Let me introduce our company: Two Trails has been in business about 26 years. We started with one book and came up the hard way; selling from the trunk of our car, door to door, business to business; now we have many titles and attend shows when possible. (We still carry the stock in the trunk though!). We print and we publish all kinds of materials. Lately we have been assisting some authors compiling family histories and have a couple ghost books pending and a town history.

Most of our patrons over the years have appreciated the fact that our company is slightly different from most folks who print. We do look at what comes out of the machine. We feel since we are putting our name on it, we have the option to advise our clients of stray sentences; incorrectly spelled words and or some content when it is abusive or politically over the edge, that further attention is required by the author.

You will note in our catalog we basically publish history; but have been known to publish other work such as historical novels, coloring books, etc... Most of these authors have opted to market their own work, as our customer base is primary document history minded. But we do list their work for a customer convenience and when the retail price is set so both the author and our company can make profit, we list titles with Amazon.com and other major book sellers.

In our pre-printing process we can utilize various forms, fonts etc., and we keep our programs updated. For the actual printing we use laser printers and a laser ink-jet. We also have regular copy machines that are available for usage. Our laser printer is one of the best on the market; it has excellent copy quality making copy 100,000 as clear as the first one. Copy machines will not do that. Our machines can print small documents up to oversize 12 X 18 inch stock. At the onset of a new project we prefer to do no less than 25 copies. We can handle work projects numbering in the hundreds.

We offer the option of retaining your material for simplicity of future printings: it only requires a phone call and the number you want. Turn-around time totally depends on how heavy our schedule is at the placement of the order. We do not have employees and our customers do not pay for our overhead as we operate from our home. Turn-around time is generally a week to ten days, BUT again, all depends on how much is ahead and what your specific job entails to produce a finished product.

For color work, such as four color covers, we farm that work out as it requires quality digital color copiers with capabilities to adapt according to the specifications of the material or graphic in your file. The same goes for hardcover books; to hand sew a spine and glue on an embossed cover, well that is a trade all in its own right. We have one we recommend, but you may shop and choose your own also.

Graphics, unless you are talented and understand graphic layout, also should be done by a qualified graphic designer; we have several we can recommend. If you opt to use them, you will be working directly with them and you pay them. We receive no commissions from either graphic designer or bindery for their work. Again, basically, you will be working with them directly. We may be utilized as the go-between if you are not local; all work though before printing or binding must carry signed approval from you before any final production begins.

Pricing on our end of your project is not a set fee. Only the charge per printed page is set. Each job is individually different and all depends on how ready your manuscript is for actual printing. We can do it from loose sheets, if necessary, or old typed documents, but must charge accordingly.

We offer hot glue bindings, or stapled booklets, and even coil binding. Each is priced differently.

If you would like to know more on how the publishing business works e-mail us and we have a free booklet that spells it all out.
Thanks you for considering us and thank you in advance for giving us the opportunity to bid on your next project.

Phone 816-836-8258 or e-mail us at [email protected]