If you're looking to stay in the United States and want to print off smaller batches of games, one of THE BEST options for you is The Game Crafter. They have a ridiculous amount of tools that they use to make small publishers successful and go above and beyond to make sure people are satisfied. They even have podcasts and blogs that help give advice about how all of this works. I've spent every day listening to their podcast and have listened to hours of content that has been filled with some of the best advice I could've asked for. Seriously, consider these guys for your shipping if it's in your cards. (pun intended) Even if it isn't in the cards, utilize these guys and check out what they put out.
As for everyone else, I can list off quite a few manufacturers that do great work but I won't. There are people who have larger lists that are definitely more complete than I could manage. For instance, check out The Hitchhiker's Guide To Game Manufacturers by James Mathe. It separates everything by cost and quality. Whatever matters most to you depends on your situation and your game. What I will go over is what we've considered with everything:
1. If your game has cards, think about the thickness of the cards ahead of time. Try to get some games with varying thicknesses to reference but I'll save you some work. The standard for a lot of games is at least 300 GSM (grams per square meter). Anything less is not practical for playing over time. That being said if you have less cards in your game, going as high as 350 GSM might be an option for you. You'll be the best judge of this but no matter what you do, make sure you research it ahead of time. In addition, consider whether you want them to be uncoated, glossy, or made out of linen. These are all very important for you to know ahead of time.
2. With manufacturing, another thing to think about is what size your components will be. The companies who you work with might be able to help with this but it's good for you to think about this ahead of time. Go to your game shelf and try to find a game that's similar to yours. If you don't, then you should look up games that are like yours online to see what they did. Most of the time you can find photos of the inside of the boxes when you search for them. When you find them, consider what their game includes and think about whether you like how they packaged their product. Then you can plan accordingly when you tell the manufacturer what you're expecting.
3. Contact manufacturers ahead of time so you can get quotes. Quotes are free and are very helpful with your decision making. Some of the best manufacturers out there are expensive if you are printing a small run. One thing to mention before we go further is what the term, "Landed Cost" means. It literally means the cost per printed product for it to arrive to wherever you need to ship it out from. It's the printing cost plus what it costs to ship it to you. So, if you're printing 500 copies through Company A, the landed cost could be $15 per product whereas if you go with Company B, the landed cost could be $10 per product. If you just go with Company A without first contacting Company B, you could be out extra money.
4. Always remember to plan around the Chinese New Year. This year, companies were shut down from 2/7/18-2/23/18. That means over two weeks where you can't get anything done with your manufacturing companies. If you are manufacturing outside of the US, this is most likely going to affect you and you should just plan around it.
This may seem simple but when it comes down to it, it's important stuff to consider if you haven't come across it yet. There's loads more to consider but check out James Mathe's blog to narrow it down.
The last thing I'll mention is to think about how you're going to ship everything. If you don't want to manage all of the shipping yourself and spend hours upon hours fulfilling your orders, think about going with another company. A great company that handles storage and shipping combined is Ship Naked. They are also really nice folks and have warehouses around the country to fulfill whatever your company's needs are. These are just great tools for you to consider depending on how successful your campaign is.
What are you looking for in a manufacturer? What is most important to you when trying to find someone to print your games?
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