Because each project is unique and it is therefore difficult to estimate in advance the number of hours which each compilation will require, this page provides guidelines for clients to estimate the cost of creating a Legacy booklet.

Writing costs cover my own time spent on your project. The actual costs will depend on the number of family members I need to interview, how many interviews are required with each person, how brief or detailed you want the booklet to be, and how much work is necessary to organise photographic material. I charge different rates for interviews (which are electronically recorded) and for time spent writing, transcribing or preparing photos. A surcharge is added to the cost of my interview time for travelling to meet people for interviews.

Interviews: R300 per hour for one-on-one sessions (in person or on Skype)

Writing, transcribing or preparing photos: R200 per hour

A deposit of R2 000 is required before I start work. There­after, payments must be made monthly for the duration of the project. The final bill is payable in full before you take delivery of the completed work.

Example of project fees

A medium-size project may take between 3 and 6 months to complete, and may require the follow­ing:

This charge is for my time only.

Travelling is charged separately per kilometre at AA rates.

All stationery costs will be added to the final bill.

Layout, typesetting and conversion to PDF format (required for digital printing) is outsourced to an associate. Cost to be advised, depending on the number of pages and complexity of the layout.

Cover design is outsourced to an associate at a cost of R300 per hour. A simple A5 cover can be designed in 2 or 3 hours but more sophisticated covers take longer. You may supply your own cover if you wish as long as it is in PDF format suitable for a commercial printer.

The length of your book will also determine the costs. To estimate this, I calculate my rate of output at 1 000 words every 4 hours, or 1 page of writing (250 words) per hour. In reality I may work slightly faster but that depends on the nature of the material I'm working with. The pace of my work is influenced by whether I have only one source to work from, or multiple sources such as interviews with several family members or previously written material. The mental state and recall ability of elderly people is another consideration, as this may necessitate more interviews.

An A5 booklet of about 50 pages may take me about 4 months to write, working at an average pace. Please note that I am unable to dedicate myself full-time to any one project. Longer books will obviously require more time and will thus cost more.

                               Peter and Isobel Randall - 1961

I work in association with a commercial printer who offers competitive rates for digital printing and photographic reproduction. Cover designs are outsourced or you may provide your own. I deliver completed copy to the printer in PDF format.

Printing technology has advanced tremendously in the last few years. Digital printing has brought professional printing within reach of ordinary people. No longer does one have to print a minimum of say 5 000 copies of a publication, with the accompanying large expense of tens of thousands of Rand. With digital printing one can print single copies on demand at a very reasonable cost.

The type of book you want will determine the printing costs. Some of the factors that affect printing costs are the number of pages, whether pages are colour or black and white (B&W), size of the pages, binding type, and cover type.

	An example of the inner pages of an A5 memoir booklet.

Paper thickness

A standard thickness of paper (80 gsm) is recommended, but you can also use slightly thicker paper (100 or 135 gsm). The cover should be printed on thick paper such as 200 or 256 gsm.

Inner pages: Colour or B&W

It costs much more to print colour pages than B&W. The most economical way to include colour photos is to cluster them together in a few pages, and keep the rest of the book B&W.

It makes no difference whether your colour pages include photos only or text that is in colour. The same applies to B&W, which means that you can include as many B&W photos as you want without pushing up your printing costs. B&W photos do not need to be clustered in separate pages, and can be scattered throughout the text.

The following printing cost per page can be used to estimate what the inner pages of one copy of a book will cost. A5 is the most popular size for books and booklets, and works very well for memoirs. All prices include VAT.

Colour – R7.40 per A4 sheet (one-sided) or R3.70 per A5 page

B&W – 40c per A4 sheet (one-sided) or 20c per A5 page

Example

Your book contains 80 pages of A5 size, of which 64 will be B&W and 16 colour.

The printing cost for the inner pages is calculated as follows:

Cover

Each cover will cost R8 to print in full colour on 200 gsm paper. Lamination costs an additional R9 per cover.

       An example of the cover and inside title page of an A5 memoir booklet.

Binding

Three types of binding are available:

• With perfect binding the edges of the pages are glued to the spine. This method can be used for books of at least 15 sheets (A4, 80 gsm); that is, 60 or more A5 pages. The pages must form a thickness of at least 5 mm for the spine.
• Saddle stitching is most often used for brochures and booklets. Two staples are punched through all of the pages and the cover to form a simple folded spine. The maximum number of pages is 96 (24 sheets).
• Wire binding is often used for training or conference manuals. Curling loops of a long piece of wire form the spine of the book; the wire may be bare or covered in thin black or white plastic. Your book must contain at least 10 pages and can go up to a great thickness.

Binding costs:

• Perfect binding – minimum charge of R11 per book, more for thicker books
• Saddle stitch – R2 per book
• Wire binding – about R9 per book (depends on thickness)

Examples of total printing costs:

For an 80-page book of A5 size, with 64 B&W pages and 16 colour pages, the printing costs will be as follows:

For an 36-page book of A5 size, with 32 B&W pages and 4 colour pages, the printing costs will be as follows:

Print runs of more than 200 books may cost slightly less per unit.

These are digitally printed photo albums with black pages, printed in full colour on both sides, and a durable cover. There may be up to 100 pages and you can include text if you want. Photobooks make ideal presents for special events such as weddings and anniversaries.

Compilation and layout will be charged at R200 per hour. The time required will depend on the number of photos to be included and whether the client supply physical photographs or digital copies on disk. Please contact me for a quote.

Printing costs are as follows:

Through an associate of mine I can also offer clients the creation of a small family website or blog. This is an ideal way to share photographs and family news with people who may be spread out over large geographical distances, or even for those who live nearby. Not only will your photos and memories be preserved for posterity in an electronic format, but the ease of access makes sharing quick and fun. Depending on your requirements and the number of photos, you may be asked to provide your photos on a disk. Alternatively, a limited number can be scanned while creating the website or blog.

Creating a website or blog will cost R 3,600. Maintaining or updating it will be charged at R300 per hour. We welcome inquiries in this area.

                               Jonathan, Lee and Lindi - 2008