Publishing
your book
Part VI - Print on Demand
[Times have changed since a certain author was executed for murdering his publisher - Sir James Barrie]
Since
the first edition of this booklet was published, there has been a significant
development in the economics of self-publishing by virtue of new
print-on-demand (POD) technology. This means, very simply, that instead of
self-publishers having to estimate in advance the quantity of books they
will require printed, the book can be stored by the printing company in a
retrieval system and copies can be printed off as and when required.
This
has not invalidated any of the information provided earlier, but offers a useful
option whereby it is no longer necessarily uneconomical to publish a first-run
edition of, say, 50 copies - or even less.
It remains advisable, if you believe you can sell them in a reasonable
amount of time, to go for a standard print-run of 500 or more.
But if you have reservations about your ability to market your book, then
the new technology will permit short-run printing of as few as 20 copies.
The
benefits (and minor drawbacks) of POD have been neatly expressed by John Owen
Smith of Hampshire on his website (www.headley1.demon.co.uk/self-p.htm):
.
. . September 2001, and Im ready to send my latest book for printing.
Back come two quotes -
*
The traditional method: 1,186 for a run of 500 books = 2.37 per copy.
*
The new method (POD): 40 to set up and 1.62 per copy printed thereafter.
Dear
reader - did I have to think twice?
Well,
yes I did, because there are some limitations to the POD method.
First you have no choice of paper grade for the text pages (its 90 gsm),
and although it will give fairly good halftone reproduction of photographs,
its not coffee-table quality. Second,
the cover is not laminated and tends to curl more than does a conventional
cover.
But
on the plus side, the cost is the same for a full colour cover as for a single
colour cover.
I
went for POD, and if youd like to see a sample of the resulting book, A Parcel of Gold for Edith, Im happy to sell you a copy at a
discount price of 4.30 (including UK postage and packing).