Print on Demand

Print on Demand (POD), is a great way to self-publish.

• You retain 100% of the rights to your book.
• Your book gets published when you want it published.
• You become a published author of a physical book!
• You choose your royalties rather than negotiating with a traditional publisher.
• Your book is printed only if someone orders it. You don’t have to fill your spare room or garage with boxes of them.
• You choose your own cover design.
• Having both an ebook and a printed book gives you more credibility as an author and also gives you a wider potential readership.
• If you want to edit your book, it’s very straightforward and doesn’t involve wastage.
• You can sell it on your POD’s website AND your own if you have one.

Some Disadvantages

• You may have to purchase your own ISBN and Barcode although Createspace (now part of KDP) and Lulu can supply a free one.
• You will have to sort out all your own marketing.
• Colour interiors are VERY expensive.
• No choice in cover material, embossing, flaps or print inside front and back covers.
• Only two grades of paper for interiors, both on the thin side. The cream is slightly heavier.

Amazon’s KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing)

There are several POD publishers but Amazon KDP, which has taken over Createspace) has a distinct advantage as you can imagine. It lets you set up the whole process yourself if you’ve got the time and inclination, but even using a professional, the process is relatively inexpensive. you can also integrate it with your ebook version. Get in touch for a quotation.

If you have created your book interior, this calculator will tell you how thick your spine should be depending on paper type and number of pages. Note that books with less than 102 pages are not thick enough for a spine. KDP suggests 130 pages is safer. This can usually be easy to achieve with a largish font size, large margins and a few empty pages.

And for the cover, KDP now lets you choose your book size, enter the number of pages and you can download a template in various formats to work from.

If there is anything else I can help you with please let me know by email or complete the form.