In chapter twelve, the distinction between content development, production and dispatch was explained. From this, it should be clear that an examination of printing costs on only one aspect of the entire process The variety of different possible print materials has been made clear in the scenarios and descriptions above. Before narrowing the options and making clear recommendation some important points concerning the cost of printing should be considered. It should be evident that choices made in materials development and production processes, can impact on the printing and distribution costs. For example, the extent to which design and layout is seen as the domain of the production team can vary and this impacts on the costing of printing. Will the typesetting already have been done, or is it to be done by the printer? Will the negative or positive be made by the printer or, be presented to the printer? For this initial examination of printing, it has been assumed that the publication is in camera-ready state and simply needs to be printed. A number of factors affect the cost of printing. Each will be discussed practically and in terms of some of the educational consequences of the choices made.

The initial print run and subsequent run-ons significantly effect the cost of printing. As the number of copies increases, so the unit cost decreases. A run on refers to reprinting the publication and its cost should be less than the initial cost. If there is a possibility of needing the publication reprinted the run-on costs per 1000 (or 5000 or whatever you think the minimum run on will be) should be requested in the quote. The cost of the play-out (which can either be a positive or negative) should be indicated. The initial print run relates back to the decisions made about the target audience.

In many instances the length of a publication has less of an impact on the printing costs than the initial print run does. One needs to decide how many pages will be in the publication and whether each page will be double sided or single sided. It is worth working in multiples of four, eight or 16, for the page numbers, to avoid paper wastage or blank pages.

The type of paper also has an impact on printing costs and is dependent on choices made in the following categories:

•     Weight: Paper quality is reflected in weight (newsprint is the lowest quality, 70-80g is commonly used in textbooks, 216g could be used for the cover of a booklet). Various types of paper are available which vary in quality (Saima Book, woodfree grades, Book Printing). Board or card is the range of heavy papers (suitable for covers and posters etc). More durable paper is essential for publications that are expected to become a resource and kept for some time. Newsprint can be used to give once-off or weekly information, but is not suitable for filing or keeping. When paper is going to be duplicated (like student worksheet templates), a heavier paper should be used. If students or teacher are expected to write on pages is needs to be of a good enough quality not to tear.
•    Gloss/varnish: Once the weight of the paper has been chosen you have the option to use gloss. Adding gloss does not usually increase the cost significantly.
Varnish helps to protect the paper and stops it becoming sticky. It can be a disadvantage on posters that are intended for display in classrooms, as the glare can prevent some students seeing what is displayed. This is not a problem for a poster that is designed as an incidental classroom wall display, but should be considered when the poster is designed as a source of information for a lesson.
•    Size: Paper is cut to various sizes (A1, A2, A3, A4, A5 decrease in size, narrow Crown format - 240x170mm is a standard size used in the printing industry which avoids paper wastage). If the printed materials are intended to be kept for a sustained period of time, a convenient size should be chosen. Small pocket booklets have novelty value with students, but are easily lost. The size of the publication should enable it to be easily filed, or stuck into a book.
•    Colour: Changing the colour of the paper can add another colour option to the publication.

Besides the colour of the paper, the colour of the ink used for printing also effects the cost (and appearance) of the publication. There are various options in choosing ink colour:
•    single colour (often black, though not necessarily)
•    one spot (usually black plus one colour)
•    two spots (usually black plus two colours)
•    full colour (cyan, magenta, yellow and black are used)
Spot refers to a pre-mixed colours used for each plate. A separate plate is made for each spot and the publication is printed in each colour separately. How many spots you choose therefore effects the costs significantly. It is still possible to get different tones if you use colour by shading in appropriate places. A single spot or shades of Grey can be put to good effect in educational publications, particularly where illustrations used rather than photographs or pictures, which are frequently unclear in black and white. Colour should be used strategically in educational publications, as too many colours can be distracting and confusing. Some colours are difficult to read and even more difficult to photocopy or duplicate. Bearing these precautions in mind, systematic colour-coding of publications can, nevertheless, be very effective and useful. Certain colours can consistently be used to denote certain learning areas, age groups or languages. Designs that can be used with a single spot can be particularly effective in using colour coding. Not only would the colour coding be used within one publication, but single colour publications for that learning area, language or age group could be printed in that colour. For example, in a primary school resource catalogue, blue could be used for the titles of science resources, while purple may be used for life skills. Separate life skills or science print materials would then be printed in a single spot of that colour. (This would obviously not be suitable for materials intended for duplication, or that will be read from a distance)

One also needs to decide whether or not a cover will be used, and for what purpose. Covers are generally used to make a publication more durable and attractive. A cover is frequently referred to as a four-page cover. For example, a 16-page booklet with a four-page cover has 12 pages inside it. Covers can be put to good to, as the cover pages are the easiest pages to find. Inside covers could be used for indexes, contact information or glossaries. The back cover may be also be put to good use as an ‘at a glance reference’ to the broadcast schedule or complementary support materials. It is often more practical to consider the type of paper and print colour for a cover, separately to the inside of the publication. While the inside of the publication may be in black and white, it can be brightened by a single spot, or full colour, cover. UV varnish soft covers can be used for books and booklets. Soft covers are cheaper to produce than hard covers, and varnish stops dirt sticking to books making them last longer.

Choosing the cover has an impact on the type of binding selected. Two different types of binding will be discussed: pamphlet binding (This refers to binding folders, booklets, catalogues, magazines etc)and bookbinding.

There are generally five steps in pamphlet binding: scoring, folding, collating, stitching and trimming. A score is a crease in a heavyweight or cover paper to facilitate folding. Folding is usually done on a buckle-type folding machine. The folds can be made parallel or at right angles. In designing printing, the different types of folds and limitations of mechanical folding should be considered at the planning stages. Otherwise, some folds may end up being a costly hand-folding operation. Once the folded pages have been collated they can be stitched. There are two methods of stitching: saddle-stitch and side-stitch. In saddle-stitching, the booklet is opened and the staples are forced through the backbone or spine of the book. This type of binding is the simplest and the most inexpensive. Booklets lie flat and stay open for easy reading. Side-stitching is used when there are too many pages for saddle-stitching. The sections are collated and stapled when closed. The booklets cannot be completely opened flat and the inside margins must therefore be bigger than in a saddle-stitched booklet. Side-stitched books often have glue on covers. The final step in pamphlet binding is the trimming of the three sides of the booklet(Information in this paragraph has been adapted from: Bruno M (Ed), Pocket Pal - A graphic arts production handbook., International Paper Company, pp 156-163). Saddle-stitching is far more appropriate than side-stitching for educational publications, especially those that are to be used frequently, or that are going to be shared by more than one user.(in this instance, sharing of a publication is referring to more than one person needing to view the publication simultaneously. Examples of this would be when two or three students share one resource in a lesson, or a resource is created for a group work activity)

There are many ways to bind a book, but the most common methods are edition binding, perfect binding, and mechanical binding. Edition binding is used for hard cover books and is characterized by the rounded spine. It is a durable binding method. Perfect binding is used to eliminate the expense of sewing and case binding books, done in edition binding. It is a variation of side stitching and is widely used on paperback books. Instead of being sewn or stitched the pages are held together by a flexible adhesive. It is not as durable as edition binding, and the books cannot be opened flat. Mechanical binding is used for books that must be opened flat. The pages are punched with a series of round or slotted holes on the binding edge. Then wire, or plastic coils or rings are inserted through the holes. When designing a book for mechanical binding, allowance must be made in the inner margin for the punched holes(in this instance, sharing of a publication is referring to more than one person needing to view the publication simultaneously. Examples of this would be when two or three students share one resource in a lesson, or a resource is created for a group work activity) . Mechanical binding is very convenient for teaching materials as the pages can be easily duplicated (for multiple copies or transparencies), and the resource can be shared by many users. Displaying a page in a book, by holding it up, or passing it around, is far more feasible with if it has mechanical binding.

The design of the publication also effects the cost of printing. What will the publication look like? Aspects to consider include:
•    the number and quality of graphics, illustrations and photographs;
•    design, type face, letter size and leading; and
•    typesetting.

These are very important considerations for the educational effectiveness of a publication. A clear page layout

Some indication of printing and distribution costs can be obtained from the examples of South African organisations using print materials to support broadcasts, in Chapter Three. Descriptions of SABC print initiatives and some of the related printed costs, also appear in that chapter.

In order to generate these rough ballpark figures, various print job scenarios were generated and submitted to printers for quotes. The following printers were consulted and responded:

For easy comparison of the effects of different factors (like run rates, paper and colour) the full details of the quotes have been compiled into a spreadsheet, which appears as Appendix Six. Some of the quotes showed anomalies, which may have been as a result of the printers being aware that the quotes were hypothetical. All estimates are based on the run rate of 5000 - bigger run rates would be cheaper.

In addition to the printing costs reproduction costs need to be included. On the basis of the quotes obtained the following are rough guide estimates for these costs:

•    Typesetting costs about R100 - R120 per page;
•    Design, layout and type setting costs range from R120 to R300 per page.
•    The supply of positives costs about R20 - 60 per page for A4 pages with mainly text, and between R1000 - R3200 for posters, depending on the size.
•    A chomalin A2-size proof costs about R410.

Graphics: The scanning of a picture costs is about R80. For graphics of medium complexity, quotes between R150 and R180 were given.

The various publication could be printed as a stand-alone resource, which is then distributed, or the information could be included in newspaper or magazines as supplements (pull out or embedded). The two different scenarios: printing and supplements will be discussed separately

Newspaper inserts and supplements
Type of publication: Which newspaper or magazine will be used? Will it have a local, regional or national distribution? How many copies are printed? Does the target audience read it? Is it a daily, weekly or monthly publication?
Frequency: How often will the supplement appear (weekly, monthly or fortnightly)? How many issues will there be over what length of time?
What is the cost breakdown? Consider the cost of paper, ink and the newspaper charges. There is sometimes a discount for educational content (25%)(This figure is based on Sowetan), or for long term contracts. Involving an advertising agency would increase the cost.
Carrier costs: Newspapers charge for carrying supplements. The supplement may be printed by the newspaper or, independently produced and given to the newspaper to distribute. A discount can the newspaper carrying the insert also does the printing. The quotes for carrier costs are commonly given per 1000 copies of the supplement. A minimum of 10 000 copies is stipulated. If the number of supplements to be inserted in the newspaper, is less than the newspaper print run, the carrier cost is loaded accordingly. This loading is determined by the percentage of newspapers that will have inserts - the fewer inserts, the greater the loading. Loading can be negotiated.
Reruns and split runs: Newspaper printers are often prepared to print additional copies of the supplement or to print reruns. This should be quoted in the initial enquiry.
Quality of paper, cutting and gluing. Some newspaper printers print resources on paper that is of a higher quality than newsprint, on long run presses. The paper is cut folded and glued on the machines, saving on compilation costs. A gloss paper is frequently used for advertising inserts.
Size of Page: Newspaper pages can be broadsheet or tabloid, with a tabloid being half the size of a broadsheet. Newspaper printers should be consulted for other size options that can easily be printed and cut on newspaper presses.
Educational specials: Occasionally newspapers offer special rates to educational institutions, these could be investigated.
Binding: Newspaper supplements are commonly folded but they can be cut and glued or stitched.

Choosing to use the postal system for distribution raises the following considerations:

Mailing lists. Maintaining and accurate mailing list is essential for postal distribution. Including return postcards, or a facsimile and telephone number contact, to verify or change addresses can make this process easier.
Letters and postcards. The cost of posting domestic letters (Any postal item larger than a C3 envelope (458x324x100mm) and/or thicker than 100mm and/or heavier than 2kg is considered to be a parcel and not a letter. Cylinders or rolled items of the correct dimensions are considered to be letters and tariffs corresponding to the items dimensions)depends ion the envelope size. Different rates are charged for ordinary or fast mail(Fastmail is described as ‘two-day letter delivery within and between major towns and cities’ Post Office pamphlet, Rates as from 14 April 1998). Fast mail also has different rates for using your own envelopes or postcards, and for postage-paid items. Sending ordinary mail is the cheapest. There is a significant increase for fast mail and only a slight increase for the use of postage paid when customers own envelopes are used and an additional slight increase for postage paid envelopes.(Posting a DL envelope costs R1.10 for ordinary mail; R1.90 for fast mail with your own envelopes and R1,95 for fastmail with postage-paid envelopes. ibid)
Advertising mail/magmail. A distinction is made between advertising mail and magmail, in concept but not in rates. Advertising mail refers to addressed mail, the contents of which are of an advertising and/ or promotional nature or which promotes a response by mail. Magmail refers to ‘articles of which the contents are publications printed daily or not less than quarterly…and intended for public sale or dissemination’(Posting a DL envelope costs R1.10 for ordinary mail; R1.90 for fast mail with your own envelopes and R1,95 for fastmail with postage-paid envelopes. ibid). The rates for advertising mail and Magmail are slightly less than those for letters.
Infomail is the distribution of un-addressed mail items, which are of a promotional nature like pamphlets, brochures and trade samples. Two different rates are charges for distribution within and outside the local post office region.
Business reply service. ‘A person or firm may enclose a special address in his (sic) correspondence or advertisement to which replies may be posted in the usual manner, but without a postage stamp, provided he/it (sic) has obtained the necessary free post number’(Supplement to post office circular 91/93 postal operating instructions Chapter 14. (Available from the post master with the Business Reply Service Licence Application).). Businesses can apply for a business reply service (BRS) license by completing a form obtainable from the postmaster at a post office. Instructions on the exact layout of the BRS article and the restrictions on mass and size are outlined in a supplement to the Post Office Circular. To have a new license approved the printers proof of the layout for the article must be presented with the completed form. BRS is significantly cheaper than ordinary mail(To post a DL envelope (120x235x5mm) costs R1.10 for ordinary mail and R1.90 for fast mail; while a BRS DL envelope costs R0.10 for ordinary mail and R0.15 for fast mail. Post office pamphlet, rates as from 14 April 1998). An annual BRS license costs R85.

Various other postal services like faxmail, speed services and parcel delivery are available. The details of rates and services are available are presented in a pamphlet available from post offices. Additional details and updates can be obtained from the post master or by calling 0800 11 44 88 toll free.

Newspaper supplements
The following carrier insert rates give an indication of the costs of using newspapers as a means of distributing print materials.(The information on carrier inserts was supplied by Anne Bullock from Independent Newspapers Kwazulu Natal, in facsimile received on 29/5/98)

* The quote is given as a rate per 1000 inserts, but has been converted for ease of comparison with postage costs. A minimum of 10 000 inserts is stipulated and VTA is excluded.
Where printing of the insert is done by Independent Newspapers, there is a 10% discount. Split runs can be negotiated, but are subject to specified loadings. For example, if only 10% of the newspapers have inserts then the rate per insert is increase by 50% and, if 80-90% have inserts than the rate is increased by 10%. The loading rates can be negotiated.

The following costs reflect the standard post office rates for bulk mailing for a minimum of 1 000 articles.

* This refers to household circulars of DL dimensions and 5mm thickness