Hey, gang, new to town so I’ll say “hello” and then get to my point.

I’m putting finishing touches on a novel manuscript and pondering the best print-on-demand company for my book. Initially I was drawn to lulu.com because of the simplicity of the set-up but, increasingly, I find Lightning Source attractive (cheaper per book cost and better potential for distribution to major bookstores/Amazon).

I’d welcome any experiences you might wish to share re: print-on-demand, any advice you’d care to proffer. I’ve been a self-publisher/indie guy for over 20 years but that was using the old, offset press technology, not these new-fangled PDFs, etc.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Look into Create Space. Setup costs are less than Lightning, and there’s an option to get into the big catalogs now, too. I think the value of those catalogs is limited, but the option’s there.

Using the “pro” option in Create Space is really worth it, in terms of break-even.

I’m curious what other people have to say about this, too.

Create Space was another one mentioned to me, as well. I’m going to register with Lightning Source, at least initially, until I can get some hard figures and do some informed comparisons. I note that I was e-mailed by a customer service rep from Lightning Source this morning, after signing up on the weekend so it does seem like they’re on the ball (so far).

I used iUniverse and cannot compare it with the others. It worked for me because The Unveiling was my first novel and they helped me structure my time and schedule the steps to be completed for publication once the draft manuscript was finished. The quality of the final product is excellent and very professional, but my husband is a digital artist and he designed the cover artwork. The turnaround time at each stage was good. I’m not sure how the costs compare with other POD publishers. iUniverse is always offering specials on new publishing contracts, but you have to pay extra if you want your books to be returnable at bookstores. The commission I get is 20%. My main complaint has been the high costs for all of the extra services they seem to push.

After extensively researching many options, I concluded that Outskirts Press offered the most control over every aspect of my novel, including setting the pricing, trade discount, everything. My ultimate goal was to end up with a volume that was as close to indistinguishable from a commercially-published book as possible. I think I came about 96% of the way to achieving it; both the hardcover and trade paperback formats are just beautiful.

There were a few glitches along the way, which were satisfactorily resolved after a bit of OCD yelling and screaming on my part. I edited, copyedited, and proofread the entire thing myself; a prodigious undertaking which required determination, patience, meticulous attention to every single tiny detail, and an admittedly arrogant conviction that I could bloody well do it as well as some faceless NYC editor. (Achieving this necessitated NINE revisions.) As for the fonts, layout, etc., my brilliant fabulous invaluable spouse did it for me, as well as designing an incredible cover, which would have cost me major bucks if I’d farmed it out to a graphics pro.

When it comes to cost, well, I suppose it’s all relative, isn‘t it? I paid considerably less than I would for a first-class air ticket to Dubuque. As in all things, you get what you pay for. Caveat emptor!

~Lannie~

Thanks, this is all great feedback–I’d like as much info and advice as possible before I commit to ANYONE.

I’ll second CreateSpace as the cheapest way to get POD produced and definitely spend the $39 for the Pro plan. The only problem with them is you have to provide .pdf files for both the interior and cover. But a small ad on Craig’s list can get this done for you very inexpensively. I’ve seen the “quality” of cover/interior design from companies iUniverse, Xlibris and it not very good. If you absolutely can’t get the design done yourself then use BookSurge (which is just CreateSpace but they also offer the design aspects)

Kee-rist. I downloaded a ream of material from Lightning Source. It’s a good thing I’ve done some publishing before because I don’t think theirs’ is the most “user friendly” approach. Nonetheless, I am plowing through it, educating myself, making sure to read the fine print. Perhaps their customer service reps will turn out to be helpful–judging from this mound of printed paper, they’d better be…

Hello! I’m new to this site, but am looking forward to being involved in this community. I maintain a not for profit research based website, called the Open Publishing Guide (opg.cias.rit.edu) We come out of the Open Publishing Lab (opl.rit.edu) at the Rochester Institute of Technology. I wanted to tell everyone in this group about our site. We also have a forum where we are looking for individuals to post print-on-demand experiences. Even if you don’t post, I hope you find our site helpful and informative!

I did a bunch of research myself last year and went with Lightning Source. Here’s a rundown of the key differences:

LS markets itself toward publishers, rather than authors — you need to have your own isbn, design, editing, etc, since they don’t offer any of these services. Your book will automatically show up on amazon US, international amazon sites, Barnes&noble.com, etc., and be available to libraries and book stores through the Ingram catalog (Ingram owns LS). The key advantage is that you can set your retail discount as little as 20% to these channels. (This will prevent brick and mortar stores from ordering your book, but in the vast majority of cases they weren’t going to anyway). At a 20% short discount, this means that if your book retails for $15, amazon takes $3, LS charges you around $5 to print it (depending on page count), and you make around $7 per book. If you have some sort of plan to get your book into retail outlets, you’re free to set your retailer discount higher. (For more information on LS and selling on amazon, I recommend Aaron Shepard’s “Aiming at Amazon”)

Createspace is owned by Amazon, and they do offer more services geared toward authors who are not as on top of the publishing game. They’re also much more user-friendly, since they actively market toward authors. Books automatically show up on Amazon US, but retail discount is set at a non-negotiable 55%. This means that if your book retails at $15, amazon will take $8.25, createspace will charge you around $5 to print it (depending on page count), and you’ll make around $3 per book. They also offer expanded distribution (international amazon sites, library catalogs, etc.) for an even higher retail discount.

I haven’t used Lulu myself, but my understanding is that their online cover design tools and tutorials are delightful. They charge more for printing that LS or CS, though, and books don’t show up for sale on other online retailers, only the Lulu store, making them a good option for hobbyists, but less so for people with loftier ambitions. I understand that it’s possible to utilize their deign tools and then take the finished product to another printer, FWIW.

Every other US Print-0n-Demand company (Outskirts, Xlibris, etc.) acts as a go-between from you to Lightning Source. They offer various packages for design, editing, marketing and so forth, then submit the book to LS for printing and distribution. Some offer better services and better deals than others, but if you plan to handle these things yourself, it’s worth doing the research to go straight to LS.

CreateSpace is good for distribution and price per book. The way I did it was to use Lulu for creating the interior PDF that I eventually sent to LSI. If you really want to save $, use Lulu’s cover creator and upload that PDF to LSI. Basically the same process of publishing with Lulu but you save on the price per book.

Good detailed advice–even better than what I was hoping for. Again, thanks for taking the time for the in-depth responses.
Authors and indie publishers aren’t in competition with each other, we’re colleagues, always quick to offer advice, support and, when required, a word of caution. Cheers!

For anyone who’s had to reformat their PDF’s–for Adobe or whatever format the printer in question is using: was it a complicated process? Did the translation into the new format go smoothly or were there glitches because of the different margins, etc.? I have about 30 footnotes in my novel (referring to previous cases my detective duo worked on) and I’m scared spitless they’re going to get bollocks-ed up in the reformatting from Mac (“Pages” word processing software) to Adobe Acrobat (or whatever).

Also: Any tricks for creating a file of cover and jacket art that will look fantastic when it’s printed?

Do tell…

I’m composing a lengthy list of questions for Lightning Source. Not touching the contract until I get clarification. Perhaps I’m misunderstanding but it seems like I pay one set-up fee for North America ($175-200) and another setup fee (same amount) if I want my book printed and sold in the U.K. Aren’t these PDF files transferable, zipped from one part of the world to another in nanoseconds? Similarly, there’s a $15.00 fee if I want to be listed in Lightning Source’s North American catalogue and, you guessed it, another $15.00 fee (or the equivalent in pounds) for the U.K. If that’s the case, I’m NOT a happy camper. I expect ONE FEE and when people start trying to add on costs, nickle and diming me, I get crazy. Will keep you apprised…

Here’s a pertinent question for my fellow self-publishers:

If companies like Lightning Source are doing so well by writers, why do they have to charge ANYTHING for set-up fees or catalogue listings? Why not derive their profits solely from the sale of their authors’ books? After all, they get a cut of every book they print to order.

I think the obvious answer is that despite the boasts of these folks, not enough of their books sell to make such a notion viable. They aren’t moving books in any appreciable quantity. Which means our books AREN’T getting into Amazon or Barnes & Noble (or wherever). So much for dangling that sweet fruit in front of us.

Just something to ponder as you’re debating which company to choose for your print-on-demand needs.

Any thoughts?