Bartleby Press | Printing

Ted Hatfield celebrates 24 years with Bartleby Press

March 15, 2014

The last 24 years have seen many transitions in the printing service industry. Ted Hatfield, Production Manager, at Bartleby Press has adapted well establishing new production techniques. His vision to embrace new technology in hardware and software pre-production printing has established the firm as an innovative leader.Ted is the quintessential print service manager at one of the few remaining locally owned Austin print shops.  His mantra…High-Tech solutions…Old Fashioned Service.

Austin Printing Service is a Market Resource

As more marketers and businesses turn to alternative media in lieu of print services for their business communications needs, they often miss an opportunity to improve the customer experience when they leave digital printing out of the mix.

Color brochures, flyers, business cards and point of sale information are still effective touch points to get the marketer’s message across in the most effective manner. Why, because print has a tangible presence that conveys credibility.

Bartleby Press is a local printing service that provides print on demand. They have rapid turn-around digital printing that provides the highest quality imaging in small volumes that drive recipients to visit your URL. Providing short run digital printing allows the marketer to update with more real-time information, so they can finely map a message to specific individuals or groups.
To keep the dialog going, a high-quality postcard can be mailed to these qualified segments with yet another value offer. This way, the business is using the less expensive IT medium to narrow the field, and invest in high quality print for those who are likely to become sources of revenue.

Is Your Church Website Inviting?

Making the best use of our church website is a great way to evangelize our Catholic faith. It is unfortunate that most of the Catholic websites are designed for the parishioners that already attend the church regularly. Nothing wrong with that but too often we find ourselves preaching to the choir. What about the first-timer? What are they looking for in a church community?

Sometimes the person that is “shopping” for a comfortable place to worship, or a fallen away Catholic, or anyone in search of Christ’s love needs to know about your church before they walk in the door. Think of this as welcoming someone into your home. Do they find your website warm and friendly?  Is it easy to navigate?

Sr. Susan Wolf addresses Catholic Websites on her blog http://www.catholicwebsolutions.com/2014/02/04/a-parish-attentive-to-its-audiences/

Cost savings for On Demand Print Service

Offset printing, digital printing, commercial printing, short run printing, and on demand printing what does this all mean?

To clarify, offset printing and digital printing is by definition printing techniques.

The first is a traditional sheet fed printing where the image is transferred or offset from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface with manual ink keys that are adjusted by a skilled pressman to set colors. Digital printing follows the same process but is computer adjusted to digital file specifications. Both requiring ink and water to make the impression. Additionally there have been advances with inkjet and laser printing such as the Konica Minolta bizhub C8000 or the Xerox 800 Press.

Commercial printing, short-run printing and on-demand printing are defined by the size of your finished piece and the number of impressions of the project.

Commercial printing commonly refers to web presses and large sheet fed presses are usually based on size. The number of units place on a sheet or the finished size. “The smaller press delivers a typical printing sheet of 14" by 20", the larger press will deliver a 20" by 29" size, and the most advanced in the market today delivers a 29.5" x 41" sheet. While many commercial printers started with a one- or two-color press, once successful they gradually upgrade to more color units to accommodate customer needs.” As defined by GLG Research.

Typically a short run refers to 300-2,000 impressions, ultra short run 50-500 and on demand 1-100 impressions. In our rapid turn-around environment having a good relationship with a local printing service will serve you best. Consulting with them about your product before the design can save time and money as well as deliver a quality product

About the Author: Thomas Miner is president of Bartleby Press and Austin Texas printing service.

Sunday Bulletin and Church Website-–a Good Compliment

As the publisher of Catholic Church bulletins the question that I am most often asked by pastors is. Where do you see the Sunday bulletin going in the future?

My first reaction is don’t you mean to ask. What do you see in the future for parish communication?

The Internet. Having an up-to-date website is fast becoming the most effective way to reach all your parishioners. No question about it. Total access 24 hours, 7 days a week. If a person is looking for information, church information, they will Google it or look for it on your website.

That doesn’t mean that your Sunday bulletin is obsolete. What it does mean is the bulletin is fast becoming the brochure to your website. The bulletin is a short, quick informative blast of information.

Bulletin editors are becoming savvy. They can spend more time writing bold headlines, editing redundant copy and adding visuals that engage readers. In part because bulletin services offer custom services that save editors time. No longer do editors have to manipulate copy and photos to fit on a page. Time is a commodity. They can write and send. Although not all bulletin services offer custom bulletins. Some regional bulletin services do.

Still most parish ministries think the Sunday bulletin is the most effect means of parish communication. Truth is that the Sunday bulletin and pulpit announcements may only reach one third of all the families in a parish on any given weekend. So how can ministries effectively reach their congregations? Repeat the bulletin article, insert a flyer or another pulpit announcement and use the Internet.  

One of my favorite Monsignors would reply to such requests with “ you can start Mass late but you must finish on time.”

Accommodating every parish ministry request for pulpit announcements can add more than a few minutes to the pulpit announcements and most pastors tend to refrain from a multitude of announcements before and after Mass. The alternatives are clearly the bulletin and parish website.

The bulletin announcement or bulletin insert is the next obvious choice. Most submissions can turn into a short novelette rather than the announcement of a coming week activity. Often writers are not educated in copy writing and submit long and repetitive entries leaving the bulletin editor hours of unwanted revision, often subjecting themselves to a writer’s scorn for editorial privilege.  The bulletin should have a singular purpose of highlighting all the activities pertaining to the following week. A short synopsis of succinct copy, art and strong, attention grabbing headlines will better serve any parish activity. Any more explanation of a ministry other than basic information (who, what, where and how) can and should be re-directed to the parish website.

As we entered into the age of information (the creation of the web 22 years old this past February 16) the opportunity to provide vast amounts of information about the many ministries is essential for a thriving parish community. Web-editors are becoming as important as the bulletin editor (most are one and the same). Parish administrators are becoming more aware of the advantage of having an up-to-date comprehensive website. Not only can ministries write pages of information they can send a viewer to links providing more insight to a subject. Most recently mobile devices have entered the picture.

Our way of communicating has changed the bulletin from a sole source of information to a point of reference for the website. Integrating and keeping continuity between the bulletin and the website is the new challenge. Pastors and parish administrators wanting to know more about custom bulletin service and website service should visit www.bartlebypress.com under menu item website services.

About the Author: Thomas Miner is the president of Bartleby Press, a Texas based bulletin publishing service

Launch a New Stream of Income to your Business

It makes more sense now than ever before to support your IT marketing strategy efforts with print.

Business can target customers in small Every Door Direct Mail promotions with real time content. A specific location, real time content with a savvy promotion can drive customers to your door and website.

Also, executing digital print mailings to existing clients and your qualified audience can support your online activities and promotions. 

Partner with Bartleby Press print service team can increase sales with a marketing solution that fits your budget.