Celebrate Earth Day with Print-On-Demand

Today is Earth Day, which is a perfect time to talk about  print-on-demand (POD) services. Aside from being a sustainable alternative to traditional offset printing, for an indie publisher with a small staff and limited resources, it makes sense. Much of my book production experience has been with Reputation Books. We chose IngramSparks because of its relationship to Lightning Source, which only works with publishers. The cost to produce a book is more than CreateSpace, but as a publisher, we want to get our books in front of booksellers, and booksellers are more likely to order books if they are available through Ingram’s catalog than through CreateSpace’s distribution channels.

As an indie author, however, CreateSpace is a very viable alternative. The options for POD are growing, but rather than comparing them all, I’ll share my thoughts on CreateSpace, which provides the most cost effective option to producing a book.  And since it is owned the world’s largest online retailer, CreateSpace offers the fastest and easiest way to get a POD book on Amazon’s marketplace.

Traditional publishing can appear to take quite a long time. It can take up to two years with some publishers, depending on their processes. With Reputation Books, we formally schedule the time it takes for our editorial, design, production, marketing and post-production processes. Each book takes us a year to produce, so I can see why some authors would choose to self-publish rather than go the traditional route. For indie authors, they are in the driver’s seat with these processes, so it can take considerably less time to self-publish their books.

Both IngramSpark and CreateSpace allow you to set up your account for free, and purchase your books at their production cost. The difference in costs are in their upfront fees. While CreateSpace does not charge to upload your book files, no matter how many changes you make, IngramSparks charges an initial $49 fee for book’s cover and interior file, plus an annual $12 “market access fee.” Any changes to a “completed title,” which happens when the official book proof is okayed for printing and/or distribution, IngramSpark charges $25 for a revised cover and $25 for a revised interior, so it's especially important to carefully and completely inspect the proof before approving it.  However, with CreateSpark, you can make changes to your book files at no additional cost, regardless if you have okayed the book proof for publishing. I also like that I can order a physical copy of the book before I actually release the book for publication.

I’d like to say that both IngramSpark’s and CreateSpace’s POD processes are equal, but I actually find IngramSpark’s easier to understand. That said, both require a bit of trial and error for the DIY author. Thankfully, there are some good tutorials on the internet that can help you get through the process.  But I found the most valuable resources were the PDFs of IngramSpark’s and CreateSpace’s submission guidelines. CreateSpace does a better job at explaining design and publishing terminology for creating submission files, which is important if you are designing the book or providing instructions for the book’s design. 

Both also provide cover templates to use, which I highly recommend. IngramSpark creates the cover mechanical template with your book’s bar code, while CreateSpace adds the bar code after you have uploaded your book files, so you don’t have the option of moving the bar code to another area on the cover.

Speaking of the bar code, both POD services require an ISBN for each book.  As a publisher, we purchase our ISBNs in bulk through Bowker Identifier Services, but  for the indie author who is self-publishing, purchasing an ISBN one at a time is fairly expensive. If you don’t want to spend $125 for an ISBN, CreateSpace has options for purchasing your ISBN through them from free to $99.

The one issue I have with CreateSpace is in connecting with an actual human being to get answers that weren't available on their website. With IngramSpark, I can call their customer service, while CreateSpace requires you to fill out their online form to get either an email or return call. When I’m in the middle of production and hit a snag, I like the quickness and ease of picking up the phone to get help.

For small publishers, IngramSpark still makes better sense than CreateSpace whether it is because of their distribution channels, customer service, or personal preference. For self-publishing authors who don’t mind a little DIY elbow grease, CreateSpace may be a better choice, because it offers authors more control, minimal up front costs and ease of use. 

Whether it’s IngramSpark, CreateSpace or another POD service, print-on-demand provides not only an economical alternative to indie authors and indie publishers, it offers a sustainable alternative to traditional offset printing. So on Earth Day, go green with POD. 

Is Publishing Slow? Depends on Your Perspective

If you’ve been in the publishing industry for any length of time, you’ve probably heard that publishing is slow. Sometimes we say “publishing is glacial,” or even “publishing moves at a glacial pace.” If you Google any variation of this phrase, you’ll find hundreds of examples where someone used it to explain the mind-boggling amount of time that goes into querying, revising, pitching, editing, and publishing.

 

In full disclosure, you should know that I’ve even said it (scroll down into the comments of this blog post if you want to catch me red-handed).  I’m not sure where I first heard this phrase, but obviously it stuck. I’ve been in the publishing industry for almost two decades as a writer, a self-pubbed author, a freelance editor, and an editorial assistant at a publishing company, and it just flew out of my mouth like the parental “because I said so.”

Fellow publishing professionals, we’re shooting ourselves in the foot with this phrase. We’re hanging on to old-school platitudes that don’t make sense anymore.

Here’s the truth: In this digital age, publishing moves at different speeds for different writers, and the key is finding the best fit for you.

Some publishing paths are slow. If writers won’t settle for anything less than the top agents and the Big Five publishers…well, they might as well grab an icepick and make an igloo, because they’ll be camped out on that glacier a long time. Eventually they’ll sell a lot of books. Maybe.

But some are fast. Self-publishing is by far the fastest option out there. HOWEVER, writer beware: with speed comes error. Across the board, quality control is an issue for self-pubbed authors. At the next level we have new agents and small presses, who can move more quickly than larger institutions. Take it from me, there are many small presses out there in your genre, waiting (and hoping, with fingers crossed!) to read a well-written and compelling manuscript. They might even be able to edit and publish your book within less than a year from your submission date. No lie.

There are shortcuts. Regardless of which publishing method you choose, a savvy writer/editor/agent can maneuver the system. While writing is a form of art, publishing is a business and therefore follows the basic rules of business practice. Networking, negotiation, and commitment go a long way to making your dreams come true.

Anything is possible. At this pivotal time in history, the publishing industry is literally up for grabs. Writers, listen up: WE HAVE OPTIONS. Want to self-publish but afraid of sacrificing quality? There are numerous professional freelance editors and proofreaders out there. Maybe they just got laid off or want to supplement their income. Maybe they’re at home with a baby. But they are trained and ready, and probably charge much less than a proofreading service. Same goes for cover artists and publicists. Think outside the box and use your social media skills.

 

And for the love of all things literary: let’s stop saying that publishing is slow (or glacial, or that it moves at a glacial pace). We’re not doing our troubled industry any favors when we fall back on moldy clichés birthed from the brick-and-mortar era of publishing. Those days are over.

In this digital age, publishing (in whatever form) moves at the pace we choose.