Print on Demand… So You’reFinally Going to Write that Book
The Background
Over the last eighteen months, I wrote a book in honor of the upcoming graduations of my children from High School and college. I had no aspirations of being the next Max Lucado or John McArthur. My goal was to do “vanity publishing” giving copies to all students graduating from within my church. Thus begins the tale.
The Research
In recent years, the paradigm has changed. At one time, most companies would print a set number of copies, charge you, and deliver boxes to your garage. If it sold, you sold it. You were your own distributor. Today, your creative tome resides on a somewhere in the world hard drive and you’re listed in places like Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com. When someone places an order, a full color high end machine pops off the required number of copies and they’re mailed to the buyer. Bookstores order in the same way with wholesale discounts built into the fully automated process.
The Experience...
The biggest variable is cost. I was amazed at the pricing differences between publishing houses for essentially the same service. Their websites are slick, well constructed and designed to hit all the hot buttons new authors ask. Although they do not promise thousands of sales, it’s easy to let your imagination run and the sites tend to play to those desires.
On Vern Sanders’ recommendation, I went with Lulu.com. It appeared to be the most cost effective.
If you’re comfortable doing everything yourself (and I mean everything) you can produce a book at lulu for just a few bucks and have it mailed to you. There are, as you might guess, some catches.
I chose NOT to use their typesetting/editing service. I have friends who read my manuscript and made suggestions. In that I was writing a book containing biblical, spiritual principles, I was skeptical to the input of a secular editor. I’m also married to a 4th grade teacher who has a well used red pen. For the record, she’s not completely finished. I looked at a number of books I liked and borrowed layout elements from them such as fonts, spacing, and page numbering. Lulu also has specific conditions built into their system that will not allow you to upload a file unless certain conditions (such as font embedding) are met. I used Adobe Photoshop elements to create my one piece cover complete with ISBN. Because I was successfully able to do these things, my material uploaded correctly and we were good to go.
Ownership/Copyright/ISBN
I wanted to retain full ownership of my material. This is where it doesn’t get sticky, exactly, but you need to realize what’s going on. LULU will assign your book an ISBN number that belongs to them, list it with Amazon and Barnes and Noble FREE (and there’s the catch) if you, in effect, give your material to them. (It’s one of those fine print deals). In all honesty, that’s not bad. If you choose the “published by you” track, you pay $99 for the same service and YOU retain your ISBN until Jesus comes. (Lulu does the paperwork for you as part of the fee) I paid to retain clear copyright. I actually took a page of advice from Randy Vader at that point. In conferences, I’ve heard him refer to the problem he has of “secular ownership of sacred copyright” and, I thought to myself, “I’m addressing matters of spirituality, do I want a secular publisher to have those rights?” I think the $99 was as much for peace of mind as anything else. I still have no great aspirations (except, when no one is looking…amidst the popping of thousands of imaginary, photographic strobes, the Walter Mitty in me is accepting the Pulitzer prize for literature).
Potholes on the Publishing Pfreeway...
EVERYTHING at Lulu uploads as a .pdf file. Let me save you some grief. Use Adobe Acrobat Distiller. It’s a free, thirty day download that will eventually set you back under $300. In my opinion, it’s the only way to go. Distiller has one critical feature missing on most cheaper programs that generate .pdf files from documents; the ability to createrandom page sizes. I cannot over emphasize that one feature enough. Even though many of the cheaper programs have a plethora of standard page sizes, they don’t have what you need to make it work at lulu to produce a 6 x 9 inch book. The one piece cover is the clearest example. It’s called “perfect binding.” My book was 119 pages long. Once I’d uploaded my 119 page .pdf manuscript, the automated program at lulu told me the exact dimension (in postscript points) my one piece, wraparound the spine cover had to be not only to account for the front and back but the thickness of that exact number of printed pages. It even told me at what postscript point the spine began (where the vertical name of the book would appear). I was able, in Adobe Photoshop elements to create that exact size page, and then, in Adobe Distiller, to create that exact size .pdf. Warning: You will do a LOT of tweaking with the settings between programs to make it all come into focus but it’s sweet when it does. (No one was present to witness my own, personal, “you’re the man” dance around the church office when I got the green check mark beside the cover upload but trust me, the natives would have been proud of the fancy footwork.)
“Madame Speaker, I would request permission to revise and extend my remarks…”
Your book of free form poetry is in the hands of the clamoring public. You anxiously await the first reviews. Then, you realize the glowing review by one critic praising your artistic creativity for raising, in his words “the mundane to the marvelous” is misplaced because the “poem” in question is really the grocery list your wife emailed you at the office. To top it off, the Carrie Nation Senior Adult Women’s Bible Class has taken note the “poem” included a reference to a certain six pack of questionable origin. (After all, it was the day of the big game). So, you feel the panicked need to revise, remove and, um, include that temperance hymn text you’d first ruled out because it appeared to stodgy for the rest of your book. Everything at lulu is easily revisable. Files may be updated and new material added. Note: If it changes the page count, you may have to rework your cover and, it may raise (or lower) the price of your book. I revised mine to fix a few typos. As noted above, my wife is not finished yet! The website will reflect a revision count but you do not have to include that on your copyright page unless you deem it necessary.
Pricing
Early in the process, after you’ve made choices (page size, type of paper, binding, number of pages, type of cover, etc,) LULU generates a pricing formula showing the actual cost breakdown. It not only includes your profit but production costs, wholesale costs to bookstores etc. You can adjust it a little, but not much. If there’s a downside, this is it. If you go online, you’ll discover my book’s retail price is $15.26. I think my mother, if she were alive, might pay that for a book by me but I’m not so sure about anyone else. At first it was higher but I reduced my “profit margin” by 25% and it recalculated to the current price. On the other hand, when I got the first two copies in the mail, I was impressed. The cover printed wonderfully. It felt good in the hands, and, of course, the content was first rate!
You can look at the finished product on the following link: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/after-the-narrow-gate/6311857
If there’s a problem, go to www.lulu.com and search for my title “After the Narrow Gate.”
When you get to web page showing the “large cover” you’ll fine the web viewer allows you to go through the first ten or so pages of the book and also see the back cover (I thought that was a nice feature). The viewer will also zoom in for easier reading on your computer monitor.
When you, as the author, order multiple copies to be sent to you, you’re charged a reduced “author’s” rate. Bookstore/wholesale pricing is somewhere in the middle.
The Photo
I also need to mention the cover photo. My daughter met her fiancé on a mission trip in Wales, UK (he is from Mississippi, not Middleton) and I went onto Flickr (the Yahoo website for pictures) and searched “gates.” If you’ve never cruised through Flickr, there are some amazing photos on the site. I contacted Terry, the artist photographer and got permission to use his picture (I owe him two copies of the book– well worth the price for that wonderful quality photo). You’ll see his credit on the copyright page of my book.
So… if you’re hankerin’ to see yore name in print, this was my experience. I Hope this helps some of you who may be thinking about putting pen to paper (wait, who does that anymore? Make that “...who plan to gaze thoughtfully at their computer monitors for ridiculous lengths of time before typing two lines”). It’s an interesting experience that for me turned into a joyful journey.
Wally Black
Minister of Music
FBC New Braunfels