Book Printing Blog

Amy Shojai, award-winning author of 27 best-selling books. Here she explains why self-publishing is a good choice for writers of non-fiction.

Publishing has changed.

Today is the best time to be an author, particularly for non-fiction writers. Here are some top reasons.

Timing for Publication. Every author must polish, edit and best prepare their work to be professional quality. And while some fiction has timeliness factors, non-fiction more often demands specific scheduling for best effect. Tying a non-fiction book’s publication to a calendar event that is important to that work can impact marketability. With indie publishing, the author has control and can plan the book release and promotions for the ideal time. Anniversaries of historical events can be tied to non-fiction books on these subjects.

Updates/Revisions. Yes, any self published author can update book's digital file quickly to correct a typo or improve an edit. Non-fiction authors benefit even more from the ability to revise and release updated versions of informational and prescriptive works. These can be done easily and quickly, while books published traditionally cannot be revised until/unless a set number of sales demands a new edition. Having books with outdated information can hurt the non-fiction author’s reputation and platform, so self-publishing books on non-fiction has great advantages.

Platform and Reputation. Niche non-fiction sales have dropped or gone away entirely in traditional publishing. That makes sense, because the book must sell enough to “feed” the agent, the editor and the publishing house staff and expenses. For the self-published author who has the reputation, expertise and audience, niche non-fiction books sell steadily and well and can be a renewable resource. They also increase the author’s expertise, offer credentials for speaking engagements and endorsements, and can lead to many other opportunities. Non-fiction is much easier to market.

Pricing. All self-published authors have the ability to price books as they see fit, and change that price as needed. Non-fiction books can be priced higher than fiction, and generally sell better at a higher price point.

Control. This for me is the biggest advantage of all, and covers everything else. The non-fiction author knows what appeals to his or her audience, and has the ability to choose the cover of the book, timing of the release, pricing, revisions and more to best leverage the book’s launch.

For more information on self-publishing, contact The Country Press.

Selfpublishingadvice.org

How do you know if self-publishing or traditional publishing is right for you and your book?

Now there are more opportunities and possibilities to write, share, and publish a story — and interact with an audience. Whether you are after the traditional publishing experience, complete with an agent, editor, and publisher, or want to self-publish a book, it's completely within your grasp. You decide what works best for you and your work.

If seeing your book in print is to fulfill a personal goal you have choose short run book printing or vanity publishing. Short run printing is best for self-publishers and publishers who may have only a small distribution channel because they can order anywhere from 11-5000 books and order more later if the book sells. The short run book printer will already have both the interior and cover materials of the publication. A short run book printer can make the world of difference to a self-publisher or publisher as being able to order a short run can mean the difference between printing and not printing their book.

A vanity publisher publishes any anyone's work provided they have the money to pay for their services. The manufacturer prints and binds a book but does not offer editing, marketing, or promotional assistance. However, the author owns the printed books and retains all profit from sales.

If you're writing a family history, memoir or book of poetry that has a limited audience, and don't want your book stocked at bookstores, using POD book printing is probably to your advantage. They are often nonreturnable, not sold at a discount, and you won't have to store any unsold books.

Printing in bulk via self-publishing may be your best bet if you have a visible platform established to reach your audience, both online and offline, have credibility with your readers in your genre/category and are prepared to dedicate your time to marketing and promoting your work.

Self-publishing requires the author to invest their own money to produce, market, distribute, and warehouse the book. While this can be a huge time commitment, the process can be more cost-effective than other forms of publishing.

Self-publishing is also a good option if you have a time-sensitive manuscript.

On the flip side, here are a few things to consider. If you don't know how to find or reach your readers, don't have an online presence, don't have the time to spend online or dislike social media, want to be in a brick-and-mortar type of bookstore and have a publisher handle the marketing for you, the traditional publishing route may be the best option.

Ultimately it is up to you to decide! For more information on all of your options, contact The Country Press.

lecanadian.com

In traditional publishing, the publisher handles the marketing, distribution, and warehousing for your book. This is the traditional method to book publishing because there is no expense to the author—mainstream publishers make a profit from the book's sales.

With self-publishing, depending on which type of publisher or platform you choose, the majority of the work falls on your shoulders and you pay for all expenses. The main advantages of self-publishing are that you control when the book is published, you retain all rights to your book, and you receive 100 percent of the profits.

In both cases, you have the option to choose what format your book will be published in—printed book, e-book, audio book, cd, dvd, and many more. If you pick an e-book, which is essentially a book published in digital form and available on e-Readers and other electronic devices, it can be downloaded instantly, has the ability to be translated into different languages, and can never go out of print. However, the e-book formats and file types develop and change over time, many may need to be converted to a new file or format.

For more information on self-publishing and the different ways of publishing your book, contact The Country Press.

Writers Digest Shop

There are two innovative ways for self-publishes author to print a book: the POD or print-on demand, also called short run book printing; and there is traditional publishing, which prints books in bulk.

POD, or short run printing, allows you to print only the amount of books you want or need. You can publisher your book based on consumer demands, or on what you expect to be able to use and sell. Printing in bulk means that publishers will print books based on the given quantity they require to print in order to make money.

Short run books are more expensive per book. But cost less overall than published on printing in bulk because you can print anywhere from 11-5000. However, even though bulk books cost less per book, you end up owning more than 5000 books all at once. This means that the actual book printing costs more upfront and you may have storage issues.

Additionally, often publishers will not give royalties on printed books until those books are sold. With short run printing, as a new writer you can print what you need without a large upfront cost and without the hassle of storage.

Authors who choose to self-publish can use these short run books as advanced copies, as copies for reviewers, or for book fairs and signings. As sales or demand increase, they can return to the publisher for more books as needed, never printing more than they can handle or sell.

For more information on short run book printing, contact The Country Press.

With the development of digital printing, short run printing is now an easy possibility. If you want to react to a market condition, you no longer have to rely on off-set printing for your printed book. On-demand printing can run 1 book at a time for you. Print shops are adding on-demand component to their operations to address the shorter run requirements of their customers and authors. Even large institutions like university presses and other academic publishers have also adopted this new digital printing technology.

In terms of cost, it has been found to be quite cheaper compared to the traditional offset printing for the short run. Since you are doing small run, adjusting the content is pretty easy to do through digital printing by simply changing the file and reprinting.

To further promote POD, waste is minimized. If there is a mistake on an off-set run, running new plates can be expensive. By printing only what you require, you are also saving the environment. You will not be throwing a large amount of printed materials in the dumpster when the original is changed or updated. It reduces to cost of waste and preserves the environment.

New opportunities abound with digital technology. For instance, individual authors who want to publish their own work can now have the ability to do it themselves. Short run book publishing is easy for any author that would like to produce a book or a business that wants to publish a book for their prospects and customers. In addition, the small print runs can always be published when needed.

The most important thing today is the on-demand book printing needs to be good. Digital brings with it the ability to do many creative things.

For more information on print on demand or short run printing, contact The Country Press.

News International

Call 2013 the year of the self-published book, as hundreds of thousands marched to the drummer of their own words on their own terms — and the business world scrambled to catch up and capitalize on the trend.

2013 was a big year for self-publishers. On the heels of 50 Shades of Grey author, E.L. James, who initially self-published her trilogy, many other self-publishing authors have similar dreams of stardom.

According to the Star, self-publishing titles this year alone are in the hundreds of thousands. Compare that to the 20 to 30,000 books being published by traditional publishers a year. It far outstrips that.

With new technology and the addition of eBooks, self-publishing is becoming more and more popular.

Georgie Binks was feeling pretty excited about her first foray into book self-publishing. Then 500 of her books arrived in 23 boxes. She sold them within two months and thanks to short run book printing, ordered 250 more.

One publishing company says there are at least 250,000 titles from self-published authors on their company's site. A year ago, it would have been a quarter of that.

There have been past success stories of self-publishing, but they were rare. With new technology/software self-publishing has never been easier.

Kindle has even sold more than one million copies each of 14 self-published titles this year.

These times will be known as “the glory days of self-publishing.” There’s no financial barrier to publishing a book anymore.

For information on self-publishing, contact The Country Press.

Excerpts - The Star

Short run book printing, while it will never replace traditional offset printing, certainly has it’s place with authors and publishers today. Offset printing will always be the option of choice for bulk book printing, but short run books have many benefits.

Advantages and Benefits of short run printing:

Save on printing cost

Short run printing is less expensive for a few reasons. There is no creating of plates and there are no films, so money is saved there. With short run printing, the files go from computer to the printing machine.

Only print the number of books you need

Short run printing allows you to order only the number of books you need, which makes the overall price less than bulk printing. While bulk books are less expensive per book, short run book printing lets your print fewer books, so the overall prices is far less. This also means that you will only have the amount of books you need, no waste, no need for extra storage space.

Faster turnaround

Short run books are printed faster than traditionally printed books. This saves time for delivery. This way there is less lead time from when you place your order and the time it takes for you to be able to fulfill your own customers’ orders.

More book publishing options

Book publishers and authors benefits the most from short run book printing. On a limited budget, self-published or new authors can print professional books on a limited budget. Publishers no longer need to store large amounts of back copies, books can be printed when they are needed.

For more information on short run book printing, contact the Country Press.

Today's blog post is a simple and sincere note of thanks for allowing our business to be part of your lives.  It is our sincere wish that throughout this Holiday season, that you are surrounded by warmth, family, and friendship.  May you and all you hold dear return from the Holiday season safe, rewarded, and rested.  Sincere best regards to you all. 

Publishers and authors are still being affected by the economy. As a result, book printing estimates need to be better than ever. How many copies do you need? There is a solution to this constant question. Short Run Book Printing.

Short run book printing is a new, and basically risk free solution to printing the ‘right’ number of books.  Short run book printing allows authors and publishers to print a limited number of books; print only what is needed, from 11-5000.

You still need to consider multiple factors when deciding on the quantity of books to have printed, but with short run books you have much more flexibility. If you print too few, it is easy to print more.

One of the biggest advantages of short run printing, of course, is a smaller book printing cost when you are having fewer books printed. It also allows you the opportunity to gauge the response of the readers before ordering too many books. Therefore, less money is at stake.

Short run printing lets you control your budget and lets you edit the books after printing if you find any missed errors. Additionally, short run printing takes less time because you are printing fewer books. For more information on short run printing, contact The Country Press.

The publishing industry is seeing a dramatic increase in self-published authors.  As a result, more people who have had the dream of writing and publishing books are thinking of self-publishing. It is one thing to write a book, but quite another to sell it. Many potential self-published authors do not know how to market their book once it is written.

Short run books printers specializes in book design and book printing for self-published books. Short run printing is a service provided to authors and publishing companies who want to print a smaller number of books. Short run books can be used for promotional purposes, as giveaways, for book-fairs and as advance copies.

With short run printing, you can easily turn your masterpiece into a professional quality book. Most new or self-published authors don’t have a large budget for publishing and book printing. This is where short run printing comes into play. Rather than having a large cash outlay upfront for book printing, you can print what you need or what you can afford instead, anywhere from 11-5000 books.

If you need a small quantity of books to fill your distribution channel, and for marketing and promotion, The Country Press is a short run book printer who pays careful attention to detail.  For advance reader copies, also known as bound galleys, short run book printing is the best option.

Short run printing is a full range and cost effective service for authors, contact The Country Press, Inc.