On Wednesday 27th, I took a trip to Firpress, Workington. I spoke on the phone to a woman called Kerry, and when I arrived on site, she kindly took me on a tour around the offices and behind the scenes.​ While being shown around, she talked me through all of the different equipment they use to print - this gave me a bit more grounded knowledge on what the printing cost goes towards. ​
After receiving the first printing quote from Firpress, I realised I needed to lower my expectations for the finalised magazine. The original spec was:
  • 500 copies
  • 36 pages (including cover) 
  • Dimensions: 200 x 260mm trimmed to size
  • 250gsm Cover - Essential Offset paper 
  • 170gsm Inners  - Essential Offset paper 
  • Saddle Stitched 
The price for this spec came to £1,100 which I was shocked by (without prior knowledge or experience in this area). I revised my magazine plan and cut out four pages, I scrapped the puzzle pages at the back and I merged my 'about me' section onto a double page spread with my written article about shopping locally; doing this cut my costs down a little bit. As well as that, I chose to made all the paper weights set at 170gsm, which would lower the production time, lowering the printing costs overall. 
The updated spec:
  • 500 copies
  • 32 pages (including cover)
  • Dimensions: 200 x 260mm trimmed to size
  • 170gsm for covers and inners - Essential Offset paper
  • Saddle Stitched
The price for this spec came to £930, which is more manageable.