic shows the spine with printed title and other info. This was the earlier version. Later I decided to drop printed text on the spine as it is too thin.

Above two pics has shows pages with slight dark patches/shades. Below two pics show the same slight dark patches/shades in above pages, but in a magnified form.

Their Soft Cover binding was interesting. The finish as seen from the cover page is not great as one sees a border line on the front and back covers close to the spine of the book, which seems to the binding area. On opening the book, one can see three points at which stitching has been done. But it is more flexible than the stapled book that the local Puttaparthi printer had given me.

However, as the Soft Cover binding charge was Rs. 90 for one copy, I expected it to be like (almost as good as) what one sees in regular paperback books that one buys in regular bookshops. That, unfortunately, is not the case.
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6th May, around 5:20 PM Update: I requested one of the local Puttaparthi printers, who had done earlier printing and spiral binding work for me, to do Spiral binding for the unbound black & white inner content pages that this Delhi printer had sent me. The local person who had the colour cover images from my earlier print orders given to him, printed a black & white cover front and cover back page (of his own volition). The Spiral bound copy he prepared also has a lamination (protection) sheet on the front and back. I have given below pics of the front and back cover of this book copy with the lamination sheet opened (which reflects some coloured patches in the pics).

While there is no doubt that colour cover pages are significantly more attractive than black-and-white cover pages, for Puttaparthi local printing and spiral binding option, colour printing involves more hassles as they may need to go to a different shop, and involves more cost (for example, one such person charged Rs. 25 for colour A5 normal paper printout for front and back cover).

Black-and-white cover, in contrast, can be printed at the local printer's laser printer itself. This local printer asked me only Rs. 2 for printing Black-and-White front and back page covers! I paid him Rs. 5 for it.

So in case of quick, inexpensive and no-frills prints of iami1 blog book done using any laser printer (cum zerox machine in some cases) + spiral binding capability shop (there are many such shops in Puttaparthi itself, and I think it would be similar for many towns and cities in India), this is an option that may be appropriate. The Puttaparthi local printer cost per copy would be around Rs. 65 for Black-and-White printing (123 A5 pages inner content + front cover page + back cover page) plus Rs. 20 for Spiral binding along with lamination sheet on front and back for protection. That is, the total cost would be around Rs. 85 per copy. And I think one could order for 10 copies in the morning around the time the shop opens, say at 10 AM, and collect the 10 copies, same day in the evening around 6 PM, if the laser printer & binding shop is not too busy with other orders.