Need six copies of a handwritten journal (380 pages) - cost effective ideas?

[couponvan]

Here's my dilema...I have a journal my grandmother gave me 20 years ago that is a "Daily Book of Memories" to share her life story.  This very grandmother is turning 90 next week, and I'd like to make copies of the journal for my sister, cousins and aunt/uncle.  I need 6 copies. 

The size is 1/2 of an 8 1/2 X 11 sheet, and it's approximately 380 pages long.  I thought about scanning it in page by page, and giving them a floppy disk, but a nice bound book just seems more meaningful and usable. 

My grandma doesn't want gifts, but she does want to be remembered. I thought it would be nice to give gifts to the others instead as my gift for her/on her behalf.  I know the others have not received this book of memories, as it was something I asked for from her, and she spent a good 2 years writing it up....

Any suggestions? I am going to check out Staples and see if they can do it, but thought the Mustachians here would likely have way better cost effective ideas.

[G-dog]

Even if you hire someone to make copies, they will likely be scanning it in. If so, get a copy of the scan for future needs.

I assume the original is in a bound form, if so you likely don't want to destroy it to get the scans - unless you or others take it apart scan / copy and then have it rebound (maybe with a nicer cover). If you did this, you could add some photos, comments, illustrations and then give this enhanced version back to gran.  For example, if she writes about a grandchild's wedding - you could add a photo of her and grandchild from that day, a note / memory from grandchild about how special it was to have gran there, etc.

[MsPeacock]

Do you have access to a scanner at work? My suggestion would be to find someone/somewhere that you can use a good quality flatbed scanner (hopefully one that is pretty fast - which is why I mention at work) and scan the pages in a decent resolution. You can then print them two sided and take them to Staples or similar place and have spiral binding put on. Maybe print a nice looking cover and put it on cardstock.

Otherwise, if you can type decently - type up the content, scan some related family photos and shorten the length. It might be easier to read and make a nice package w/ the photos included w/ the stories. Then have it bound at Staples. Probably much shorter in length. You could include a page or two of the original hand writting and then the rest have typed (because it is easier to read).

I have my grandmother's journals from age 10 to her death at age 97. I read bits and parts of them when I know signficant things happened (e..g she had her kids). I also have scans of her significant photo albums (there were several family members who wanted them). The scanning was very expensive and the resulting pages were just put in a large binder for each of us. At some point she had typed up "family stories" and put together a spiral bound book for each of us with photos - sort of like what your grandmother wrote for you.

[couponvan]

Even if you hire someone to make copies, they will likely be scanning it in. If so, get a copy of the scan for future needs.

I assume the original is in a bound form, if so you likely don't want to destroy it to get the scans - unless you or others take it apart scan / copy and then have it rebound (maybe with a nicer cover). If you did this, you could add some photos, comments, illustrations and then give this enhanced version back to gran.  For example, if she writes about a grandchild's wedding - you could add a photo of her and grandchild from that day, a note / memory from grandchild about how special it was to have gran there, etc.

Thanks - I did remove the binding so I can scan it (it was a simple wire binding that I can put back on).

[couponvan]

Do you have access to a scanner at work? My suggestion would be to find someone/somewhere that you can use a good quality flatbed scanner (hopefully one that is pretty fast - which is why I mention at work) and scan the pages in a decent resolution. You can then print them two sided and take them to Staples or similar place and have spiral binding put on. Maybe print a nice looking cover and put it on cardstock.

Otherwise, if you can type decently - type up the content, scan some related family photos and shorten the length. It might be easier to read and make a nice package w/ the photos included w/ the stories. Then have it bound at Staples. Probably much shorter in length. You could include a page or two of the original hand writting and then the rest have typed (because it is easier to read).

I have my grandmother's journals from age 10 to her death at age 97. I read bits and parts of them when I know signficant things happened (e..g she had her kids). I also have scans of her significant photo albums (there were several family members who wanted them). The scanning was very expensive and the resulting pages were just put in a large binder for each of us. At some point she had typed up "family stories" and put together a spiral bound book for each of us with photos - sort of like what your grandmother wrote for you.

I do have scanner access at work, but unfortunately I only have a week to get this done and planned to do this project over the weekend (and I'm working from home today).  Although I type pretty well, I don't think I could type 380 pages in a weekend.  I'm going to try scanning a couple pages on my home scanner and see if that works.  Since the pages aren't 8 1/2 by 11 I didn't think it would work.

[TomTX]

The size is 1/2 of an 8 1/2 X 11 sheet, and it's approximately 380 pages long.  I thought about scanning it in page by page, and giving them a floppy disk, but a nice bound book just seems more meaningful and usable. 

That's just mean. At least make it a CD, if not a cheap thumb drive.

[ShoulderThingThatGoesUp]

The size is 1/2 of an 8 1/2 X 11 sheet, and it's approximately 380 pages long.  I thought about scanning it in page by page, and giving them a floppy disk, but a nice bound book just seems more meaningful and usable. 

That's just mean. At least make it a CD, if not a cheap thumb drive.

Maybe he's posting from 1998.

[justajane]

I don't have any ideas beyond what's been suggested already, but I do want to say that this is lovely. We have some bound volumes of my husband's grandmother's poetry. It's such a great thing to remember her by.

I like MsPeacock's idea of typing it, reformatting it, and adding  images, but I also like the visceral effect of having her handwriting as well. I think I would prefer the latter even if it was the less elegant solution.

[couponvan]

The size is 1/2 of an 8 1/2 X 11 sheet, and it's approximately 380 pages long.  I thought about scanning it in page by page, and giving them a floppy disk, but a nice bound book just seems more meaningful and usable. 

That's just mean. At least make it a CD, if not a cheap thumb drive.

LOL - I'm definitely showing my age!  When I started working you got a 10-key not a computer....

Maybe he's posting from 1998.

[robartsd]

I would provide digital copies to everyone (CD, flash drive, or online file sharing) and only provide a physical copy to people I know would want it. I'd scan the pages on a flatbed scanner even though it would take more time than using a feeder in order to avoid the risk of damaging the originals. If desired, there are many services set up for short run book printing these days; you should be albe to get it printed and bound for about $30 per copy.

[couponvan]

Thanks for all the tips.  Here's what I ended up doing....

When Staples told me it would be $.50 per page to scan the document in at their store, I knew that wouldn't work. 

I bought 6 16 MB flash drives on sale for $6 each (they were on sale because they said "back to school" on the packaging).

I took the binding of the journal apart, but my scanner wouldn't let me scan odd size pages.  It would, however, let me copy the pages.  So I copied them carefully, one month at a time.  Then once that was done I scanned them using the document feeder - again one month at a time.  I made 6 flash drives.  Since I already had one copy printed up, I bound up 2 months with a ribbon binding, and attached the flash drive to the ribbon.  Either my family can share the printed copies around or read the flash drives.

Total cost - $53 for the flash drives, $0 for leftover ribbon, $0 for leftover scrapbook paper, and $20 for a print cartridge/paper.  $12 something each, which wasn't totally frugal, but not a terrible deal either.  I hope they like it, and I guess they can reuse the flash drive later after downloading the journal to their main computer. 

I will say it felt like a lot of hard work. 

[LeRainDrop]

Thanks for all the tips.  Here's what I ended up doing....

When Staples told me it would be $.50 per page to scan the document in at their store, I knew that wouldn't work. 

I bought 6 16 MB flash drives on sale for $6 each (they were on sale because they said "back to school" on the packaging).

I took the binding of the journal apart, but my scanner wouldn't let me scan odd size pages.  It would, however, let me copy the pages.  So I copied them carefully, one month at a time.  Then once that was done I scanned them using the document feeder - again one month at a time.  I made 6 flash drives.  Since I already had one copy printed up, I bound up 2 months with a ribbon binding, and attached the flash drive to the ribbon.  Either my family can share the printed copies around or read the flash drives.

Total cost - $53 for the flash drives, $0 for leftover ribbon, $0 for leftover scrapbook paper, and $20 for a print cartridge/paper.  $12 something each, which wasn't totally frugal, but not a terrible deal either.  I hope they like it, and I guess they can reuse the flash drive later after downloading the journal to their main computer. 

I will say it felt like a lot of hard work.

Very nicely done, couponvan!  That sounds like something your family will really treasure!