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Written by worsin
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Thursday, 06 November 2008 |
Making a Difference – a column about folks working in the genealogy industry
62-6MAD
780 Words
DMT – A Short-Run Publisher Specializing in Genealogy
By Leland K. Meitzler
 There was a time that genealogists were often frustrated by the high cost of printing their family histories. When I first got involved with publishing, a print run of under 500 copies of any book just didn’t work out financially. Then again, having ones private library of 413 volumes, all of the same title, didn’t make financial sense either. And I’ve seen that type of thing happen over and over again – back in the “good old days.” With time and new technologies, this no longer needs to be the case, and that fact brings me to this short article about my friends (Tim, Mark, Amy, Les, & John) at DMT Publishing in North Salt Lake, Utah.
Believe it or not, DMT Publishing will be happy to print your book – and charge a very reasonable rate – even if you only want five copies! Most of their orders are for more than that, but they do not require the large quantities as many “vanity publishing” firms need.
DMT Publishing began on April 1, 1996. According to Tim Hunt, DMT President, he remembers the date well. Being April Fool’s Day kept it simple. Hunt and partner, Mark Manser, started the business after they left the employ of another publisher. They started DMT Publishing by producing a small number of family histories.
More than half the company’s business is in publishing family histories and a half to three-quarters of their clients are people living the along the Wasatch Front in the state of Utah. Naturally, most of their customers are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who compile family history as a part of their faith. But not all clients are Mormon. Printing business also comes regularly from California, Idaho and Nevada, and less frequently from elsewhere in the United States. They even ship overseas now and then.
Located in North Salt Lake’s industrial park area, DMT Publishing also publishes town and building histories and a variety of commercial printing items such as pamphlets and booklets for schools and seminars.
“We’re able to print on demand,” Tim Hunt said. If a customer needs a dozen or 500 copies of a title, they can usually have it printed – and printed quickly. According to Tim, if a client sends DMT their book as a .pdf file, the business may be able to have a proof ready by that afternoon or the next morning.
Based on over a decade of serving the public, it’s estimated that most orders are for about 100 copies. “Our hope is that if the client has only four or five copies printed at a reasonable price, and they see a finished product that they are pleased with, then they may purchase more.” Hunt said.
The cost of any book is based on number of pages, type of paper and binding, as well as quantity. Tim says that the cost of an order for only 10 copies of a book need not be outrageous. “If a person wants 10 copies of a 500-page book, that’s 5,000 pages,” which can be printed at 130 pages per minute!
Would you like to add color photographs or illustrations to your book? DMT has the technology to do just that, and at a very low cost. While the vast majority of a book might be in black and white, color pages can be printed and automatically inserted during the production process.
Covers can be produced in a variety of formats – everything from traditional perfect binding (as seen in trade paperbacks) to spiral-bound books are bound in-house. Hardbound books are sent out to a bindery nearby. However, all the legwork is done by DMT and a seamless transaction is accomplished quickly.
As the majority of Americans have purchased personal computers, DMT’s business has changed a bit. “People used to come in with shoeboxes full of photos, and they needed a lot of clean-up,” Hunt said. “We don’t see that so much anymore,” he said, although it still happens now and then.
Most files are now delivered to DMT in a .pdf (portable document file) format, making it easy for DMT employees to put together the publication.
DMTs business has grown mainly through word-of-mouth. “We’ve done very little advertising,” Hunt said, although some of the business has come in through their website, www.dmtpublishing.com as found on search engines like Google. The website is very attractive – and loaded with information. If you’re interesting in doing short-run printing of your own, you might want to check it out. They can be reached at 801-397-1826.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 10 November 2008 )
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