RE: Color Printing/AMCRC Decoder Books/AMC Book

[<mail@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I just ordered a couple of the AMCRC books myself. They look great, and
the color helps. I'm curious to see just what info is included. I don't
believe in repeating a lot of effort in this small community. 

As for the color, small quantity printing costs around $0.05 a page for
B&W, and $0.65 a page for color, 100 copies (a little more if under 100,
no less until 200). I suspect these are printed in small groups from
someone's ink-jet printer. that costs $0.35-$0.50 a page for color for
full page color, depending on brand and type of color cartridge. Small
quantity printing costs the same for a color page whether it's a full or
partial page, ink-jet varies by coverage. These are 34 pages with about
25% page coverage in color, so around $0.09-$0.15 per page (per 8.5"x11"
page, with a page being one side) to produce x 18 pages (the books are
8.5"x11" folded -- one sheet of paper yields four pages, but only 9
sheets of paper -- the cover is not included in the page count and is
only printed on one side). So raw material cost is going to be around
$1.62-$2.70. That's including NOTHING for time to print, mail, postage,
go to the store for materials, wear and tear on the printer and
computer, nor the time it took to compile the information or go to the
post office/mailbox to mail them. The books are very fairly priced, and
from the few pages shown on the web site
(http://www.amcrc.com/guide/guide.html), well worth the price. I'll
write a nice review in AIM after I get mine. Note that I didn't ask that
they send me one in exchange for a plug in AIM though I'm sure the club
would have. I'm an AMCRC member and just ordered two to support the club
as much as for my own info. I didn't print this SPECULATIVE break-down
to discredit AMCRC -- I don't think it does. I just did so to illustrate
small publication cost in raw materials, esepcially for color output,
and to illustrate the costs that ARE NOT considered. The clubs actual
materials cost could be more. 

It's worth printing a small booklet like this "on demand" (straight from
your printer), but when you get to a larger publication (~200 pages) you
have four problems: quantity, quality, cost, and positioning. If 10% of
the pages have color, that's 20 pages x $0.65 x 100 (minimum copies of
the book) = $1300 for color; 180 pages x $0.05 x 100 = $900; 100 copies
x $3.00 for binding = $300; $2500 for 100 books, and that doesn't
include shipping/handling/compilation/overhead. That should be a $50
retail book, plus shipping/handling. Inkjet print is fine for a small
pub, but a "real" book needs a glossy, professional looking finish to
get any respect. Binding would be a printed tape binding at that cost --
and paper back. Hardback would add another $10-$15 to the cost. Most
books have color pages inserted in one or two sections, not scattered
througout the book. The color and b&w pages are printed separately then
have to be assembled -- that's why they are positioned that way. It's
not the best way, just the most cost effective. 

20 pages wouldn't be enough for a real AMC book. I'd want at least one
full color page for each model and year, 1954-1988 (only one page each
for Jeep and Renault, since they are really just "honorable mentions" in
my proposal). That would cover 4-5 photos each, showing interior
patterns for the most common upholstery, an underhood shot if available,
and at least one exterior shot. Let's see... 1958-83 Series 01 - 25
years; 1954-78 Series 10 - 24 years; 1958-60 Series 20 - 3 years;
1968-70 Series 30 - 3 years; 1980-88 Series 30 - 8 years; 1970-83 Series
40 - 13 years; 1965-67 Series 50 - 3 years; 1980-83 Series 50 - 3 years;
1975-1980 Series 60 - 5 years; 1968-74 Series 70 - 7 years; 1958-74
Series 80, 16 years; a total of 114 pages (including the 4 Renault/Jeep
pages). That's what it would take to make a REAL all inclusive AMC
volume, but a 200 page book probably wouldn't cover it -- think more
alongthe lines of 300+ pages. The $2500 just to produce 100 books jumped
to $3800 (binding cost will go up, but not likely double). Now we're
looking at a $75 retail book, plus $10 S&H for an $85 total. 

Is anyone seriously interested in paying $85 for an all inclusive single
volume on AMCs? No big publisher will touch it, so it's small press,
which drives up the cost per issue. The fact that it would be around 300
pages for a serious effort. My old book was a bit on the concise side,
and was 180-200 pages -- I'll have to check for exact count. I had 3-6
pages of B&W photos for each series, with no interior or under hood
shots, and no color except the cover. I'm not sure anyone is interested
in paying this much for a professionally printed all inclusive AMC book.



Frank Swygert

On December 14, 2005 Larry R. Daum wrote:

> >Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 00:45:07 -0800
> >To: mail@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> >From: "Larry R. Daum" <mramc@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> >Subject: RE: AMC decoder books
> >
> >>
> >>RE: AMC decoder books
> >>
> >>Frank S has been talking about a book to decode the AMC VIN, etal
numbers.
> >>I found out there are already some out there.
> >>One has been around for 2 or 3 years with little result as it is a
poor
> >>book that looks like it was mostly copied from a Chilton manual.
> >>It's an AMC decoder book put out by http://www.pahbooks.com or PAH
book. I
> >>never heard of the guy who supposedly wrote the book.
> >>It cover 1967 to 1974 . But most of the production figures are wrong
with
> >>transposed numbers and no real understanding on how the AMC system
works.
> >>The drawings of the cars are bad Xeroxes from a what looks like a
chilton
> >>manual.
> >>
> >>AMCRC has just come out with some better decoder books one each for
1960
> >>threw 1968 , $10 each in color. Note to Frank S , IN COLOR. And
Frank was
> >>worried it cost too much to do color ! They have just been list on
the
> >>AMCRC.com web site in the last week or so.
> >>I believe see more of them in the 2006 Rambler Reader. All I know is
what's
> >>on the web site about them but they are suppose to include color and
> >>interior shots in color. thanks Larry R. Daum