Lwb & self-publishing?

How does one go about getting info in the form of a booklet or something else) into a custom-made deck? Like one made at MakingPlayingCards. Anyone else done this?

Does MPC have booklets? Or do they just do decks and boxes?

Off the top of my balding head - I know that TGC will produce an LWB and insert it in the box - but that also has a production fee and so that adds to the cost of the deck, too.

If you are planning to self promote your deck on your own website, you can offer a separate LWB there, add one to every single deck you sell, or have a free PDF download on your site that the purchaser can download (usually for free).

Anyone have any other (or better) suggestions?

Thanks for the suggestions. I feel like I'm in over my head as it is! Ugh!

My sis is helping me with this at Apostrophistica Press. Maybe we can work out something.

I did my own and ran it off at Office Depot or a print shop, each booklet fit double sided on one sheet of paper, which was cut and folded together as 4 sections. I trimmed the edges and stapled them, it didn't take all that long. The things are done as black and white anyway. It's just a bit of a hassle to distill things down to fit on the page in small font and give yourself enough edge space to not overlap funny.

Print cost per 'booklet' was 6 cents that way. Plus my time cutting and assembling, but I did them in batches of 25 so it went pretty fast, considering.

Yes, HG - but then you still had to insert it into the decks yourself?

I may be wrong (it happened - in 1958), but I think the OP is wondering if there is some way to print the LWB up yourself and still get the commercial deck publisher to stick it ... so to speak ... into the box prior to shrink-wrap. If something is not published in-house I don't know if the average printer will do something like this.

I prefer to take on more of the distribution work of a deck to be able to offer it at a better price for the customer therefor I do my own shipping and promoting. While this does mean a bit more to do it also gives me greater freedom as to how I can package a deck. I have the cards made at one place and the booklet made at another and I can marry them on my own. I would get my booklets done at a Minute Man printer up the road from me.I had a great relationship with them and they worked wonders with my decks. For the Day of the Dead booklet I chose a textured more translucent paper for the cover and the inside a silky white stock. I could do this because I make the choice to self ship. The booklets ran about $2.00 each cost I think I'd have to go back and check. I did order them in bulk and the more one orders the cheeper they get. The booklet for the Pixie deck was about $1.25 but I had to order 400 of them all at once to get that price which meant a $500+ bill to start with but the result was wonderful and very professional. I do my best to try and keep the decks at a $20 price point because I feel that is a fair price and to do that I just keep a few shelves of stock on hand to mail out as needed.

Thank you, SLE!

So, I am guessing from the conversation so far that the best course of action is for the deck creator to do the work themselves .. i.e. create a deck and a LWB separately and then assemble them themselves ... a little 'arm work' will result in better product satisfaction?

If they don't mind the work that is. Yes.

With the textured papers and other options a print place can offer, a really nice booklet can be done locally.

I like the idea of having something minimal included in the deck and having a download available for the further text. My sis and I are working out something! Thanks for all the input out there...

You'ld probably need a custom box if you are intending to include the LWB with the deck. The boxes which can be ordered from places like MPC along with the cards themselves are a set size that only holds the cards.

Admittedly, they may also do custom boxes -- I didn't investigate that.

Thanks for the nudge. It might be a good idea for me to put together a LWB file in pdf and send it up for download along with the card files.

But the main reason that I didn't is that, being a fan deck, I didn't want to be stepping on the toes of any of the copyright holders. But, given that my interpretations are bog-standard traditional, I doubt that adding a cast list pointing out who the characters depicted on the cards are supposed to be would actually do it.