Welcome to The WriMo Blog where I share my monthly writing goals, project progress, and more! Today's post is about printing your stories. If this interests you, keep reading! And I have pictures!
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The light pink book was printed through LuLu, while the others were printed thru Amazon KDP during my publishing process. |
No matter the stage they are in, many writers/authors I follow across the interwebs highly recommend printing your book when you have reached the end. Whether it be the end of your first draft or your fifth, there's nothing like holding your own work in your hands. Also, it helps to read it in a different medium.
Everyone has a different preference for how they want to hold their book. For example, you can totally print your story at home with your own printer-machine, it just might take you a while. And a lot of paper and ink. It will also be the most economical as you're not paying print or shipping costs. However, if you're like me and you want to hold an actual book, there are a few more things you have to take into account.
I'm not going to make this post a full tutorial on how to format and upload your manuscript to these sites, but if enough people want a tutorial, I will gladly share the videos that helped me.
For editing purposes, I do think the proposal "notebook" style is best for that because you have space to write in the margins and you can make the text bigger for the sake of easy reading. That does mean more pages, though.
I'm not sure about the costs for this service, but in one of the videos I watched of a writer getting a manuscript printed this way, it was around $70 USD.And this was for an in-store pickup.
If you're looking for a "prettier" print copy, then you might be interested in POD platforms such as Amazon's KDP or LuLu, or Nook Press by Barnes & Noble. Each of these platforms allow you to print "proof" paperback copies of your book, as well as publish your book yourself.
Before I share more about this, I should mention the "prettier" you want your book, the more time you will spend on formatting. So a good cheat to the system is to use Draft2Digital or Reedsy to upload your file and then download their formatted file after following their steps. This is what I've done for many of my personal/proof copies. Once you've got your formatted file, you can upload it to any of the POD platforms I mentioned and they will accept it.
To create your cover file, both LuLu and KDP have their own cover creator, if you're not particular about it. But if you have some design skills, use Canva. User-friendly interface and they have templates. Just make sure you know your "final" cover size and dimensions. LuLu has Canva integrated in their site, so win-win. Barnes & Noble does not have a cover creator built in their set up at this time.
As I mentioned, I am not including a tutorial in this post about the uploading process. I will find the videos I watched and share them if people wish.
I have not printed any of my books through B&N yet, mainly because they are a little expensive to ship to PR, but I do know their print quality is amazing. I believe (don't quote me) they use the same printing sources and IngramSpark. I would recommend IS but they are geared toward people who've been publishing for a while already and know the process. Not very beginner friendly and more expensive.
Price-wise, the most economical of POD is Amazon's KDP. The only downside is the "Not For Resale" watermark-strip they slap on the cover as you can see on my books here ►
If that "eyesore" doesn't bother you, you are more likely to get the best print & shipping costs from KDP. They are owned by Amazon, so your proof copies are ordered thru your Amazon cart.
If you want your book to not have that watermark, then LuLu and B&N will give you pristine paperback, no watermarks. And you can mark the project as personal, so you don't have any confusing buttons that cause you to accidentally "publish" your unedited manuscript.
I printed the same novelette thru both LuLu and KDP, and as you can see, the LuLu copy does not have the watermark. The size difference was my choice; I wanted to see what KDP's pocket-size looked like. It's honestly adorable and fits in my purse without taking up space, but it's not "market standard". I currently do not own a B&N proof copy, but after watching Bethany Atazadeh's recent proofreading video and all the trouble they gave her... LuLu and KDP it is.
Let me backtrack to pricing with a little story. Last week, I kept it on the DL, but I ordered 2 more print proof copies of novels I wrote back in 2016-2017. ► Project Eric & Annie first draft with temporary cover & title while I work on revisions! (►
I wanted to get my proof before KDP upped their printing costs. It's only by 25-30 cents, but it's still a significant change for publication royalties. And these two books are hefty. Nearly 300ish pages, roughly 65-70k words each, they are the largest of my works. TGIGM is a good example of what the two books look like and it was roughly the same print cost. [I'm still waiting for them to arrive, but at thew time of writing this post, all I have is the confirmation email that they shipped.]
LuLu; I've printed 4 books from them, but spread through a couple of years. Until I got confident enough to use KDP. For "The Bridge Between Worlds", a 5.5in x8.5in, glossy cover, cream paged paperback was $5.02 to print. Shipping brought the total to $9.01. It's not drastically different, but that's for one print copy. It's roughly the same size as TGIGM, almost all the same specifications (page number is the only difference). However, LuLu offers more than your standard paperback. You can also get a spiral-bound book similar to Staples, with minor differences. But that does cost a little more.
My theory is Amazon assumes PR is "international" territory (we are US territory, I've checked many times) and they treat us as such though shipping is roughly the same as within the continent. But the wait time between placing an order (a regular order, forget about the proof copies for a second) and receiving that confirmation email that the package has shipped is roughly 3 weeks when using a Puerto Rico address. 3 weeks! So, waiting 1 week for my proof copies is not "terrible" in comparison to the three days between order placement and doorstep delivery for US authors .... *sighs .... Even with Prime for free shipping, nothing arrives before 7 days. Okay, I'm done ranting.
This brings us to the "which is better?" question. Truth be told, I like the quality of both platforms and it really does come down to whether you don't want the book to have the watermark or your budget is tight. The choice is in fact yours in the end. Try them all if you want to see the difference in quality. It's minute, but to each their own.
Edited to add(June 19th, 2023): Here are the best video tutorials for uploading to all of the platforms mentioned in this post. Mandi Lynn is one of my top sources for tutorials and in-depth conversation on all things publishing/marketing. Yes, she focuses on the publication side, but all the steps to getting printed copies still apply. Check out her video playlist here!
Have you ever printed your book as a reward for finishing a draft? If so, post your photo links in the comments! I would love to see them! Thank you so much for dropping in, I hope you're doing well. Stay safe, and stay awesome. See you in the funny papers!
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