Craft economy/mail order Special note to our non-US customers: There is a PayPal "Buy Now" button, below, for each book you would like to purchase. There is also a button for additional shipping to your region. Please click the PayPal button next to your region, Canada, Mexico, and anywhere outside the US, and your shipping charges will be added automatically. To purchase immediately via Paypal, please click on the book or books you want here.... If you have a moment, however, I hope you'll consider a more direct, if slower option that will cut out the middleman and save you paying shipping and handling charges. If you'll write a personal check or money order, we'll ship the first book for free (and any additional books for $1 each). Mail your order to POB 576, Blodgett OR 97326 (you can also download an order form here.... ) Special discounts are available for educators and bulk buyers. We ship via media mail, which typically gets books to buyers in much less than the "6-8 week" standard. If you like, however, we're happy to provide priority or express shipping at cost. Please call 541-438-4300, or email. If you're outside the US, please accept our apologies for a banking system that makes it very expensive to deal with any currency other than dollars. We can accept only POSTAL money orders in US funds, or checks drawn on US banks also in US funds. In Canada, please add $5 to ship the first book, $3 for each additional; elsewhere in the world, add $12 to ship the first book, and $3 each additional. For those who are interested, here's the idea: Hand Print Press is a family business; our goal is to participate in the economy as real people engaged in the craft of making books, rather than as a "competitor" in a "global media market." We write and produce books for real people, not for "consumers," or worse, "markets." In the same way that the person is more than the book they write, you the reader are much more than your money. In a craft economy, you know the shoemaker not only by their shoes, but also by what they give to the life of the community. What you pay for shoes helps the whole community by supporting everyone in it, from the folks who raise the animals, to those who tan the leather, make the nails, spin the thread, teach the kids, bake the bread -- as well as the cobbler who assembles all the pieces into your shoes. When you buy a book direct from us, you're paying the folks who make the paper and the ink, the printer in Minnesota, the truckers and postal workers who carry the books, and the author! No investors, advertisers, public relations or marketing staff to demand higher prices or higher margins. No faceless corporations. Credit cards and web sales are faceless, invisible middlemen whose purpose is to make consumption faster and easier. They don't add a thing to what you buy, except for marginal "convenience" and hidden costs that are payable to unknown partners whose primary interest is speculative. The price for the convenience is charged to the seller at the rate of about 5% of the total transaction cost -- costs that are typically covered by increasing shipping and handling charges. So am I getting rich running this little scam where one person makes all the profit? Well, not really. Much as I dislike all the trappings of the consumer-economy, in order to keep this book in "the market," I have to engage in marketing, PR, advertising, etc. It's work, and it takes time, and some money. Most of the books (and most of the additional revenues) go through my distributor, Chelsea Green Publishers, a small independent outfit that's big enough to handle big bookstore accounts -- but small enough that I can have a direct relationship with real people I know by name. They (and the other sellers listed on this site) are a real part of my community and I don't begrudge them their fees. Thus the somewhat "normal" price. However, if web sales start to generate significant extra profits, I hope to develop partnerships with friends, neighbors, and other authors interested in this idea of "craft publishing." We'll see where it goes. Thanks for reading. Web The 20% shipping and handling charge covers domestic (US) orders only. Buyers outside the US will need to add an additional item to their shopping cart to cover the cost of First Class international shipping (via USPS "Global Priority" service). Please click the PayPal button for your region. For bulk orders please contact us directly. To buy Hand Print Press books online, click the Pay Pal "Buy Now" button to add the book to your shopping cart. Shipping charges will be 20% of your total order amount. Ship to Canada and Mexico: $5.00 Ship to anywhere outside North America: $12.00 Build Your Own Earth Oven, $17.95 Dig Your Hands in the Dirt: A Manual for Making Art out of Earth, $12.95 Make a Simple Sundial, $4.95 The Best of Making Things, A Handbook of Creative Discovery, $8.95 Earth Art, a Catalogue, $20.00 The Hand-Sculpted House, $35.00 Rocket Mass Heaters: Superefficient Woodstoves YOU Can Build, $18.00 A Handmade Life: In Search of Simplicity, $25.00 Our books are also available from these online outlets: Our distributor, Chelsea Green. Other folks in the cob building community: Dirt Cheap Builder. Cob Cottage Company. Amazon and other online retailers. Bookstores and special orders Hand Print Press books can also be found through your local, independent bookseller. Build Your Own Earth Oven, Dig Your Hands in the Dirt, and The Best of Making Things are distributed to the book trade by Chelsea Green Publishers, http://www.chelseagreen.com; 800-639-4099. Bulk or educational DISCOUNTS are available. Please call 541-438-4300.  Go back to the top of the page This page was last modified on Saturday 2, 2008.