Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Kimbro]

I received an email today asking " What should I expect to pay for Publish On Demand printing."

I guess different companies have different costs - you will need to ask each company for their individual costs.

Basically there are the initial set up cost.

Then there are different price structures for the type and size of the book, paper etc.

A rough figure for a paper back 6" X 9" and 800 pages is $8.70

70c per copy + 1c per page.

Hope this info helps,

Cheers,
Kitty.

[JoeSpirit]

I looked into that at one time, and found the same thing. Different companies offer different pricing structures.

Another thing I found out is it's easy to get scammed if you aren't careful.

Make sure you do your due diligence, and select your publishing company wisely.

[Kimbro]

You are right Joe - be very careful when choosing who you publish with.

Also who you choose to do your printing.

Some POD firms insist that you go through a publisher before they will take on the print job.

The reason for this is they only want to deal with people who know how to format the files correctly for the print job.

What Authors often don't realize is that you can be your own publisher.

All the difficult sounding hoops these firms try to make you jump through are just another way to get more revenue for themselves and their

associate -publishers - editors etc. etc.

Also be aware that the promised publicity such as Press releases you can do yourself for free.

Being on a data base that 25,000 bookstores have access to is no use to you - as the customers who come into the book store have to know the title

of your book to request it - so they are already sold on your book. - They can't find your book by browsing in the book store.

By the time all your expenses and commissions are paid you would have to put a retail price of $60 on your book to make $10 on an 800 page book.

If you get your book printed by a good printing firm - say around 2000 copies.

Then sell your book from your own website - and do all your own promotions, your profit on an 800 page book selling for $40 would be around $30.

Cheers,

Kitty.

[JoeSpirit]

Yes. It makes more sense to self-publish these days with the technology we have available.

I think the biggest drawback is the initial out-of-pocket expense to get a physical book published.

But that's easily overcome by offering the work as an ebook, and then using the profits to negotiate with a publisher for the physical version.

[Kimbro]

Here are the steps I would take as a first time unknown author trying to get a finished book published - SELF PUBLISH.

Step 1.
Register your title - get an ISBN number.

Step2.
Electronically file your book with the WriterGuard Creative Works Registry, thereby establishing a permanent record of your book.
 
The registrant of this content attests to a lawful claim of intellectual rights for this material as permitted by U.S. copyright law and international treaties.

To register 1 book is free at: http://www.writerguard.com

Step3.
Negotiate the best price with a local off-set printer to print your book.
Note: The first edition Harry Potter novel had a print run of 500 copies.

Find out from your local printer exactly what format you should deliver to get your book printed.
note: any color images within your book/book cover need to be in CYMK color not RGB.


In Australia [don't know about other countries] two copies of your book must be donated to the national Library.
Note: The first edition Harry Potter novel - 499 books were distributed to libraries to test the waters with young readers.
All these books got stamped with library marks - the remaining 1 copy without library marks fetched a six figure sale price as a collectors item.

Build a good sales website for your book - use PayPal as your payment processor. If you weigh your book PayPal will automatically add the postage fees and tax to your cart price determined on the delivery destination of each purchaser. PayPal will notify you via email as soon as a purchase is made enabling you to deliver the book via post immediately. 

You can create a Kindle version of your book via the free tools in Amazon.

You can create your own digital edition of your book ie. e-Book that people can download from your website. -Free.

List your book in Amazon - Bookstore worldwide data bases -write and submit a good press release.-Free.

Submit your book to "Hot Off The Press" at: http://www.myscribeweb.com/

Spread the word about your book at writers forums, blogs, twitter, facebook, digg, etc.

Do a book launch/signing via your local writers groups.

Offer a commission basis sale to popular book stores in exchange for displaying your book on their shelves, your local post office will probably be happy to display your book too.

If you do not have the finances to print your first run, consider getting finance - or find a sponsor and give them a 50/50 cut on the first print run.

Where there is a will there is a way.

Cheers,

Kitty.