Does any Seabreezer have experience in self publishing a book?
My daughter has produced a dessert cookbook and so far, we've just bought a handfull through one of the online photo printsites, I think at around $30 -$50 or so.
Now it's time to get a little more serious, and were hoping to look at a run of say 50, depending on cost.
Hey Crusty,
there is a self publishing website called lulu.com
I have used them and they basically let you load up your content, set out your title page etc. They keep it all electronically, you own the rights to your material. You order as many or as few as you want, and they charge you per book printed and delivered. They will send direct to your chosen postal address.
The site is based in the US, so it is all in US dollars, but fairly cost effective.
You are not committed to any pre set order numbers and you are not required to continue to be active on the site.
They also have a function where people can order direct off the site, at a price that you determine (+ their printing and mailing fee), therefore if aunty beryl wants to buy a book, just direct her to your listing and she can deal direct.
and btw,I am not related to the company at all...
If you publish through a printing business, it is the setup cost that is the big outlay. The more units that are run from the plates once they are set up, the less each unit costs.
50 is not a lot at all from the point of view of a printer. 200 units would probably only cost you twice of the price for 50 units, as setting up the artwork and plates is the big cost.
With more digital media and printing processes these days, other options are probably more cost effective than traditional printers for small print runs (as JulianRoss mentions). Just check on the quality of the finished items before you commit- print resolution, photo clarity etc.
Given the options available, self publishing is far less complex these days than it used to be.
Clarence
Yes I agree with what Clarence said, my wife has self published two childrens books and both times has used local Australian printers, It is cheaper to get the larger quantity and a lot also comes down to quality of paper, gloss or matt finish on your pictures and the quality of the bindings, but with local printers you do get a lot of input and if the books are damaged in transit they will replace. It is still a costly process but highly rewarding with a good finished product
we checked out lulu, interesting way of getting your product produced, and then additional purchases can be made direct through their website, and a percentage taken.
Where we may have gone wrong with the initial few books we had done, was it was compiled using the online sites propriety software, and the PDF you get access to, or that I have printed from, results in a purposely inferior reproduction in order to lock you in to the initial site.
Agreed that 50 or so is small bikkies for a printer.
I'll let the author get past the exam period, and see how much legs this project has.
Thanks again guys.
Another alternative that operates similarly to lulu is createspace which is the print on demand arm of Amazon.
Select to expand quotecrustysailor said..
we checked out lulu, interesting way of getting your product produced, and then additional purchases can be made direct through their website, and a percentage taken.
Where we may have gone wrong with the initial few books we had done, was it was compiled using the online sites propriety software, and the PDF you get access to, or that I have printed from, results in a purposely inferior reproduction in order to lock you in to the initial site.
Agreed that 50 or so is small bikkies for a printer.
I'll let the author get past the exam period, and see how much legs this project has.
Thanks again guys.
No problem, what I did was uploaded my content, then played around with the formatting, then ordered one copy to see how it looked, made a couple of changes then was ready to order a few more. A good way to edit is to read backwards, to make to really see each word, no doubt you've seen those paragraphs of completely misspelled words to show how the brain adapts to what it is expecting..... just a thought.
Hello, I have self-published a 255 book of poetry, with a hardback cover and a gloss dust cover, multi-coloured. They were printed using my layout and design by a small printing firm called Bennett's Printing in Katoomba NSW, for a grand total of $1300 dollars for a hundred and ten copies.
Some of those overseas companies keeping your content and printing plates may make extra copies which they then sell. How could you be certain?
if you contact the International ISBN agency and buy your own publishing number, and do all your own preparation for the book, your costs are much less. Take a look at savvybookwriters.wordpress.com and do a little reading?
Have a few quotes done locally for interest sake. Best of luck for your future market. Seahorse7
