Karaoke Forums

I know this has probably been kicked around before but I can't seem to find the thread and with a lot of new KJ's coming in I thought it would be worth revisiting.

How many books do y'all use of each type?
In other words how many by Artist and how many my Song Title.

What font size do you use? I know smaller = less pages but in a darkened bar with older (including myself) customers smaller print is hard to read so therefore I'm opting for 12.

Do you go with single column or more?

Now that I've gotten my own Laser printer and Copy machine I've decided to redo my books, but not sure just how many of each really gets used.

I currently have 4 by Song Title (as I think customers know song titles rather than artist) and 3 by Artist, but really don't know if that's best.

Looking for suggestions and yes I know there are those of you that use kiosks but I like books myself when I go out just to browse through as you never know what obscure song you might find.

Lone Wolf

I have 6 books with both styles;double and single. If I have added new songs, I put them in a section called " NEW ADDITIONS." I never keep re-printing my books.

I only have one book by title and it gets very little use.
I have 6 books by artist, but I only take out 5, as I find that 5 are all I ever need. I rarely have people looking for books so it apparently works at my gigs.
As for type size, I use Song list geberator and I think my type size is set to either 10 or 12, I wouldn't go smaller than 10 for sure. I also use multiple columns, depending on the size of the type. Minimum 2 columns and a maximum 3. If it looks too small and is too hard to read, I adjust accordingly.

Oh. Each book is the same so I don't have to have separate books for artist and song.

I got 4 for the singers (2 in each format) & one for me. I use verdana size 10.
I do the same as you kameragurl, my latest additions go at the front of the books, then re-print every 3-4 months. Or when one gets maranated with beer.
Does anyone else have that happen much?

Nine artist one by title. The one by title is single column with big print so people that cant see can read them Ive been needing to do books again but procastinating. Printing isnt that hard I hate the stuffing. Hardly anybody here uses the ones by title. We usually just search on the computer anyway.

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I put out 6-8 books of one type, both artist and title. I use the MTU Hoster two-column approach specially modified by my one program to only list one copy of each song. I also only list songs that have been requested at our show or are on some other sources I have,. It s about 4700 songs by 1700 artists, which is about 60% of what I have. I list all songs by the Beatles, Elvis, Christmas, Standards. I don't have much by some artists (i.e. Jimi Hendrix, Jackson Browne, Bee Gees, etc.) as they are just about never done.

My books are both artist and title, which one depends on which side is up. You can turn the book 180 degrees and look at the back cover to get the other version. It has the title:

Karaoke Song Book by Artist*

*and test for drunkenness

That is because one guy kept turning the book over and it was always upside down. He finally figured out what was going on and asked me if it was a test for drunk people.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I had 8 books until one went missing. I usually put out 6 which I think have a font size of 10 with two columns. I only arrange them by artist because I very rarely get asked for books by song title. Any new additions go in the front of the book on bright colored paper with the header of "NEW ADDITIONS". I update them about every 3-4 months or sooner if they look too beat up.

OK I'm guessing either you have very large books or a small database.

I don't think I could fit it all in one book.
Just got through printing out my by title book and it's 148 double sided pages single column and the artist book looks like 193 double sided pages.

And yes I'm stuffing right now

L.W.

Was talking to the owner yesterday on the phone. I think what I will do is doit at the bar and have a stuffin' party. She laughed but I was serious...

Here is a book (new). I like to put concert tickets and stuff in the front plastic. Artist and Title only.




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Horrid, horrid job, stuffing books. We have 13 books - 8 by song title and 5 by artist, but when I redo I'm going to do the bulk of them by artist. I don't reprint as often as I used to due to expense, but this next time am going to do the switch to spiral bound, no plastic sleeves. I have all the new stuff in front as well but not photocopies of CDG covers (pet peeve) - I type all, large enough to read in a dark bar.

Our books are done in Times New Roman font size 12. Unless you provide 'readers' with your books, going smaller than a size 11 or 12 font means many people will have problems reading the book - add darkness of a bar and you end up with people coming up and saying, "I can't find this song bla-bla-bla" - So they don't bring a slip if they can't read it, and you have to stop what you're doing and add them to the queue.

There is a neat thing you can do if you are in a very dark bar, and that is purchase these credit card sized magnifying lights - I've seen them at novelty shops, and I'm sure you can order them on line for very inexpensive. I wish I could figure out a way to attach them to the book so they wouldn't walk. I give them out as gifts to my regulars. Most still carry them and use them.

I use font 14 in bold with grid lines and it really makes a difference in readability. It makes it difficult to fit everything on the line so for the TITLE book, the song title is the widest column with the last part of any long Artist name getting cut off and vice versa for the ARTIST book. We use page protectors so the margins can be tiny and you don't have to leave room for the hole punch. I was toying with the idea of printing one HUGE print book for the seniors.

We tried the lights and they lasted a few weeks before disappearing. It is difficult to attach them in a way that can't just be slipped off the rings--rivet to the cover? People have even taken sections out of the books for some reason. The bar owner once passed out carabiner lights with the Bar name on it but they didn't work for very long. Now people are turning up with their "Karaoke Hats" from the sporting goods store. They have LEDs embeded in the brim and you squeeze the brim to turn them on. Works great until someone looks up at you with their hat on high beam.

We have 4 books--2 Artist and 2 Title and some supplementary books with new arrivals. The new arrivals are also printed in a section in the main books.

I have considered leaving spaces on each page for adding songs later so that only a few pages would have to be re-printed. But then it seems that if you got in a 50 or 100 song set, you might end up re-printing that many pages anyway so I haven't done it.

One of the best suggestions on this forum regarding books - and I can't remember who made it - was the concept of "rolling" replacements. And that's what I'm doing. One new book every month or so, with "Additions" pages going into the books that are still in use.

I number the printing date in pencil on the bottom of each front page, and singers in the know look for the newer ones.

Each book takes up the better part of an afternoon to produce on my home inkjet and costs around $20 for materials. And that's doing it myself.

I'm just going all-artist. The titles books never got used.

Typeface is Microsoft Sans-Serif font size 9. The age group I'm catering to has no problems reading it and neither do I. So we're good!

I use 8 books. 5 books are by artist and title, 2 are by artist only, and 1 by title.

I use KJ pro, and print in two columns, in the standard text size of 10. I disagree with the original post that most people look for songs by title. My by title book gets used alot less than the other books.

15,800 songs by artist, and printed in two columns per page = 222 pages currently.

I have 5 spanish books by artist and title for my 2,100 spanish songs.

Felix the KJ

I use 6 books total, 5 by artist and 1 by title.

THe title one gets little use, and when people get it by chance I sometimes get complaints.

Since a lot of my singers are regulars they do not need to see the books every time.

I use 12 point type, but since my bar is pretty dark I attached some small flashlights to all of the books, so they can be read more easily in the dark.

THey tend to get pretty grimy after about 6 months even if I wipe them down regularly.


I keep a zipper pouch with 2 pencils and blank song slips in front, on average about 1 pencil per binder disapears through the night.

I use 12 books by Artist and only 2 by title. Most of the time, the books by title sit there while all of the rest are passed around like joints. Three columns: By Artist, Song Title and Song Number.

I use page protectors. It takes a LOOOONG time to put them together, but without the protectors I would have 12-14 drink sponges instead of books at the end of the night. I use size 9 font, double sided (front and back printing) to cut back on the thickness of the books. We have lots of blacklights, so with a 98 grade whiteness paper stock, the pages glow to help the singers read the books. I have pretty bad eyesight, and I don't have any problems reading it.

I used to print off books every 4-5 months. I recently had a laptop and external drive stolen which had my book database on it. I'm looking into scanning software so I don't have to re-type everything again.

I use double column books. I try to print 15 books total, usually 10 artist & 5 title. I used to print even amounts of each but found most people always grab the artist book first leaving the titles book as 'the dregs' so to speak - but then I do get a few that specifically want the title books only. Ideally having both artist & title in the same book would be preferred, however large amounts of songs equate to large books again. I have 169 pages (double sided) in both sets so an all in one book would be 338 pages. Too big.
I prefer books as well.

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Lone Wolf said:

Contrary to popular belief, you really can browse at a kiosk and find the obscure songs.... without a line of people behind you.....

BUT, back when I did use books, I used 10 books that each had an artist listing, title listing and a duet listing.

We have Artist A-L, Artist L-Z, Title A-L, and Title L-Z, with new additions in the back of the L-Z books. When we print we use Tahoma 8 and make 15 copies of each.

Pics below

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But you can't just sit at a table & really go through a book with a kiosk. I very much enjoy to do this at karaoke shows.

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