Forum: Author Hangout

One option is createspace.

CreateSpace no longer exists. Amazon bought it and rolled it into KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). But KDP is a good option.

I've only done ebook, but many people do print with KDP. You should be able to format it in Word and KDP will convert it to print (and ebook if you like).

There are many print on demand companies out there. You should check the cost of printing including shipping costs. The shipping costs could be high if they don't print locally where you live.

CreateSpace no longer exists. Amazon bought it and rolled it into KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). But KDP is a good option.

I've only done ebook, but many people do print with KDP. You should be able to format it in Word and KDP will convert it to print (and ebook if you like).

After CS went under, I went with D2D's (Direct2Digital) Beta Print Book service, however they seemingly abandoned it, taking months to 'approve' my last book, so I finally bit the bullet and went with the KDP Print service.

Despite my initial skepticism, I must say I'm impressed, not only are the results impressive (assuming you do ALL the print formatting yourself), but the print price is VERY competitive! I'll be using them for all my print copies from now on, especially since Amazon now handles all U.S. and European sales, making life easier for those few-selling print books.

The key to print books, though, is POD (Print On Demand), so rather than purchasing 100, 200 or 1,000 books that you're then expected to sell to your skeptical friends, the books are printed as each person orders one, drastically reducing the upfront cost, which is important since non-mainstream publishers print book sales are few and far between.

However, I write them using Libre Office within a 6x9 inch book sized template using styles and then create a print ready pdf file which I submit to lulu.

Even with services where you can custom-order your print sizes (say on Ingram Sparks, DiggyPod or Bookapy), the 6"x9" format remains the predominate format, as it's the most economical, by far. Plus, the larger cover captures more pleasing details, presenting a more professional feel.

But the key to printing economically is learning how to tweak the margins (beyond the companies stated restrictions). While they set the restrictions, they each have 'acceptable allowances' which vary widely, and can account for a substantial difference in price, especially for any 100,000+ word epic novels (of which I've written a few).

For small orders by self published authors.

For fiction among the mainstream dead tree publishers, mass market paperback (pocketbook) is far more common.

True, but that's only true if you have deep-enough pockets (like most mainstream publishers possess) to oder 100,000 to 200,000 copy runs. For a sale with a limited potential, that many books can mean the kiss of death, in case the sales fall short of anticipated demand.

But for small-time, untested authors who no one's willing to bankroll, POD remains the most economic option.

My brother went with a smaller publisher, and he orders the books he sells himself by the 200 count, earning slightly more than $1 a book. He puts in the legwork, earning money on each set before re-investing in the next batch, so it's a winning though exhausting strategy (he goes a LOT of trade shows, spanning large portions of the East Coast, while promoting his book among a particular subset of non-fiction readers (i.e. hunters and sportsmen).

But for most new authors, without a stellar reception by big-name reviewers, they're lucky if they sell a mere 10 books out of the 200 most print firms set as their minimum order, with most storing the books indefinitely in their garages or attics until floods, most or dry rot requires them to toss the whole lot (my sister's ground-breaking educational book included).

In my case, my higher per print margin means I can make more money selling a fraction of what would be otherwise required, with a much-cheaper retail price.

I write them using Libre Office within a 6x9 inch book sized template using styles and then create a print ready pdf file which I submit to lulu.

Underline this about three times. It's the only effective way to ensure the print-ready file gets to the printer the way you want it.

You can't trust the site's conversion utilities, at least for print works. That said, Lulu's Word conversion utility to epub works pretty well.
~JBB

Underline this about three times. It's the only effective way to ensure the print-ready file gets to the printer the way you want it.

You can't trust the site's conversion utilities, at least for print works. That said, Lulu's Word conversion utility to epub works pretty well.

That's true for ALL the POD sites. If you deliver a fully formatted .pdf (simple if you own a Mac, as producing the print version is as simple as an extra "Save as ..." option). But the key is learning how to utilize Style Definitions (which you can do in virtually any word processor program, and then fine tuning it to meet your needs (i.e. don't forget and include non-customized default Styles).

Although the margins vary widely between each site, they're typically much more forgiving than they indicate, so you can usually use the same formatting for each, with only minor tweaking (especially for printing the spine, which is a MAJOR D2D Print failing). It just takes a bit of play to determine how much each site allows you to 'bend' their requirements, and how it looks by printing sample copies (which are cheaper, since you purchase them with your author's discount).

Can't speak to Mac, but there are free print to PDF drivers out there for windows that will let you produce a PDF file from any application with a print function without going through a save as converter.

True, but on the Mac, it's built into the OS and not an add-on program. Thus, it's available from anywhere, regardless of application or service. That just makes it easier to use, as add-ons are notoriously problematic.

I've used a couple of different PDF print drivers. Never had any issues with any of them.

Sigh! I never said that print drivers are especially problematic, simply that I find creating pdfs to be much easier on Macs than I ever did on PCs. I tried using Calibre to produce pdfs for my books, but it's SO problematic, mangling my formatting, introducing errors into my eBooks, etc., so I finally quit, letting my Mac handle everything (including creating a standard 6'9' size, rather than ANY of the various Industry sizes (A4, etc.).

produce a PDF file from any application … without going through a save as converter

If you produce a non-PDF file to a PDF file, isn't that a conversion? And don't you want to save the new PDF file?

Yes, but it's not a converter controlled by the publisher of the application. Microsoft's save as converters can be very idiosyncratic. You also aren't reliant on the base application having a built in save as PDF converter.

I was trying to stick with Calibre pdf conversions, so the resulting file would be the same as my other Calibre conversions, but unlike the others, every change I made to the in-house Calibre fuck-ups in the pdfs, Calibre would put right back in. That's correcting each external format conversion 2 or 3 times, whereas the Mac system-wide conversions go through without a hiccup (at least on Bookapy). Part of the issue was eliminating the Calibre screw-ups.

I want to come back and thank you again for your tip about Lulu.com.

You're welcome, and I was glad to be of help. I browse the Internet for images I can use as cover art for free, and have always been able to find something that was either in the public domain or was available as Creative Commons Attribution Licensed. I then use GMIP to adjust the image and add text. Once saved as a jpg or png at the correct size and resolution the image can then be uploaded to Lulu with ease.

The sort of adjustments I make is to crop the image to exclude anything I don't want on the cover or to focus the image on one aspect of it. A typical example is a scenic image with a road on the edge of the image which I then crop to remove the road so the scenic image is all that's used by me. I find most of my images on US Government websites and Wikipedia; make sure to check the site and the image page for the copyright information and read it all as some Wikipedia images are a type of Creative Commons licence that makes them free to use for anything except front and back covers, and not all US government images are free because the copyright belongs to a sub-contractor.

Amazon is the most cost effective method.

Not always when you take into account shipping costs. I think it was Ernest who said Lulu was cheaper for him because Amazon didn't print where he lived so the shipping costs were excessively high (for him).

Not always when you take into account shipping costs. I think it was Ernest who said Lulu was cheaper for him because Amazon didn't print where he lived so the shipping costs were excessively high (for him).

Yeah, shipping to Australia IS prohibitive, but Ernest's bigger problem is that hs's not allowed to take his earnings out of the U.S., due to PayPay restrictions. :(

Yeah, shipping to Australia IS prohibitive, but Ernest's bigger problem is that hs's not allowed to take his earnings out of the U.S., due to PayPay restrictions.

Not quite right. The issue has to do with linkages between PayPal and my bank not allowing the transfer to my bank account - the issue is at the PayPal end. I can spend the money via PayPal, but have little to spend it on through them, so I send most of it to people I know in the USA on fixed low incomes who are in worse financial situations to me.

As to shipping costs. Lulu use a network of printers around the world and they have a couple here in Australia, while a print order on Amazon would be printed in the US and shipped across the Pacific, which is NOT cheap.

As to shipping costs. Lulu use a network of printers around the world and they have a couple here in Australia, while a print order on Amazon would be printed in the US and shipped across the Pacific, which is NOT cheap.

Supposedly, they're reversed that somewhat with their KDP Print services, which states they're printed in each regional market (i.e. Europe rather than Germany or England). That reduces the traditional shipping delay, and the reduced printing costs reduce the author's overall cost (the percent-earned figure is lower, but the printing cost more than makes up for it).

She has a philosphical/political disagreement with Amazon about killing indy bookshops

Her favorite movie must be "You Got Mail." Big bookstore chain putting indies out of business.

Keep in mind, as an indie author I cannot get onto bookstore shelves. Amazon gives me the opportunity bookstores don't.

They have certainly enlightened me and my wife has gone off to investigate in depth.

While I agree with you about what Amazon is doing, I really hate how they hide the fine details of their terms of use which gives them the right to continue selling your books even after you close your account with them, and they also have the right to sell to other outlets regardless of your wishes.

However, you may wish to download my free book on Fiction Writing on Bookapy as the last third of it covers how to create files for publication in a few formats.

https://bookapy.com/s/8/fiction-writing-and-style-guide

While I agree with you about what Amazon is doing, I really hate how they hide the fine details of their terms of use which gives them the right to continue selling your books even after you close your account with them, and they also have the right to sell to other outlets regardless of your wishes.

You keep harping on this issue, as that's what their TOS says, but I've NEVER found that to be the case. Instead, the language simply covers their nasty habit of Printing hundreds of copies for themselves while paying you Nothing (to facilitate fast shipping) until the book is actually ordered/purchase.

Of course, the flip side of that policy is that, if you remove/unpublish a book from their site, they'll continue to sell those pre-printed books stored in their regional shipping warehouses until they're gone, so it's Not an honest or transparent policy. :(

She has a philosphical/political disagreement with Amazon about killing indy bookshops and dreadful treatment of low-end employees. So they are out.

Despite Amazon's often ruthless behavior, they continue to have the easiest, quickest, most robust and ultimately, the cheapest alternative at the moment. However, if you're willing to wait, D2D offers most of those benefits, though the wait (anywhere from a week to two months) before they even respond) can be excruciating. Unfortunately, their print service seems to have been forgotten, if not yet abandoned. Despite being in beta for a couple years now, they've given no indications that it will ever go live. :(

Beyond that, Lulu.com is probably your best choice, though there are many paid POD services that I've never investigated (where you pay to play, rather than pay per book sold). So, that's another alternative. (I'd try DigiPod and read through their ToS for restrictions and costs).

I'd previously listed Bookapy (an excellent SOL alternative site), but that doesn't offer print services.