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Editor's Notes, September 8, 2004 -- A laser printer and a self-publishing contest
September 09, 2004
Hello,

"Words, which are the dress of thoughts,
deserve surely more care than clothes,
which are only the dress of the person."
-- Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl

Ink or Toner?


Most of my work is on-line, but there are still times when I need to make a statement with a hard copy. I've been using an ink jet printer for what seems like forever. Recently, I investigated laser printers.

I had always loved the crisp image of laser printing. When I realized that the cost of a black and white laser printer had come down so much that the first time I needed to buy new toner it would pay for itself, I decided to buy one. (Ink jet printers cost less up-front, but kill you with the cost of ink. Lasers use toner, which costs a lot per cartridge. But a laser cartridge prints about 150 times as many pages as an ink jet cartridge.)

So I made my decision. Then I walked into our local London Drugs store and saw a colour laser printer that forced me to change my mind. I decided to a buy a colour laser instead of a black and white.

When I make my own letterhead with the colour laser printer the paper no longer warps as it did with the ink jet. And the page costs a tiny fraction of what it would if I had my letter head printed professionally.

I'm frugal. I feel smug when I save significant money. My smug feeling about my laser printer evaporated when I walked into another store three weeks later and saw the same printer for $150 less. Hewlett Packard offered a rebate and the store offered a discount.

If you've been thinking about moving up to a laser printer, this might be the time to do it. My own is HP2550L and I recommend it unreservedly, but I also recommend that you do your own research to decide which laser is right for you. And if you decide that you need an HP2550L, too, you can save using the rebate and additional discounts if you buy in time.

Contest for Self-Published Books


Self-published books seldom win literary prizes because they are banned from entry. Here is a contest just for self-published books. http://www.writersdigest.com/contests/self_published.asp

http://www.writersdigest.com/contests/self_published.asp

If you are not able to click on the URLs above, cut and paste the one you want into your browser.

Remember, you can ask any editing question at https://www.writershelper.com/writers-style-guide.html
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