DriveThruRPG: saddle-stitch print to be discontinued

Best Selling RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com
Sir Pom-Pom

Sir Pom-Pom

Well-Known Pubber
Joined
Jan 5, 2021
Messages
78
Reaction score
141
"It’s not been an easy start of the year for DriveThruRPG. In the first week of January, the site had to add a Brexit warning about costs to their checkout. European customers ordering print-on-demand books get those shipments from the UK. (...)

Lightning Source, the print-on-demand company used by OneBookShelf (OBS), will discontinue saddle-stitch printing on the 1st of March. Saddle-stitch is a conventional bookbinding process that is often used on slender books, perhaps under 70 pages. Folded pages are gathered together in a bundle and then bound with staples through the fold. (...). Some RPG titles may also need to have blank pages added as the smallest book Lightning Source can perfect bind is 18-pages".

Info: https://www.geeknative.com/113595/drivethrurpg-and-obs-lose-saddle-stitch-printing/
www.tenkarstavern.com

News - Saddle-stitch to be Discontinued at OneBookShelf / DriveThruRPG

A blog focused on OSR gaming, the Swords & Wizardry RPG and all things Dungeons & Dragons.Tavern Chat is the accompanying Podcast.
www.tenkarstavern.com www.tenkarstavern.com

Differences between saddle-stitch and perfect bound: https://www.justprint.ie/perfect-bound-vs-saddle-stitched/

PERFECT-BOUND-VS-SADDLE-STITCHED.png
 
I was wondering, it's been a long time since anything I got from them was saddled stitched.

With Brexit I've switched to Hobby stores in France and Germany due to the delivery times and prices.
 
RunningLaser said:
That's too bad. Prefer saddle stitch for small stuff, seems to hold up better.
Click to expand...
Agreed. It’s a series of single pages, stapled in the middle. The only thing that can happen is the innermost page tears off the staple. Perfect bound sucks for RPG books, as they get laid down open quite a lot, with other books on top, etc for reference at the table. The spine will break.
 
Saddle stitched, while not looking as nice, is vastly better for gaming books that will be used a lot. At least IME.

While there’s a size limit, it’s perfect for smaller sized supplements snd such.

That’s too bad. I don’t think I’d opt for perfect bound. I’d just print my own and have it bound with one of those plastic, finger-clip things.
 
Who here has saddle stitched products that will be affected? It seems we have a limited time to purchase them before they change.
 
Bunch said:
Who here has saddle stitched products that will be affected? It seems we have a limited time to purchase them before they change.
Click to expand...


"Currently, DriveThruRPG and OBS’ other sites offering print-on-demand are believed to automatically treat premium colour book under 40 pages as saddle-stitch projects.

As a result, the OBS sites need to be updated, and publishers will need to convert their print-on-demand titles to perfect-bound. Perfect binding uses strong glue to attach pages to a spine.

Some RPG titles may also need to have blank pages added as the smallest book Lightning Source can perfect bind is 18-pages."

https://www.geeknative.com/113595/drivethrurpg-and-obs-lose-saddle-stitch-printing/
 
robertsconley robertsconley mentioned in a thread that his Blackmarsh would be affected. It was mentioned in another site that this could affect the zines that have been coming out. I don't have any ear to the ground on that one.

Does Lightning Source do the POD for Lulu as well?
 
RunningLaser said:
Does Lightning Source do the POD for Lulu as well?
Click to expand...
Lulu do the printing themselves as they are a POD service I believe. At least the Lulu books I have were printed by their own presses not by another company.
 
Séadna said:
Lulu do the printing themselves as they are a POD service I believe. At least the Lulu books I have were printed by their own presses not by another company.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I've gotten a few saddle stitched things from Lulu that were good.
 
RunningLaser said:
robertsconley robertsconley mentioned in a thread that his Blackmarsh would be affected. It was mentioned in another site that this could affect the zines that have been coming out. I don't have any ear to the ground on that one.

Does Lightning Source do the POD for Lulu as well?
Click to expand...
Yeah I have Blackmarsh. I'll have to check the rest of host stuff.
 
RunningLaser said:
robertsconley robertsconley mentioned in a thread that his Blackmarsh would be affected.
Click to expand...
It affects Blackmarsh. My current plan is to release a digest version both softcover and hardcover. I already have a layout for that from when it was in Delving Deeper. There is going to be a follow up email with some more details from DriveThru so when I get that I will finalize my plans.

If I go with letter size then I will need to add a few pages.
 
Séadna said:
With Brexit I've switched to Hobby stores in France and Germany due to the delivery times and prices.
Click to expand...
Care to PM me with names of said stores? I'm looking to do the same thing, obviously for the same reason, since I can get the shipping I like from France and Germany:thumbsup:.
 
Bunch said:
Who here has saddle stitched products that will be affected? It seems we have a limited time to purchase them before they change.
Click to expand...

A chunk of my self-published OGL stuff.

Most notably, Dweredell which cannot be perfect bound.

1611465216222.png

But I'm not sure when or if I'll have the time to convert the other titles to perfect bound. Most notably, this will affect The Complex of Zombies. It's not as simple as simply clicking a button. You have to redo the cover files. And probably re-proof them on your own dime.
 
Loz was mentioning today that Lulu has streamlined and updated their operations somehow. This has apparently lowered the cost is cheaper, so they are going to be doing more Lulu. Monster island is going to be given the Mythras treatment snd releases in hardback shortly

so, maybe not all bad, but I can see how it would suck for the smaller books.

This all really comes down to automation, right? Easier to do perfect bound in an automated fashion?
 
Raleel said:
Loz was mentioning today that Lulu has streamlined and updated their operations somehow. This has apparently lowered the cost is cheaper, so they are going to be doing more Lulu. Monster island is going to be given the Mythras treatment snd releases in hardback shortly

so, maybe not all bad, but I can see how it would suck for the smaller books.

This all really comes down to automation, right? Easier to do perfect bound in an automated fashion?
Click to expand...
Or easier to do one thing instead of two and since one handles a wider case/larger volume makes sense to do just one thing really well.
 
Has any moderator changed (trimmed) the title I put on this thread? :errr:

Drivethrurpg : First Brexit, now saddle-stitch print to be discontinued
 
Last edited:
Sir Pom-Pom said:
Has any moderator changed (trimmed) the title I put on this thread? :errr:

Drivethrurpg : First Brexit, now saddle-stitch print to be discontinued
Click to expand...
Probably due to not wanting to reference a political event? I'm not surprised.
 
Well, I am.

The title highlights the material consequences on DrivethruRPG and on us, the consumers. It is no longer an abstract debate of a political nature. That is over. A decision was made.

Not being able to talk about the real negative effects that that decision has brought for some of us because it was a political choice makes no sense.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, No Politics is the Pub's one rule. There's a certain amount of leeway, and if one wants to gripe about how an effect of Brexit has personally affected them in the "Real Life and What's Happening" thread or something, it's probably not going to be an issue, but as a premise for a thread in the main RPG forum, it's a step too far.
 
Stevethulhu said:
Thats probably why there's no.mention anywhere on this board about the changes to European shipping costs and times that Drivethru have had to bring in.
Click to expand...
Believe me, I would have...but I haven't ordered physical products this year.

BJJ Fanatics and its two sister sites are taking way too much of my hobby income:shade:.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Banner: The best cosmic horror & Cthulhu Mythos @ DriveThruRPG.com
Back
Top