You can also get special paper, full-color and all kinds of other options now. I have paperbacks, Large Print Editions, Workbooks, and even Hardback editions for my books. It’s not just about doing a standard paperback anymore. With Amazon Prime, you can even get your own books faster with POD than you can get traditional books, which have to come from a warehouse. When I teach this in live classes, people's eyes light up with the realization that publishing print books is achievable without spending thousands of dollars. You can also order multiple author copies or do bulk sales from POD sites like Ingram Spark, as well as include discounting and return options so bookstores, universities, schools and libraries can also order your books.Īfter my own terrible experience with doing a print run, I think print-on-demand is pretty amazing. You set the profit margin on the books, so you get paid later without having an outlay upfront.
It's free to self-publish on many of the POD platforms, and they just take a cut of the sale. No pulping of leftover books and no remainders going to the landfill.No shipping costs, packaging or running down to the post office every day to manage delivery.No warehousing or inventory management or accounting for stock.You load a cover file and an interior book file to a POD service and when a customer orders one of your books from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another online bookstore, ONE copy is printed and sent directly to the customer. So, now I’m passionate about helping others avoid my own expensive mistake!
I thought they would fly off the shelves, making me money and changing people's lives.ĭespite being on national TV and radio, I only ended up selling around 100 books and I took the rest to the landfill, because later that year, I discovered ebooks, print-on-demand and internet marketing. I paid a considerable amount of money to have 2000 books printed. Me with my print books in 2008, knowing nothing about marketing! A print book was really the only option and so I did a short run with a local printer. I was living in Australia and this was before the international Kindle, before ebooks and print-on-demand became mainstream. I self-published my first book back in 2008. A bargain! I also have Large Print and hardback editions as well as an audiobook, so the reader has a lot of choice. For example, my book Crypt of Bone is $11.99 in paperback and $4.99 on Kindle, so the reader can save $7, or 63%.
They are great for comparison pricing on the online bookstores because it makes the ebook look like a great deal due to the perceived reduced price.It's hard to send a signed copy of an ebook, although it can be done through Authorgraph. They are useful for marketing and giveaways to readers.Many readers still prefer print books, so if you don’t have one, then you’re missing out on that market, especially in print-heavy genres like non-fiction, poetry, children’s books and more.There are a number of good reasons to have a print book. The physical book likely holds a powerful sway over you, so you should publish a print book for the joy of holding it in your hand and saying, “I made this!”īut you should also consider print from a business perspective because if you get emotional about it, you might find it will cost you a lot of money. I go to my local bookstore several times a week and buy books almost daily online. I grew up devouring books in the library and asked for books most birthdays. I’m a biblioholic and if you’re like me, you spend lots of money on books and they feature in your everyday life as escape, entertainment, learning, and pleasure.
In this article, I’ll go through why you should self-publish in print, the use of print-on-demand vs doing a print run, which print-on-demand companies are recommended, the files and information that you'll need to print, how to use KDP Print and Ingram Spark and where to get more help if you want a company to do the work for you.