When it comes to printing a book, there are many ways to reach the same goal. You may choose to coordinate it yourself, get expert advice from a publishing consultant or use a publishing service like PublishMyBook.Online.
Your book may need to be printed via offset printing, digitally printed or made available worldwide via print-on-demand (POD) book printing technology. This decision is based on a complex array of needs and preferences for your book and for you as a self-published author. Factors include economics, paper quality, page size (book size), colour vs greyscale and what kind of book distribution you want.
Here is a handy table to help you decide which might suit you:
| Type of book | Number of copies I want | Distribution I want | |||||||
| 20-50 | 50-200 | 200-500 | 500-1000 | 1,000-2,000 | More than 2,000 | DIY and distributors I contact | Global automatic | ||
| Novel Greyscale |
POD | POD | Any | Any | Offset | Offset | Any | POD | |
| Non-fiction Greyscale |
POD | POD | Any | Any | Offset | Offset | Any | POD | |
| Non-fiction Full Colour |
POD | POD | Any | Any | Offset | Offset | Digital or Offset | POD | |
| Any book with particular paper quality, size or printing features such as spot UV |
X | X | X | Digital | Digital or Offset | Offset | Digital or Offset | X | |
| Non-fiction Greyscale, with one full colour section |
X | X | X | Digital | Digital or Offset | Offset | Digital or Offset | X | |
| Chapter book Greyscale |
POD | POD | Any | Any | Offset | Offset | Any | POD | |
| Picture book Full Colour |
POD | POD | Any | Any | Offset | Offset | Digital or Offset | POD | |
We can help with any of the above and will go with your decision at each step of the way. It is your book, so it needs to be published, printed and distributed your way.
Digital or offset printing a book
Usually, this means that we become your book printing broker. We will source quotes from a number of different printers and make an offer to you that includes not only the printing and shipping of your books, but coordinating the printing from start to finish.
For a simple upfront payment, we will get started by helping you scope your printed book project. We will then obtain printing quotes and put them together with the shipping and logistics all included to your destination (via the closest sea port if printing is being done outside your country).
If you’re happy to proceed with one of the quotes we require a 50% deposit on the printing and shipping, before organising it and getting proofs to you. We then require the final 50% to get the book printing done and have them shipped to you. We will pay the printer and our book shipping logistics company directly. You will only have to deal with PublishMyBook.Online.
More on short-run book printing More on long-run book printing
Print on demand (POD)
Print on demand (POD) is a technology offered by large book distribution companies in response to the growing demand for self-publishing. The advantages of POD include:
- You can test the market without risking a large sum of money on printing
- No matter where the author or publisher is located, books can be made available worldwide as they are stored digitally and printed in the country where they are ordered or nearby
- You are able to print small runs (eg. 1-200)
- You will not need to store thousands of copies of your book in your garage, which you may not be able to sell
The disadvantages include:
- The unit costs of printing each book are higher than printing a larger volume (there is always an economy of scale in printing)
- Paper size, quality and type are limited to about thirty standard book sizes and only a handful of different paper thickness options
Not all POD suppliers are the same. PublishMyBook.Online uses a global book distributor that gives authors access to more than 39,000 retailers, libraries, schools and online booksellers in the USA, UK, Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and more. It is not limited to its own self-interests, but is a truly diverse way of reaching multiple selling channels for your book.
Our books can usually be ordered from book stores and they end up for sale on:
- Amazon
- Book Depository
- Booktopia
- Fishpond
- Gardners
- Waterstones
And thousands of others
Letting you do the printing
We are also happy to design your book for print, and let you take the print-ready PDFs to your preferred printer. Please ensure we know that is your plan when requesting quotes from us, as our quotes always include project management and time to coordinate and reduce hassles for you.
Printing is never something that should be rushed. Our approach is to follow procedures during book layout, including layout proofing, and getting three final approvals before printing:
- Client approval
- Approval from all designers involved in designing or checking the book
- Approval from management
Why Choose PMBO for Book Printing?
We have none of the self-serving bias of a printer, but all of the design and print know-how to ensure success. Give us the reins and we will take care of your book printing project, whether it is digital, offset or print on demand.
Please view some of our printed books.
How to choose a good book printer
Look for a printer that routinely prints and binds books. Ask for some paper samples or sample books so you can feel what the paper will be like. We are not printers; rather we find and utilise printers that are right for our customers.
If you are seeking printing quotes from multiple printing companies to compare with ours, we are not the right provider for you. PublishMyBook.Online is not a printing company, but a publishing project management agency. Comparing us to a printer is not balanced because if you go direct to a printer you are taking on board all the responsibility and time to coordinate it yourself, which can be a substantial burden.
If you’d rather not go through all the process of print procurement and coordinate book printing and shipping on your own, please contact us.