What's a mook?

Apr 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Katherine O'Brien

Launched in 1995 by O'Reilly Media, MAKE is a digest-sized, quarterly publication. It's a little bit like a magazine and a little bit like a book; hence the term, “mook.”

Every issue features an inventive range of do-it-yourself projects for people the magazine describes as “undertaking amazing projects in their backyards, basements, and garages.”

One reviewer described MAKE as “Martha Stewart Living for super geeks,” while another dubbed it a modern-day Popular Mechanics.

Issues dedicated to robots and water rocket projects have resonated with readers, according to MAKE managing editor Shawn Connally. “But the very first volume of MAKE remains the best-selling in terms of single-copy unit sales. We've done two reprints, and it's still a popular purchase at Amazon.com and in our own store, www.makezine.com/store. The second issue also is a perennial single-copy favorite; the cover showed ordinary-looking makers standing with their amazing handmade R2-D2 and C-3PO Star Wars robots.”

Most readers want print and digital versions

MAKE doesn't skimp on content. Each issue is 192 pages long with only a handful of ads from companies such as Volkswagen, Microsoft, Texas Instruments and Yahoo, as well as some vendors targeting electronics enthusiasts and hobbyists.

According to Connally, about two thirds of the publication's subscribers opt for both print and digital versions. “We have about 15 percent who are international subscribers, yet only one percent of our entire circulation selects the digital-only version,” she says. “[Some publishing executives] assume international subscribers only want digital versions, but that's definitely not the case.”

Editor and publisher Dale Dougherty knew the Web would play a key role in the publication. “The print and online combination is the real wave of the future,” explains Connally. “People want the physical magazine as well as a Web site's convenience and immediacy.”

Bring on the blog

The publishing team wanted to do more online than merely mimic the print version's look and contents. “[Our site] is primarily a blog of interesting and unusual things being built, related events and lots of how-to articles,” says Connally. “The Web site also is a way to stay connected to the readers between issues. As a quarterly, that's important.”

Schumann Printers (www.spiweb.com) produces MAKE on a Heidelberg/Goss M2000 Sunday web offset press The publication's unusual size (6⅝ × 938 inches) initially posed some manufacturing challenges.

“The nonstandard size requires special attention throughout the entire printing process,” says Steve Abt, the Shumann rep who works with the MAKE crew. “Add to that the prepress, special paper, specialty ad inserts, versioning, slipcases, polybagging and worldwide delivery requirements, all on critical schedules, and it really illustrates a successful partnership. We enjoy being involved with a successful publisher that understands and embraces the team effort!”

See www.makezine.com.

A 1959 issue of Popular Science inspired MAKE's distinctive digest size. Founding editor and publisher Dale Dougherty had seen similar “mooks” in Japan.

The print run ranges from 110,000 to 120,000 copies; about one third of that is subscriptions and about two thirds is newsstand. Schumann Printers (Fall Rivers, WI) prints MAKE.

“We actually list them in the masthead, primarily because we want them to have a sense of pride and responsibility in their work, and because we've had great results from them,” says managing editor Shawn Connally.

Fine art meets digital print

“The American Image: U.S. Posters from the 19th to 21st Century” is the companion book to an exhibit Rochester Institute of Technology's (RIT) School of Design presented last year. Selected from the collection of Mark and Maura Resnick, the exhibit's 78 posters chronicle more than 100 years of art commerce and popular culture.

Five hundred copies of the book were produced to showcase digital print's short-run potential. According to Nitin Sampat's production notes, “One of the principal aims was to investigate the feasibility of using a state-of-the-art digital press and an appropriate paper to produce a high-quality, short-run color publication that would meet the exacting aesthetic and color reproduction standards of museums, libraries and collectors.”

With technical and materials support from HP and Mohawk, faculty and students from RIT's College of Imaging Arts and Sciences, personnel from the Cary Graphic Arts Press and the print reproduction staff of RIT's Printing Applications Lab designed a digital workflow. It was printed on HP's Indigo 5000 digital press using Mohawk's Superfine i-Tone paper, a premium archival uncoated stock.

The book's preface, written by collector and film industry executive Mark Resnick, features a 1931 poster promoting the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. The cover was produced on a Heidelberg 74 SM offset press.

See http://wally.rit.edu/cary/carypress.html.

Fabulous foils

Whether it's a Valentine's Day card (at right) or a video game package, a foil stamped or embossed image will catch your eye. And consumers are willing to pay for what they perceive to be a more elegant product. Kellogg found adding a foil hologram to cereal boxes led to a dramatic jump in sales — reportedly by as much as 10 percent. It also is a popular choice for sports trading cards, book covers and eye-popping point-of-purchase displays.

The use of foil stamping, embossing and holography represents quality, added value, shelf presence, individuality and security. To promote and acknowledge continued creativity in this area, the Foil Stamping and Embossing Assn. (FSEA) (Topeka, KS) runs an annual “Gold Leaf” awards competition.

Entries are judged on design, execution and level of difficulty. One gold, silver and bronze leaf are awarded in each of 13 categories, with one “Best of Show” chosen from all the gold leaf recipients.

For more information on FSEA and the Gold Leaf Awards, as well as its Designer's Guide to Foil Stamping and Embossing, see www.fsea.com.