The Epic Saga of the Bookmark

Who knew bookmarks would be so much work?

 

 

I wanted to make cute little bookmarks as prizes for my Pubslush campaign and as a general marketing tool. I'd seen a billion commercials for printing business cards and thought it would be just a matter of signing into one of their websites, picking a format, and uploading some pictures.

 

No, and no.

 

The only bookmarks I could find were generic, non-personalized one that cost about $5 each. Fortunately, my aunt told me that she'd just gotten some business cards printed from Ed Wait of HiFi Ink on Etsy. She thought he could print them and he could. $57 for 250 one-sided bookmarks.

 

One problem. He couldn't design them, just print them.

 

At this point, I was already dealing with formatting, editing, and running said Pubslush campaign, so Aunt LJ graciously took charge of the bookmarks. I told her what I wanted and she photoshopped about four different versions. She also coordinated with Ed about printing issues, like having a 1/8 inch bleed around the bookmark, making sure the fonts were outlined, and other things I couldn't begin to fathom. 

 

The bookmarks also came out with a long green strip on one end. I wanted them on the smaller side, but that would have cost twice as much. So my aunt ordered them long, and when they came, she whipped out her paper cutter and hand chopped all 250 of them.

Wow.

It was so much work for both LJ and Ed, and I'm so grateful for their patience and time. I think the bookmarks are beautiful, and that's what matters. But secretly, I'm glad I didn't have to do all the work myself. Yay for delegating. :)