Comic Book Binding

[bobellis75]

I knew there was something going on in there! Brilliant! Between you and Dick Grayson and a few others , your rk has made.me a fan of art on covers but since I have no graphic design capability , I guess I'll just have to stick good old buckram binds.

Yeah I m familiar with the connection between DC One Million and All-star but thanks posting that article. ..makes for great extras material!

Well you could always add dust jackets to the buckram. That’s what this Superman is. A dust jacket.

[Clark_Kent]

What do you guys find is the best & cheapest way to ship your books to the bindery (U.S.)? I was talking to a guy at my PO recently, and he said the books can't be shipped media mail because of something to do with ads. My thought was "they won't know what's in the box", but he also said that if they open the media mail box then I could get in trouble or something. It was a weird convo lol

What do you use?

[Judge Dredd]

Looks like SBS is all done to bad I had some batches I wanted to get done. Anyone know of any good Binderies in the north east in the states? Also any one want to get paid to do some prep work on books and I will handle art and cover and send it to the binder. Not that great at the prep part yet so anyone wants to make some extra cash let me know.

[JBatmanFan05]

Looks like SBS is all done to bad I had some batches I wanted to get done. Anyone know of any good Binderies in the north east in the states? Also any one want to get paid to do some prep work on books and I will handle art and cover and send it to the binder. Not that great at the prep part yet so anyone wants to make some extra cash let me know.

Yea, sucks. I emailed some with him and it could maybe possibly idk very iffy come back online. SBS just believes that, based off of prior history, the person leaving the bindery is a very bad situation that will result in poor quality control. But that appraisal can change if the bindery proves this person leaving won't materially affect the level of the quality. But it's all so uncertain and up in the air.

[TomSlick]

Looks like SBS is all done to bad I had some batches I wanted to get done. Anyone know of any good Binderies in the north east in the states? Also any one want to get paid to do some prep work on books and I will handle art and cover and send it to the binder. Not that great at the prep part yet so anyone wants to make some extra cash let me know.

I got the email just as I was reading your comment. Oh man, and I was about to send off something there. Damn.

[TomSlick]

What do you guys find is the best & cheapest way to ship your books to the bindery (U.S.)? I was talking to a guy at my PO recently, and he said the books can't be shipped media mail because of something to do with ads. My thought was "they won't know what's in the box", but he also said that if they open the media mail box then I could get in trouble or something. It was a weird convo lol

What do you use?

I use media mail. Here's the deal: You're not supposed to send comics because they have ads in them. But, tpb and HCs are considered books (no ads). Now, I've had people at the post office say otherwise and at the same time I've had people at the post office tell me - and my LCS guy - that it's OK to send. Personally, I think they're OK to send but it's a few rookies at the PO that don't understands.

Now, that said . . . what happens if they open the box? Well, you personally don't get in trouble. They don't call the police or revoke your mailing privileges. But, they do hold the package and contact the person you mailed it to. They tell them if they want it, then they need to pay the difference in media and whatever the next level up is (typically parcel post). That person has then has to go down to the PO and more than likely will be emailing you for reimbursement.

I generally ship all my comics and books media and if they open it . . . then that's a risk and I pay the freight. However, in the 15 years I've been doing it, I can count two times my boxes were opened. One time, I was selling some toys and I legitimately made the mistake of sending them media. They rattled around and the PO opened it. More recently I had a box of comics opened. The people on the other end understood. Media mail is cheaper for them. Keep in mind, if you send something media to make sure it's in a bullet proof box because the PO will toss those things around.

[bob fett]

I've got some collections to bind,but it looks like Single bound studios is out of the comic binding business effective today.

[Clark_Kent]

I use media mail. Here's the deal: You're not supposed to send comics because they have ads in them. But, tpb and HCs are considered books (no ads). Now, I've had people at the post office say otherwise and at the same time I've had people at the post office tell me - and my LCS guy - that it's OK to send. Personally, I think they're OK to send but it's a few rookies at the PO that don't understands.

Now, that said . . . what happens if they open the box? Well, you personally don't get in trouble. They don't call the police or revoke your mailing privileges. But, they do hold the package and contact the person you mailed it to. They tell them if they want it, then they need to pay the difference in media and whatever the next level up is (typically parcel post). That person has then has to go down to the PO and more than likely will be emailing you for reimbursement.

I generally ship all my comics and books media and if they open it . . . then that's a risk and I pay the freight. However, in the 15 years I've been doing it, I can count two times my boxes were opened. One time, I was selling some toys and I legitimately made the mistake of sending them media. They rattled around and the PO opened it. More recently I had a box of comics opened. The people on the other end understood. Media mail is cheaper for them. Keep in mind, if you send something media to make sure it's in a bullet proof box because the PO will toss those things around.

Thank you very much for that response, that's much better than I got from the postal worker lol He made it sound like there was some type of fine for sending something media like that, but if it's just postage & my package still makes it there that's cool. And good tip on packing the books really well...tossing them around would explain why so many blurays I order show up with a loose disc inside the case.

[JBatmanFan05]

But yea, if anyone knows how to prep comic binds, post here, you'll get interested customers quickly enough.

[TomSlick]

Thank you very much for that response, that's much better than I got from the postal worker lol He made it sound like there was some type of fine for sending something media like that, but if it's just postage & my package still makes it there that's cool. And good tip on packing the books really well...tossing them around would explain why so many blurays I order show up with a loose disc inside the case.

Sturdy box, like the "diamond" boxes that comic stores get. My LCS owner lets me have some of his just so he doesn't have to toss them. I then put them between massive amounts of newspaper on all sides and top and bottom. I get my newspaper from the local recycling bins and the free alt weekly papers that are around town. Generally, though, I usually have the styrofoam from my IST orders that I will reuse but if you don't have that, then a lot of newspaper is good. Just get it to where if you shake the box, you don't hear anything moving.

But yea, if anyone knows how to prep comic binds, post here, you'll get interested customers quickly enough.

Agreed.

[awayne83]

Thank you very much for that response, that's much better than I got from the postal worker lol He made it sound like there was some type of fine for sending something media like that, but if it's just postage & my package still makes it there that's cool. And good tip on packing the books really well...tossing them around would explain why so many blurays I order show up with a loose disc inside the case.

Yeah, if you're binding from collected editions, they fall under "media" coverage, so no worries there. Also, I'd recommend purchasing you're own postage. Not only does it save a ton of time at the PO (you can drop it off, no wait) you won't get the shakedown asking for media mail from the attendant. This never fails, as i got so tired of assumed mail fraud, i just bought a scale off ebay for like $14 and it's been a godsend. No more hassle. And as others mentioned, if you pack your comics like books, then the chances they are actually inspected are minimal.

Funny side story: I sold some comics one time and used a USPS padded envelope to send. Paid at the PO and shipped. Got an email couple days later from buyer saying he had to cover a fee (like 50 cents or something), that is was no big deal (lol), but thought i should know that i purchased postage for the regular envelope, and not the padded one. This is less expensive, and the PO collected the difference at his home, at time of delivery no less (!!). Point is, I bought this AT the PO, they messed up, and still passed the blame to the consumer.

[Judge Dredd]

Going to the LCS tomorrow buy a bunch of dollar comics to practice on. Getting the hang of taking them apart, but not sure if I want to risk doing it on more valuable comics. Think I am going to try Hawkworld making it into to smaller books and see how it goes. Hopefully someone launches a little business as quite a few people are looking for someone it seems.

[TomSlick]

Going to the LCS tomorrow buy a bunch of dollar comics to practice on. Getting the hang of taking them apart, but not sure if I want to risk doing it on more valuable comics. Think I am going to try Hawkworld making it into to smaller books and see how it goes. Hopefully someone launches a little business as quite a few people are looking for someone it seems.

In the omnibus Facebook page folks suggested Heroes Rebound and said it was one stop shopping and they actually do their own binding - not just prep work.

[Gaastra]

Got the same email. Hope they are still binding comics.

[Judge Dredd]

In the omnibus Facebook page folks suggested Heroes Rebound and said it was one stop shopping and they actually do their own binding - not just prep work.

I reached out to them and going to send a batch in to see how they do.