Mixam Minicomic Review
Written by @thealmightym / http://www.waywardstudios.net/ and posted to HTBACA with permission.
@plotholetsi and I ordered some minicomics from Mixam and they just arrived this week!
Read below for my full review: They offer sample packs if anyone wants to check them out and if you're familiar with the How to Think When You Draw books, they're the printer of those.
Custom sizing, no minimums that I can see (though purchasing more gets you a better per item cost). I got 50 books for 85 cents each (before shipping, 5.5" x 8.5", 24 page b&w interior, satin finish pages which feels like a traditional floppy comic) and 200 of another title for about $1 each (same size, 28 pages, b&w interior, uncoated paper). Even after shipping, I'm looking at about $1.29 per book.
The printer recommended we add a laminate coating to the books. We ordered one of the titles without and one of the titles with. There's a a SOLID layer of protection on the coated books and we saw some mild scuffing on the top book in the box of uncoated, so I do recommend spending the extra money on that (it only added 6 cents per book on 200 books).
There's also a clear difference between their less expensive satin paper and their pricier uncoated. The satin finish not only feels nicer to flip through, but also made the blacks blacker than on the uncoated. Also, compared to previous runs of this particular title, Mixam was able to get a LOT more subtlety out of my marker strokes than anyone else (a benefit in this case, but if you're looking for a solid black you'll want to double check your files). I don't know what kind of subtlety you'd get on their uncoated paper since the files for that were all made digitally.
They shipped out the books in 2 separate shipments on two different dates, which was odd, but they arrived within a couple days of each other as well. Packed very well (plenty of bubble wrap around the books that didn't fill the box and wrapped in plastic for the boxes that were completely full).
TL;DR: Mixam has a really good product for a really good & competitive price, a reasonable turnaround, and was communicative when they thought they could make my order even better for a low cost. My biggest complaint was their online ordering system while I was trying to align the pages, but once I figured out what the hell I was doing wrong, it was quick to take care of. Will order from again.