With this project I think it is no longer possible to get into the printed format I originally wanted. It has been really difficult keeping on track during the current situation of being in lockdown, and each month has felt like a week and each week a day. I think my ambitions of this project were set to a standard that if we were in normal times I would be able to achieve, but as we are not then I have had to compromise. I think aiming to get a paperback version printed is affordable for myself, as well in May at some point, when I have the book finalised, I would want to start a Kickstarter for the hardback version I originally wanted to do. It would allow me to have a physical paperback copy I could amend if anything needed to be, and be able to possibly fund a printed run of hardback books. 

I had decided on my book size awhile ago at 210 x 280 mm, just slightly taller than the Russian Folktale book I mentioned in a previous post, as I liked it as a size. Also I had considered doing a dust jacket then but hadn’t fully decided. I think I want to do one and have looked at the practical side of getting it printed with mixam, same with the book itself, and the outcome would be printing on A2 sized poster. I wanted the jacket to be slightly longer but realised that the price jumps massively to A1, so A2 is the likely size to go for as I want the soft touch lamination they offer for the jacket, as it is a small detail that I think ups the value of the book.

With the book itself I want it to be hardback and with the end papers inside I want them to be coloured. Initially I wanted the end papers to be with a repeat pattern but that isn’t possible with mixam so instead I want the colour options they have for it. It does bring up the price however, but it would be an extra £1 - 3 depending on the number of books ordered, and I don’t feel the black/white cheaper options suit the book.

So at stands with the technicalities:

Hardback book - 210 x 280, Paper (silk, 170gsm), pages 32 - 40, cover Matt laminate.

Dust Jacket - Using the poster product, A2 (Jacket itself 594 x height would have a bleed on top of 280 to be trimmed down by myself), front (silk, 200 gsm, soft touch lamination), back (blank, maybe gloss lamination though it ups price further by £20)