Print on Demand

The world of publishing a book in print has never been easier thanks to print on demand. The beauty of Print on Demand (POD) is that books are not printed until an order is placed. And the order gets sent directly from Amazon to the printer who fulfills the order on your behalf! Thanks to POD, you never have to ship a single book!

Please note: If you have hired us to assist you with your POD edition, please review this page before completing the POD Questionnaire.

What additional work is required to setup your book for sale in print? If we did your eBook, it’s a matter of laying out your book in a print-friendly format (we prefer to use MS Word) and taking into account items such as:

Recommendations on dimensions, paper color, and matte vs. glossy covers:

Dimensions

To keep your costs down, we recommend you go with a standard trim size that will enable you to work with the largest number of print-on-demand printers. We almost always recommend 6 x 9 or 5.5 x 8.5. We’ll take into account the length of your book when we make our recommendation. Note that if you plan to use CreateSpace, and cream colored paper (discussed below), then the dimensions for your book will be limited to these trim sizes: 5″ x 8″, 5.25″ x 8″, 5.5″ x 8.5″, or 6″ x 9″.

Covers

Gloss Finish vs. Matte Finish. All printers support a gloss finish and most now support matte as well. Here are some comments on each. My recommendation is to go with Matte because it sets your book apart… most books are glossy, and if yours is glossy too, it doesn’t stand out as much. Also, I personally like the feel of matte in my hands better.

Glossy Cover

Shiny finish gives artwork a more striking and detailed look Light reflects off the cover from all angles Blacks are richer and darker Often preferred for textbooks, children’s books, and non-fiction

Matte Cover

Unless your book has images in it, we will always recommend creme/cream colored paper. It’s easier on the eyes and helps you avoid the look of a ‘self-published’ book. If you look at the majority of books in bookstores, they all have creme paper. The exception is if your book has images. Images tend to get washed out on creme colored paper, so we’ll recommend white paper if your book has images – white makes images stand out better! Usually, there is no difference in price between white & creme. If there is a difference in price, it’s usually very small and truly shouldn’t weigh into your decision.

Please keep in mind: It’s not always possible to change paper color or cover type after you’ve published it, unless you change your ISBN #, and I would advise you to avoid having multiple ISBNs for the same book. The whole reason we recommend you order a printed proof is so you can see the difference first hand.

Once you’ve received and approved your printed proof, then we will set it up for sale and worldwide distribution on your account. As the publisher on record, you will get paid directly by the distributor.

When you need to order books, you will order them directly from the printer we set you up with – it’s all done online and you can expect to pay about $2.75/book for a 100 page book. The beauty of POD is that you only order what you need. Typical order turn around is 1-2 weeks depending on the backlog at the printer. At certain times of the year, order lead-times can be as long as 2-3 weeks (long lead times are not uncommon from July-August, and December-January).

We prefer to layout your book using Microsoft Word because you’ll get a file back a ‘master source file’ that you can continue to edit as needed (since many books are really never ever truly finished).

To keep costs down, we will offer you the option to choose from one of several different design templates (see below) that we’ll use to format your book-in-print. Customization outside of what is inherent to these designs will require additional time (& thus cost).

Hardcover vs. Paperback

You can also setup your book in hardcover, which may be preferred for book signings and gifts. The cost to print hard back is typically 3x the cost to print paperback and it does require a separate ISBN. There are also fewer options on book size, but if a hardcover print-on-demand is what you need, we can assist as well!

Layout Options

Raj

Lucky

Game

Pullman

Posture

Breath

Biloxi

Bing

Invasion

Love

Table of contents (All non-fiction, some fiction)