Frequently Asked Questions

Number one, you don't have to convince anybody but yourself that your book should be published. Making a good case to yourself for publication of a work you have created should not be difficult at all. No one else shares the high degree of enthusiasm you have for your own work. Why give a third party, with intentions, interests, and priorities different from your own, the final say? Self-publishing gives you total control.

Number two, if you have filled an existing void with your book and/or are able to create a demand for it, you will make more money than you would make with a standard publishing contract. Instead of a paltry 5 to 15% royalty, you could make 20 to 80% of the purchase price. Once your self-published book is successful, you can negotiate with a larger publisher from a position of experience and strength.

Number three, you can see your book in print within a few weeks, or at most a few months, of your manuscript completion. The larger publishers most often work on an 18-month cycle, and that is just too long to wait.

Number four, you can get distribution for your book through Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com just as easily as Dell and Random House can for their books.

Number five, you can preserve your own heritage, or that of your community or club or whatever, in an inexpensive, quality format. Not everyone publishes to make a profit. Maybe you just want to leave a legacy with your family or share what you have learned with others. Your offspring and relatives will appreciate a perfect-bound book with a color cover about your childhood or war experiences or travel adventures far more than a musty photo album and loose double-spaced pages of manuscript.

Last Update: 08-01-2008

You can do it easily and do it well with the help provided here. You have probably produced a flyer or handout in your life. If so, you already have some self-publishing experience. Producing your completed book involves more work of course; and, you must overcome the inertia of just sitting there wishing you had a self-published book.

To exorcise the demon of the self-publishing doldrums, sing heartily to yourself. A song will spur and whip a lethargic mind to action. I'll even supply the words to your song:

Doubters and pessimists, come take a look!
Yessirree, I'm going to publish my book.
So dress me up and take me to the prom,
Thanks for the help, RJ com.

Follow the advice here and before long, your biggest problem just might be fending off the flunkies, flatterers, and parasites who dog the heels of the rich and famous!

Last Update: 08-05-2008

The old saying "the first copy of your book costs a whole lot, but they're pretty inexpensive after that" holds as true today as it did a hundred years ago. The setup charges are the same no matter what the quantity. The higher the setup cost, the larger the print run needed to amortize these costs into an acceptable unit cost.

Whether you are printing a black-and-white novel or a full-color coffee table book today's technology has reduced these setup costs. Only a few years ago, typesetting made up a major portion of a book project's setup costs. Then, a standard 6 x 9 page cost between $6 and $10 to typeset and proofread. A project requiring two or three rounds of galley proofs and a set or two of page proofs could easily run that cost up to $15 or $20 per page. That meant that a 256-page book would cost $4,000 to $5,000 before you even got to the printer, who would then have to shoot and strip negatives at a cost of perhaps $7,500.

Today, the $600 computer with basic word processing software has replaced the type houses of old. The laser printer has replaced expensive photo paper and chemicals. New printing techniques bypass film completely. The average savings to the small publisher amount to as much as $6,500 per title. As a result, writers can put their own books into publication cost-effectively in relatively low quantities.

Last Update: 08-05-2008

Absolutely! By publishing your first book, your activities in that regard are a publishing operation. You might as well name it and get a P.O. box. If you have Mailboxes, or a UPS store nearby, rent one of their boxes and your address will sound better: 1050 Pine Tree Boulevard, Suite 116, for example. Suite 116 at Mailboxes, Etc. is very, very small--but nobody will know that but you. You can even use your home address for your new publishing company. Just add "Suite 102" and the publishing giants will have nothing on you, address-wise.

You need a publishing company to get your ISBNs (International Standard Book Numbers) and LCCNs (Library of Congress Catalog Numbers) associated with you. Most of the companies who assist self-publishers will supply the ISBN and LCCN for your book for a small fee usually built into their price. But then, these numbers will always be associated with them, not you! You can purchase either a single ISBN or a block of ten. Be determined to use most of them if not all. Your first book may be good, but it just might be your fifth or sixth book that becomes a blockbuster! Once you have the experience of publishing your own book under your belt, you can help other writers get published--through your company using one of your ISBNs.

Naming your company takes some thought. Don't be hokey, now! What do I mean by that? Naming my publishing company "Bob Johnson Publishing" would be hokey. Come up with a simple name that is easy to remember, descriptive, and will not limit you in the future. If your first book is a children's book and you name your company "Child's Play Publishing," for example, you won't be able to add teenage and adult books to your list without changing the name. Once you have narrowed your choices, check these resources in the library to avoid company name duplication: Small Press Record of Books, Publishers Directory by Gale Research, and Books in Print.

The basic business structures are sole proprietorship, partnership, and corporation. Most first-time publishers choose sole proprietorship because it's the easiest to form. You're a taxpayer, so get any business help you may need from the Small Business Administration (SBA).

Have a simple logo designed for yourself, order letterhead paper, envelopes, and business cards, and you''re really in business.

Last Update: 08-05-2008

Linda and Jim Salisbury, the authors of Smart Self-Publishing define subsidy press as “a publishing company that applies its ISBN to a book and charges the author for the cost of production. The author receives only a few copies of the book, and is promised royalties on those copies that might be sold by the subsidy press.” They define vanity press as “another term for a subsidy press. It implies that the published book has no value other than to stroke the author’s ego.” So a vanity press and a subsidy press are basically the same. I responded to the ads for two subsidy presses in a national magazine and a week later received their introductory packets. Both of them were very slick and impressive—on the surface. I must commend the first one for its “Word of caution about financial returns.” They write: “No one can predict how a book will sell and, consequently, how much of your fee you are likely to regain by publishing your work with us. Some authors have received satisfactory returns. Others, however, did not find the market receptive and their financial rewards have been negligible. On the other hand, if financial success is not your prime concern, and if personal satisfaction ranks high in your desire for publication, then by all means consider [our subsidy publishing program].” If you have money to burn and only want a few books, this may be the way to go. If you don’t have money to burn, the subsidy process will work something like this: step one, send in your manuscript for evaluation; step two, sign a contract for between $5,000 and $10,000; step three, go to the bank to get a second mortgage or use your 18% credit card to make the payment; step four, get a few copies of your finished book; step five, experience acute attacks of buyer’s remorse, while continuing to make payments on your mortgage or credit card for the next five or ten years. The second subsidy publisher was less up-front, but pretty much the same story as the first. Book packaging is different than subsidy or vanity publishing. Some companies specialize in it. A book packager acts as an independent contractor to bring a predetermined number of your books into being. All the books belong to you. Book packagers work for a pre-set fee, and all the profits are yours. When I showed off my self-published books at a writers’ group meeting, one of the members asked me how I did it. She hired me to produce her book because she didn’t want to be bothered with the details. Just like that, I was a book packager! You can do the same with your book(s). The people at Self Publishing make it easy for you to become your own packager and publisher, saving thousands of dollars in the process.

Last Update: 08-05-2008

Recently, a hybrid of a book packager and a subsidy publisher, called a cooperative publisher, has emerged in the marketplace. Like the book packager, the author enters into a publishing agreement with the cooperative publisher to produce a fixed number of books for a fixed amount of dollars. When the printing is complete, a certain number of these books are the sole property of the author and the rest are used for joint marketing and sales. This agreement is for a fixed period of time during which, if the book sells out, the cooperative publisher will reprint the book at his expense. Royalties of 50% of net revenue on the initial printing are paid twice a year. As with the subsidy press, the author uses the cooperative publisher’s ISBN number. An example of this type of publisher is Rutledge Press, Inc. in Connecticut. NOTE: We can use remodeling your kitchen as an example to compare the Self Publishing.com method with the cooperative press. The easiest (and most expensive) method is to hire a general contractor to purchase materials and coordinate all the components that go into the new kitchen (i.e. cooperative press). The Self Publishing.com method is much like the “do it yourself” way where the individual (author) coordinates all the phases of production. This method takes more time and dedication but is significantly less expensive and to most, who have tried, more rewarding.

Last Update: 08-05-2008

On-demand publishers set up your digital manuscript to be printed one book at a time using a Docu-tech. You pay a set fee of between $350 and $1,250 and receive in return one hardback copy of your book and one softback copy. If they set the retail price of the softback at $18, say, then each additional book you order from them costs you $10.80 (40% off the retail price). If a bookstore, wholesaler, or on-line bookseller orders your book, you receive a royalty ranging from $1 to $2.30 per book. Think about it from a strictly business point of view. Every time you sell a book that you’ve paid for and published through Self Publishing.com, you recoup the cost of that book and more—perhaps double or even triple the cost. The sale of a book through an on-demand publisher recoups only a small percentage of that book’s cost for you. If you don’t think you can sell any more than five or ten or twenty books of a new title, on-demand is the way to go. If you think you can sell at least a hundred books, you want to stick with Self Publishing.com. On-demand printing also allows publishers to economically keep a book in print that may sell only a handful of copies per month after the book has run its course in the marketplace.

Last Update: 08-05-2008

It is no secret that computers of all types are an integral part of nearly everyone’s life. The idea of e-publishing has been the darling of a certain crowd since the early part of the decade. Tens of millions of venture capital dollars have been dumped into the concept that people have grown tired of reading paper bound books and will jump at the
idea of staring at a computer screen to fill their reading needs. The first round of e-publishing died off the second the venture capital money ran out. Book people were book people—period. The e concept is attractive for a variety of reasons, with the main one being that the production costs are pretty much non-existent. The idea of cutting the printer out of the picture is not new. The problem is getting the consumer on board and I just don’t see it happening
anytime soon. It’s not that it doesn’t work at all. You might be reading the e-version of the publishing basics book right now but I’ll bet you a dozen donuts that if you are, you have printed out the PDF and are reading a pile of printed paper. Another situation perfect for e-books are study guides, such as Cliff ’s Notes. Picture yourself back in college on a Sunday night and you are just getting around to studying for a test in the morning. The bookstores are closed so the only way you can get your hands on the material is to go online and buy the e-book. But even in this example, couldn’t the study guide people do just as well offering the same information for a fee, on their Web site? Absolutely.

The latest entry into the black hole money trap of e-publishing is Amazon with their Kindle reader. All of the press clippings would have you believe that every other person out there is shelling out $399 and reading their books on their Kindle. Actually, if you read in-between the lines a little on the latest press hype, all of the Kindle functions except for the reading of books are mentioned. One last note on the subject; I ride the train to and from work each day with four hundred thousand other commuters into New York City. I take an informal poll each day of who is doing what to entertain themselves during the hour commute. I have yet to see a single person with a Kindle doing anything, much less reading an e-book. How about you?
Have you seen one? That’s what I thought.
The race is not over and it’s hard to say exactly how it will turn
out, but for now my advice is to save your money. It’s less clear than ever whether the e-book will be the next CD or MP3 or just another 8-track.

Last Update: 08-05-2008

If you have an image that you want to print to the edge of the book, then that image "bleeds". This is often done on book covers. For the printer to be able to trim the books so that the image is at the edge there must be some part of the image that gets trimmed off (or else you will have a white stripe of the paper showing). The amount that gets trimmed off is the "bleed", and printers require a minimum of .125" (.25" is preferable especially for children's book pages). So, be sure that you set up your files so that you have enough image to go beyond your trim. In other words, a 6 x 9" cover that bleeds all 3 sides on the front will really be a minimum of 6-1/8 x 9-1/4". And a children's book that is 8 x 8 will have pages that are 8-1/2 x 8-1/2"

Last Update: 08-05-2008

Turn to page 1 of any book. Then turn the page. The back of page 1 is page 2. Then comes page 3, and the back of page 3 is page 4, and so on. Odd-numbered pages are always on the right, and even-numbered pages are always on the left. I know this seems so obvious, but counting pages is one of the single most misunderstood simple things in printing. Self Publishing has received its share of manuscripts with the pages numbered 1F and 1B (1Front and 1Back), 2F and 2B, and so on, instead of 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. And yet, have any of us ever seen a book in print with pages numbered 1F, 1B, 2F, 2B, 3F, 3B, etc.? Could it be mind-numbing x-rays emanating from the copy machines at Kinko's which are causing this confusion? Remember that every page counts as a page whether it is blank or part of the text, numbered or not.

Last Update: 08-05-2008

These are related in that they all print and wrap around the text pages of your book. A cover is the term we use to describe what wraps around a paperback book. Jackets and casewraps are on hard cover books. The difference here is that a jacket is loose (i.e. it can be removed from the book) and has flaps. Casewraps are more like a "cover" in that they wrap the binder board, which is what wrap your text pages. Casewraps are typically used on children's books, field guides, cookbooks and short run hard cover guides.

Last Update: 08-05-2008

All of the books in the Self Publishing children’s book program will have a printed casewrap. Casewraps are what "wrap" the boards used in the hardcover binding and they go underneath the endpapers. Typically, a jacket is visually the same as the casewrap, but it is loose (i.e. it can be removed from the book, just the way we can take off a jacket). The advantage of having a jacket is that it allows you to have flaps, which are the parts that turn in at the front and the back of the book. Flaps are used to tell a bit about the book (front flap) and the author and illustrator (back flap). In other words the flaps are real estate that you use to sell your book. Many readers feel that the perceived value of a book is greater if there is a jacket. On the other hand, many parents tell me that their children just rip the jackets anyway, so they remove them as soon as they buy a book. The choice is yours. The bottom line is that the jackets do add a bit to the cost, but the choice is yours.

Last Update: 08-05-2008

No. The white of the paper never counts as a color. A one-color cover is one ink-color on white paper, so unless you fill up the whole cover with that ink-it could be black or red or green or any other color-you'll have contrast. You start with blank cover stock, you add one ink to it, and you have a one-color cover. A two-color cover is two colors on white, and a three-color cover is three colors on white. Designers often use screens to get other tints or colors without having to pay for them. For example, a 50% screen used with black will yield a gray in the area screened, and a 50% screen of red will yield a pink, and so on. In addition, the combination of two screens gives you the effect of a third color. (I.e. blue plus yellow equals green, yellow plus red equals brown and so forth.) Once you get to four-color the rules change. Sometimes people new to publishing make the mistake of not thinking of black as a color. It surely is. The confusion comes in because we contrast black-and-white movies with those that are "in color." A book cover printed in black and red is a two-color job. What color ink will you be using for the text of your book? Black!

Last Update: 08-05-2008

Trim size relates to subject matter and perceived value. There are five basic trim sizes. The mass market paperback size is 4 x 6.875". This size is associated with both fiction and nonfiction, and it represents the low end of the retail price range. Short-run methods do not efficiently produce this size. You need a press run of about 10,000 books to obtain a unit cost that works with a standard pricing formula. The small publisher answer to this is 5 x 8". This is not really a standard big publiher size. but it is very press efficient on the short run digital printing equipment.The trade paperback size can be either 5-1/2 x 8-1/2 or 6 x 9. For quantities under 500, the actual trim size is closer to 5-1/4 x 8-1/4 due to short run equipment limitations. The 6 x 9 size does not work efficiently on most of the short-run processes. A standard Docu-tech is limited to printing only four 6 x 9 pages at a time, versus eight pages at a time using a trim size of 5-1/4 x 8-1/4. If you are running at least 500 copies the 6 x 9 trim size costs only about 5% more than the 5-1/2 x 8-1/2. Trade paperback books carry a higher retail price than mass-market books. Trade paperbacks are also sometimes called "quality paperbacks." Generally, the "quality" refers to the offset paper usually used in trade paperbacks versus the groundwood sheets used in mass-market paperbacks. The textbook size is 7 x 10. Many software manuals and cookbooks are also printed in this size. The workbook size is 8-1/2 x 11. This size is a standard size for both short-run and long-run equipment. "How to" books and other nonfiction subjects fit well with this trim size. You would never consider this size for a novel. For short runs, there's no price difference between this size and the 7 x 10.

Last Update: 08-05-2008

I believe a personal anecdote can best answer this question. Several years ago I produced a monthly ad-supported comedy magazine called the “Broadneck Baloney”. It was thirty-two 8-1/2 x 11 self-covered pages, printed in two colors on 50# offset paper, and the circulation was 10,000. Although I live in Maryland, I got the lowest price from a firm in Dover, Delaware, that used a huge web press that printed all 32 pages at the same time. It took them less than two hours to strip, print, fold, and staple my publication. Of course, they were very busy and I had to schedule my time on their press in advance if I wanted to meet my first-of-the-month publication date. During this period, a local printer did my letterhead, business cards, and flyers. He also distributed about a hundred of my Broadneck Baloneys to his other customers each month. He wanted to give me a price on the Baloney. Without telling him the price I was getting in Dover, I told him he couldn’t possibly beat it. He insisted. I said okay. Several days later, he sent me a written bid. It read that he would be so kind as to print 10,000 copies of Broadneck Baloney for a mere $8,260. I was paying $1,240 in Dover. Yes, I could have just gone to my local printer to have my comedy magazine manufactured on his one-color press that printed two pages at a time—if it weren’t for that $7,020 I’d be throwing out the window! What is true of magazines in this regard is true of books. One of the many advantages of working with Self Publishing is that their experts will make certain that the printer with the right press for your specifications prints your book.

Last Update: 08-05-2008

Generally the answer is no. Paper, plates, and ink—the main materials in the printing process—cost the same here as they do anywhere else in the world. Printing presses and other related equipment cost the same no matter where you go and must be maintained the same way worldwide. We in the United States actually pay less for uncoated book paper than foreign consumers because the paper mills are right here. Many foreign countries do have an advantage in labor rates, but it is a small one. Let’s say that the unit cost of a book is $4, and $3 of that represents the cost of materials. That leaves only $1 that can be discounted. If the foreign labor rate is one-fourth that of the U.S., there is a savings of 75 cents per book, but they still must be shipped. In the end, the total savings amounts to pennies, if that. When you factor in the time needed for your books to reach the U.S. by boat, foreign printing looks even less attractive.

Last Update: 08-05-2008

Not counting books used for promotion, you shouldn’t print a single book more than you can sell. If your book size is 5 x 8, 5-1/2 x 8-1/2, 6 x 9, 7 x 10 or 8-1/2 x 11, you can get instant prices at Self Publishing. Quantities for 5-1/2 x 8-1/2, 6 x 9, and 8-1/2 x 11 start as low as a hundred. You know what your budget is. Get prices on 100, 500, 1,000 or other appropriate amounts and think it through. The larger the quantity, the lower the unit cost. But what good is the lowest unit cost if most of the books stay stacked up in the garage? When you are analyzing your unit cost, keep in mind that you will have to offer large distributors like Amazon.com something like a 60% discount off the retail price for them to sell your book.

Last Update: 08-05-2008

The costs to send and return your proofs to you and the printer (typically an overnight courier charge) and the actual freight charges to ship the books to their final destination are not on your original quotation or purchase order. Also, the final count can vary by 5%, so you may be charged for “extras” or credited should we be “under”.

Last Update: 08-05-2008

I believe you can find ways if you put your mind to it. I have been fortunate enough to do it with one of my self-published books, Soups and Stories from the Realm of Queen Arnold. First, let me tell you how that book came about. Dick Elms, a retired printer and proofreader, and a neighbor of mine, had fifty fabulous soup recipes he wanted to publish. That didn't seem like enough for a book. As Penrod Waterman, I had published eight short stories over the years, but that was not enough to carry a book either. So we invented the great queen and her mythical realm.

Queen Arnold, as it turns out, arrived on Broadneck (a peninsula just north of Annapolis, Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay) from England on the seventh day of the seventh month of the 777th year with her party of 777 men, women, and children. Known for her enthralling sensual magnetism, her exuberant mirth, her extraordinary vivacity, her flawless beauty, her blunt rusticity, and her kiss-provoking lips, Queen Arnold ruled over an ideal realm for 77 years. Back then, the Arnoldites ate soup just before darkness oozed around the forest; then, as delicately emerging stars and small campfires magnified the subduing charm of the woods, peerless raconteurs began to amuse and enchant young and old alike with fabulous stories.

I made sure the book made money by pre-selling 800 of them. In exchange for suggesting their wines as appropriate accompaniments with each of the fifty soup recipes, a group of affiliated wineries bought 400 of the books at just below the retail price. We dedicated the book to the memory of a great soup-making grandmother whose family still owned a local wine and spirits shop. They bought 200 to sell in their store. Then in the acknowledgments, we touted a local tree service as the most environmentally concerned and historically sensitive in the world. They bought 200 from us to give as gifts to their preferred customers in the Arnold area.

Not every book lends itself to these kinds of sales, but perhaps this example will inspire you to think of some pre-publication connections you can make.

Last Update: 08-05-2008

No, and the reason for this is because we are using direct-to-plate technology with your PDF files, so we do all of the same steps all over again. You may be able to skip seeing a proof though and that could save you a bit of time, but there is no monetary savings for reprinting.

Last Update: 08-05-2008

The law grants you copyright protection automatically upon the creation of your work. Your work need not be completed to be protected! You own the copyright on your work as you create it. No publication or registration or other action in the U.S. Copyright Office is required to secure copyright. There are, however, definite advantages to registration. Among these are the following: Registration establishes a public record of the copyright claim. Before an infringement suit may be filed in court, registration is necessary for works of U.S. origin. If made before or within five years of publication, registration will establish prima facie evidence in court of the validity of the copyright and of the facts stated in the certificate. If registration is made within three months after publication of the work or prior to an infringement of the work, statutory damages and attorney’s fees will be available to the copyright owner in court actions. Otherwise, only an award of actual damages and profits is available to the copyright owner. Registration allows the owner of the copyright to record the registration with the U.S. Customs Service for protection against the importation of infringing copies. The copyright notice, which appears on your published books should include the name of the copyright owner, the year of first publication, and the word copyright or the symbol ©. When the copyright notice appears, an infringer cannot claim that he or she did not realize the work was protected. You, as author and copyright owner, are wise to place a copyright notice on any unpublished copies of your work, or portions there of, that leave your control. The use of the copyright notice is your responsibility and does not require advance permission from, or registration with, the Copyright Office. Your copyright lasts from the moment of your work’s creation (when it first appears in tangible form) until 70 years after your death. The copyright for a work prepared jointly by two or more authors lasts for 70 years after the last surviving author’s death.

Last Update: 08-05-2008

Every good word processor today gives you access to important characters that do not appear on the keyboard. They are called ANSI and ASCII character sets. To get the © character make sure the “Num Lock” key on the right-hand side of your PC is on, and use those numbers (the numbers at the top of the keyboard will not work). Now, hold down the “Alt” key and press 0169. When you release the “Alt” key, © will appear where your cursor is.

Last Update: 08-05-2008

The ISBN for your book is easily translated into a worldwide compatible bar code format called a Bookland EAN (European Article Number). Every bookstore chain and most smaller bookshops use bar code scanning at the checkout register. If you didn’t know that, you haven’t been to a bookstore in the last ten years, and I’d say it’s time for you to visit one. Putting the bar code on your book is part of the book cover designer’s job, and it’s a simple one. Using a software program, the designer types in your ISBN and out pops the bar code in just the right place on your back cover. You can put your book’s retail price near the bar code on the back cover if you want to. That doesn’t mean that retailers will always have to charge the full amount. Using their computers, they can tie your Bookland EAN code to a sale price, and that’s what will appear on the register when your book is scanned. If you are using a bar code, it must be black or a color dark enough to be scanned. Keep this in mind when counting the number of colors on your cover.

Last Update: 08-05-2008

Digital Printing

Because it is relatively new, digital printing gets a lot of attention these days. Digital is associated with on-demand, which is associated with short runs, low cost, and fast turnarounds. Do most on-demand printers live up to the hype? Not really but… it’s better than it was even a few years ago and it’s definitely here to stay. Is this process fast for short runs of books? Sure it is. Is it less expensive than other forms of short-run printing? Until a few years ago, despite the hype, the answer was no. Now the answer is yes, depending on the company, equipment, and pricing philosophy. Self Publishing used short run offset for all quantities from 100 to 500 up until about a four or five years ago because it was less expensive than digital. That is no longer the case. The path to the new “economies” of digital printing probably started with the entrance of competition on the equipment side of the equation. Where Xerox once enjoyed a near monopoly, there are now many newcomers to the field of digital printing. Increased competition on the equipment side has had a general lowering effect on the price of all digital book printing. What are the strengths of digital printing? A digital press can take the digital files from your computer and go right to print. In the case of text type, it’s hard to tell the difference between the different types of equipment. What is the major weakness of digital printing? There is no real quantity discount. Your unit cost stays more or less the same no matter what quantity you print. That’s great if you want a small number of copies but not so great if you want several thousand copies. Digital “printing” is generally more expensive than offset in quantities over 500-600.

Short-run Offset

Short-run offset printing is a scaled-down version of the traditional book manufacturing process. The average short-run press prints 8 pages of a 51/2 x 81/2 book at a time, as compared with 32, 64, or 128 pages at a time on the traditional sheetfed book press. While the traditional sheetfed press uses metal plates, the short-run press uses less-expensive paper plates made directly from your laser-printed text. Advantage: no pesky electronic files moving to where you don’t want them. If it shows on your laser copy, it will print the same way. The finishing processes for digital and short-run offset are essentially the same. The sheets go to “little” collators, and then to “little” perfect or case binders, and then to “little” cutters to complete the book. Short-run offset is real printing. Your book looks like a book, feels like a book, and smells like a book. The only real downsides are that the ink density from the front to the back of the sheet may vary a bit, and the paper plates do not do the best job with halftones. Short-run offset is about 25% higher than digital printing on quantities of 100 and falls to only about10% higher on quantities of 400-500. Self Publishing only uses this process when specifically requested by the customer.

Traditional Sheetfed Printing

The traditional sheetfed press has little use in today’s book manufacturing. I can almost guarantee that if your book is being printed on a sheetfed offset press; you are paying more than you need to. This method used to fill the gap between short-run sheetfed and web. That is no longer true due to the fact that the newer web presses are efficient right down to around 500 copies, where the short-run presses leave off. There is still room for traditional sheetfed printing. Most book webs and all digital presses cannot print on coated paper. A sheetfed press using metal plates on coated paper does a much better job on halftones than any other process. Using a standard paper and trim size, the traditional sheetfed press cannot compete with modern web presses. If you want coated glossy paper for a lot of halftones, and/or your book has an odd trim size, traditional sheetfed printing may be the best for you.

Web Offset

A web press prints on rolls of paper, which are cheaper than sheets; and at the end of the press run, it delivers a folded signature instead of a flat sheet, thus consolidating two book manufacturing processes. Running speeds sometimes exceed 25,000 impressions per hour. This compares with about 2,000 per hour on the short-run presses and about 5,000 per hour on the larger sheetfed presses. Makeready spoilage used to be very high on web presses, making them economical only on quantities over 5,000 or so. This has all changed for those printers who have replaced decades-old webs with the more efficient up-to-date machinery. Modern-day makereadies are extremely efficient and spoilage is low. The advantages of a web press are speed and low cost. If you are printing more than 500 copies of a standard-sized book on uncoated paper, there are no disadvantages to printing on the web.

Last Update: 08-05-2008

The answer to this question is different than it was just a few years ago. Technology has changed in that short time, and that is why we are printing full color books in the USA! Today, if you have a PDF file, there no longer is a reason to go overseas to print your full-color children’s book. If you do not have a PDF file Self Publishing can assist you. They will layout your book for an incredibly reasonable price. The price is based on you providing artwork and text as electronic material. If you have original artwork that needs scanning, then there is an additional fee for that. Being able to print full-color books in the USA is something we are very excited about. Now publishers can print as few as 1,000 copies of a hardcover children’s book right here in the USA and books can be ready much faster and there are no custom’s fees and no hassle of getting books delivered from a port. The books we manufacture are all the same specifications we had before too.

Last Update: 08-05-2008

No matter how good your book is, you cannot sell your book for a price much higher than the current "market" price. The stores/consumers couldn't care less what you paid to print the book. They only care what the retail price of the book is as compared to other books in the category. Large publishers sell a 32-page paperback color children's book for as low as $1.29 and never higher than three or four dollars. In order to retail books for that price the publisher needs to be able to buy them from the printer for between twenty-five cents and seventy-five cents each. How do they do that? They print 50,000 to 100,000 copies at a time and usually group four to six different titles at a time for a total of 200,000 to 600,000 books. The truth is, you are not going to print in these quantities so you are not going to get these printing prices so you are not going to be able to sell at the same retail price. In short you can't compete. Hardcover books are different. Even the large publishers print much lower quantities of hardcover books. The result is that their printing costs are higher and their retail costs are higher. Add to this that the large publishers have much higher fixed costs and the result is that you, as a small press publisher, can compete with the large publishers by only buying 1,000 copies and up.

Last Update: 08-05-2008

Yes, that is fine. We just called our program that, but your book can be about any subject and that is why our pricing goes up beyond what is a typical page count for a children's book. The truth is, the printing press doesn't care what it is printing as long as it is full-color!

Last Update: 08-05-2008

The term four-color refers to the three process colors of yellow, cyan (blue), and magenta (red) plus black. From these four colors printed in screens of dots, one on top of the other, you can make almost all the colors in the spectrum. Anytime you see a "full-color" photograph printed in a book or magazine, its four-color process. Anytime a cover looks like it has more than two colors, it's probably a four-color cover. The next time you notice a blurry picture in a color newspaper, take a closer look and you'll see how the process works. The picture is blurry because the press was "out of register." Perhaps the cyan ink didn't drop precisely on top of the yellow ink. Sometimes the register is so bad you can actually see the different-color dots.

Last Update: 08-05-2008

BISAC stands for Book Industry Standards and Communications. Sometimes referred to as a "Book Industry Subject and Category" code, BISAC codes are numbers assigned to books to more easily categorize them for retailers, distributors and libraries. When you fill out the Books in Print form, you'll be asked for three BISAC codes that best describe your book's subject. Baker & Taylor, one of the major book distributors, also requires them if you register a title with them. You can review and choose BISAC codes at the Web site for the Book Industry Study Group (http://www.bisg.org/standards/bisac_subject/major_subjects.html). If you're not sure what code best fits your book, check out similar books at your bookstore or library and see what codes were chosen for them.

Last Update: 08-08-2008

A POD Publisher is a publisher who publishes books strictly on an as needed basis using a POD printer. They carry no inventory and sell on an as needed basis. While a handful of legitimate POD publishers do exist, most POD publishers are Vanity Press Publishers who charge authors a premium to publish their book.

Last Update: 08-10-2008

Under the strict definition of the term, there are very few true POD printers (one book at a time). Under the evolved definition (short run) there are many. Whatever the case, the printer is the one who actually owns the equipment that prints and binds the books.

Last Update: 08-10-2008

Self Publishing is made up of two words: Self which refers to you (self) in the first person and Publishing which implies there is a Publisher as in a Publishing company. In order to be recognized as a publishing company by the book industry you need to own a series ISBN numbers. NOBODY can sell, give or assign you an ISBN except for RR Bowker, the North American ISBN agency. If you did not buy an ISBN directly from RR Bowker, or through one of their authorized agents as listed at their web site, you are not a publisher, therefore you are not a self-publisher. You might be an author who paid a Vanity Press to publish your book so you can call yourself a “Published Author”, but you are not a self-publisher.

Last Update: 08-10-2008

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a thirteen-digit number (it used to be ten-digits) that uniquely identifies books and book like products published internationally. The purpose of the ISBN is to establish and identify one title or edition of a title from one specific publisher and is unique to that edition, allowing for more efficient marketing of products by booksellers, libraries, universities, wholesalers, and distributors. If you have established your own publishing company—basically a name and an address to begin with—you can purchase ISBN numbers from R. R. Bowker, the U.S. agency licensed to sell them or from Self Publishing.com (an authorized agent of R. R. Bowker). If you are producing a softback and hardback version of your book, you will need two different ISBN numbers to identify them. The ISBN is printed on the copyright page of hardback and softback books, and on the lower portion of the back cover of softback books above the bar code. Some major publishers place the ISBN on the back of hardback books, and some don’t, it really doesn’t matter. Let’s say you have started a publishing company and published your first book, assigning to it the first of your ten ISBNs you purchased. Be sure that when you have finished copies of your book, that you go back to R. R. Bowker, the database of record of the ISBN Agency and do what is required to be listed in Books in Print. This is a very important directory used by many bookstores. And always be sure to put your ISBN on all your promotional literature.

Last Update: 08-18-2008

Your work is copyrighted as soon as you say it is. IE: Copyright, 2008 Ron Pramschufer means Ron Pramschufer owns the copyright. The copyright symbol also works. You can formally file for the copyright through the US Copyright office. This can be done at either the manuscript or finished book stage. The copyright office website is http://www.copyright.gov.

Last Update: 08-19-2008

It's a good idea to get one if you plan to sell your book to libraries, but you don't have to have it printed in the book itself (so it's OK if you do apply for it while your book is printing). All you have to do is apply for a Library of Congress (LC) Pre-Assigned Card Catalog Number (PCN). It doesn't cost anything and it can be ordered for any book over fifty pages (genealogies and children's books fewer than fifty pages are an exception to this rule). The Library of Congress Web site is www.loc.gov.
Last Update: 08-19-2008

There is no cost for a basic website for any book participating in the Thor Distribution program. Larger custom websites are quoted on a case by case basis with costs ranging from $1000 on up, depending on functionality.

Last Update: 09-03-2008

We use the word "text" to describe everything that is in the interior  of the book, not just the words. So, if you have artwork or photos, that is all part of the "text". If the artwork or photos are black and white, then your "text" is one-color (black). If your artwork or photos or you have anything in color, then your "text" is full color.

Last Update: 10-07-2008

Yes. The ISBN is what defines you as the publisher. There is no difference at that point between you and Random House except for the fact that Random House publishes more titles than you. You assign one of these numbers to your book. Once you own the ISBN, it remains the same for the life of the book. You can change printers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers, or whatever else you want-the book remains yours. If, ten years from now, someone orders a copy of your book, you, as the publisher, will get the order. If you don't own the number, the person who does will get the order.

Last Update: 10-07-2008

No. The most common tactic used by today's vanity/subsidy presses is to tell you that they will "assign" or "sell" you an ISBN. They lead you to believe that your book is registered in your name and reinforce this by telling you "You retain all the rights." Nobody can give you or assign you a number. They can let you use one of their numbers, but you do not own it.

Last Update: 10-07-2008

R R Bowker (and Self Publishing as their agent) can only assign ISBNs to publishers or authors who have United States addresses. At ISBN.org you will find links for agents in other countries.

Last Update: 03-10-2009

CPSIA refers to the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (2008) where the amounts of lead and other heavy metals in any product for children was to be regulated. Book manufacturing does not typically include any of these metals, but the law went through with books included. Then in August 2011, books were exempt from these testing requirements, so you no longer need to have any sentence in your book about materials used, nor are book manufacturers required to provide any test results. If a bookseller, or anyone you are selling books to says otherwise, they are incorrect.

Last Update: 08-26-2009

An ISBN gets placed on the copyright page and, if there is no bar code, on the back cover.

Last Update: 09-17-2009

An ISBN is a number. A bar code is the graphic with vertical lines that encodes numerical information for scanning purposes. An ISBN and a bar code are two different things.

Last Update: 09-17-2009

No, and they do not have to be assigned, but they can be.

Last Update: 09-17-2009

Yes. Each language version is a different product.

Last Update: 09-17-2009

No. The ISBN only changes if the product changes.

Last Update: 09-17-2009

US practice is if the book is just out or the idea is to give marketing a boost to the product, then no, a new ISBN should not be assigned. However, if the change in cover substantially changes the product (ie., would lead to customer complaints), thena  new ISBN should be used.

Last Update: 09-17-2009

No.

Last Update: 09-17-2009

No, once a title is published with an ISBN in it, the ISBN can never be used again. Even if a title goes out of print, the ISBN cannot be reused since the title continues to be catalogued by libraries and traded by used booksellers.

Last Update: 09-17-2009

A reprint means more copies are being printed with no substantial changes. Perhaps a few typos are being fixed. A new edition means that there has been a substantial change: content has been altered in a way that might make a customer complain that this was not the product that was expected. Or, text has been changed to add a new feature, such as a preface or appendix or additional content. Or, content has been revised.

Last Update: 09-17-2009