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I looked at Wal-Mart today for white bond paper so I can print and send out my first manuscript via snail mail, but I couldn't find any paper tagged 'white bond.'
Will regular inkjet paper, not inkjet premium, work? The store didn't have any samples to look at, and they wouldn't let me open the packages to see the difference between inkjet and inkjet premium, so I just got the regular inkjet.
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Try going to Staples or Office Depot or something like that... they should have it. Inkjet wouldn't be horrible... it just wouldn't be too... I don't know what the right word should be... but... it wouldn't be too "professional"...
Posts: 183 | Registered: Jan 2005
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posted
Use 20-lb. paper that's as white as possible. I use OfficeMax's MaxBrite® recycled multi-purpose paper ($3.99/500 sheets), which has a brightness of 92. You can get brighter than that, but the price starts going up substantially.
[This message has been edited by EricJamesStone (edited June 03, 2005).]
posted
Oh, have you come to the right person! I used to manage a print shop, and I recently left a job as purchasing agent for an office products store. (Anyone who has ever wondered at my resume, there really IS a connection between all these disparate-sounding jobs I've had!)
The term "bond" paper is a pretty generic term for "light-weight copy paper". The term "bond" distinguishes it from "text", which a heavier paper often used for brochures, or "cover", which is card stock.
The cheap-o copy paper comes in 84 bright. Most stores offer 96 or 98 bright paper anymore. There is a change in the market, going from one measurement standard of brightness to another. I won't go into the long details, but be aware that a paper marked "113 bright" or "115" bright is probably an equivelent to 96 or 98 bright, just using a different grading system.
The term "inkjet" paper should be a red flag to anyone who intends on using this paper in a laser printer or a copy machine. Laser printers and copiers use toner to transfer the image. Toner is made of little beads of plastic that are melted in a fuser at high heat. Ink jet printers use a cool image transfer system. Moist ink is sprayed, like water, on the paper.
Ink jet paper needs to be able to withstand moisture; laser/copier paper needs to be able to withstand heat. Papers specifically tooled for one device are NOT always interchangeable with the opposite method. For instance, some coated papers will melt inside a copier or laser printer. Some papers may not bond properly with the image transfer medium.
In short, if you are using a laser printer as your output device, use only paper marked as compatible for laser printers or copiers. If you are using an ink-jet printer, stick with inkjet papers. Will it be tragic if you run the wrong paper through your device? Mmm... probably not. Not unless you try to run an incompatible coated sheet through a laser printer and it melts, ruining your drum.
If you have any questions about paper, I'm Paper Girl. Anyone want to know the difference between long grain and short grain, or why a ream is always 500 sheets?
[This message has been edited by Elan (edited June 03, 2005).]
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Ha, you got me curious now. What is the difference between long- and short-grain, and why always 500 sheets?
Posts: 292 | Registered: Feb 2004
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Paper Girl, thank you for beating me to it, and with more detail than I would have used. I used to be Copy Girl.
Posts: 2022 | Registered: Jul 2003
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Informative post, Elan. So, from what I gather, it would have been OK to print my paper with regular inkjet paper. Now I need to drive back up to wal-mart to buy the stuff again, because I just got back from returning it.
Posts: 179 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
Paper Girl is here to educate and amaze you.
The term "ream" is always a measurement of 500 sheets. Cover stock, which is bulkier than bond or text weight paper, will come in half-ream packages of 250. The basis weight is tied into this measurement as well. You know, 20 pound, 60 pound, 80 pound paper? The way they determine the basis weight is by weighing a REAM of the PARENT SIZE sheets, which can be anywhere from 23" x 35", or 26" x 40"... (Paper Girl is floundering a little without having the basis weight reference guide from her Paper Price Book handy). Some papers are offered in "cut sheets" which means they are pre-cut for the consumer to 8-1/2" x 11", up to 11" x 17". Of course, all of this changes when you cross the big pond and head over to Europe, who uses a different cut size standard.
As for long grain and short grain? Paper has a grain, just like wood or fabric. The fibers of the paper settle with the length of the grain running a single direction, usually the length of the 11" side of an 8-1/2"x11" sheet. You will note that when you hand-tear a piece of paper, it is easier to tear in one direction than another. That is because one way is going WITH the direction of the fibers (long grain), the other way (short grain) is going AGAINST the direction of the fibers.
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Paper is generally cut long grain, that is, on an 8-1/2" x 11" sheet, the long grain will go the length of the 11" direction. It mostly affects how the paper feeds into the press and folding (remembering we have paper fibers involved here). Paper curls when it's subjected to changes in humidity. High heat (copiers, laser printers), and a sheet that was cut to the short grain would curl in a more pronounced way. Long grain cut will usually lay flatter, run smoother. Adding moisture in the air will also affect the paper. For instance, if it rains and the humidity goes up. Paper sucks moisture out of the air like a wick. A small print shop that is attempting to run a four-color job, one color at a time, can lose the entire job if they are only partially done with a job and it rains overnight. The additional humidity can stretch the paper juuuuust slightly, enough to ruin the registration and screw up the entire job.
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Not really, but something else has been irking me. All of my regular notebook paper paper-airplanes veer right. What am I doing wrong?
Posts: 239 | Registered: May 2005
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For the sake of mailing sheets of paper to someone:
6 sheets of 20# bond paper weigh just under one ounce
1 business-sized (#10) envelope plus 5 sheets of 20# bond paper weighs just under one ounce
When sending a manuscript in the mail, figure one stamp for every 6 sheets of 20# bond, plus one stamp for the manila (10"x13")envelope it goes in, plus one stamp for the (9"x12") manila SASE.
posted
Intoning in a low voice: Both Staples and Office Max are evil, evil, evil. You should abandon them both and run promply to your LOCAL INDEPENDENT office products dealer, who is forced to charge you a higher price due to the sad fact that they can't buy paper in truckloads and aren't willing to take a bath like the other national chain stores who use paper as a lost leader to draw you into their snare.
Sorry. I was having a flashback from my last job.
To answer your question, there can be differences between the paper. Staples and Office Max probably purchase their paper from different mills. There is a process in paper manufacturing known as finishing -- sometimes refered to as the "calendar" -- to create a smooth surface finish. The various surface finishes are known as VELLUM (rough), SMOOTH (smooth), or SUPERCALENDARED (high "polished" smoothness.) I would venture a guess that one of those two papers you mentioned has a higher calendar rating than the other.
quote:Paper that is too rough will wear out pick-up rollers, paper guides, and other components on the paper path prematurely. A rough surface finish also degrades the quality of printed output. The peaks and valleys on the paper cause poor toner adhesion, a striped appearance, or characters that have broken corners. Paper that is too smooth results in misfeeds, poor toner adhesion, and washout.
You will also find that, with laser printers and copy machines, static is also a culprit in misfeeds. Image transfer methods that rely on high heat dry out the paper, and if you live in a dry climate, it generates static electricity which acts like a temporary glue to make the sheets stick together. You can help break up the static electricity by fanning your paper before running it through the printer.
[This message has been edited by Elan (edited June 05, 2005).]
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fanning paper is a "good idea" regardless of what kind of printer you are using, laser or ink.
i'm not a paper person, but i am a consumer electronics person, and i've had enough experience with misfeeds because of improperly placed paper in the feeding trays.
nice, evenly fanned, paper of a "smooth" calendar rating is what you want to run through most inkjets.
some inkjets, like photo-printers, are designed to work best with the high-gloss, or, as paper girl calls it "Supercalendared", papers.
i don't have much experience with laser printing, unfortunately... i really should try to get some.
to paper-girl elan: i've never used staples, but i've almost exclusively used office-max paper... it's cheap and it works ok... where would you suggest getting paper, since paper is your specialty price IS an issue for me, unfortunately
posted
If you want a variety of papers to choose from, don't pass up a visit to your local print shop. If they have an open ream of paper, they would probably be willing to give you a couple of sheets to test out if you ask nice. The shops run by old coots are a lot of fun. If you can get them talking, some of these guys can tell you about the old days when they still worked with moveable type. (Paper Girl says: Did you realize the terms "upper case" and "lower case" refer to the wood boxes where lead type was stored? Capital letters were kept in the "upper" case, small letters in the "lower".)
Print shops (not to be confused with national copy chains who are often limited in which papers they provide to consumers) will have access to virtually any paper your heart could desire - some more expensive than others, but enough to make you giddy with excitement. Hmm. I suppose not everyone gets giddy over paper like I do. But then my friends don't understand it when I like to watch the credits run at the end of a movie to see how they used the fonts, or when we are at a restaurant and I forget to decide what I want to order because I was too busy trying to figure out what paper the menu was printed on.
Ditto the advice to check up on your local independent office products dealer. They are a dying breed because the big-box superstores have put so many of them out of business, but if you are lucky enough to have one in your area, they may be a good resource for paper as well. And consider it a civic act of charity to be supporting the businesses who have their roots in your local area. The money you spend goes back into your local community.
Stores like Staples, Office Max, and Office Depot carry a small variety of consumer grade papers, and they can't generally get you anything that isn't part of their normal stock.
Don't be hooked in by those little packages of paper - maybe 20 sheets or so - sold by the big name computer companies (who shall remain nameless, but one of them may have the initals H.P.). They'll package up some photo paper in weenus amounts and charge you an arm and a leg for it. If you took a sheet of that paper to your local print shop and told the person at the counter you want paper just like it, you will probably be able to buy a full ream for a fraction of the cost per sheet. Just remember there is a vast world of paper out there that you'll never find for sale in the superstores.
[This message has been edited by Elan (edited June 06, 2005).]
posted
My understanding is that editors allow for standard paper sizes from other countries. I can't speak for editors, but the sheet sizes are not uncomfortably dissimilar, unless you are trying to stack them together. I think they are more likely to toss out a manuscript for a plethora of other reasons. If an odd paper size is the only thing wrong with a great novel, I doubt they'd care.
It would be nice if Americans got on the same boat as the rest of the world in regards to metric sizes. Paper Girl is an American, and she wishes at time she wasn't so woefully ignorant about metric measurements. Suffice it to say her teachers didn't understand it either.
Leave it to crass commercialism to teach us what metric measurements are. We all know how much a liter is because that's how Coke comes in the bottle. Now if someone would change that foot-long hot dog or sub sandwich into something metric.
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Actually, I think that there are some things best left in the past, and foot long hot dogs are definitely in that catagory.
Now, if you're talking about giant subs, I have to admit that "meter" is much more eloquent to my ear than "yard" (plus, it's just a tad bigger, so it's like a wholesome excuse for gluttony ).
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price IS an issue for me, unfortunately
