Why create a print version?

The eBook market is booming, but many readers still prefer to hold a physical book in their hands. You know the types: they like to see their favorite books on their bookshelves, give gift-wrapped books as gifts, or get their favorite author’s signature on their own copy!

What is Print on Demand?

Traditionally, printing a book was a time-consuming and costly endeavor.  Self-publishers had to invest a lot of money up front in order to print a big quantity of books, because it was too costly to print in small quantities.  Then authors had to store or manage inventory, and worry about when to place the next print order.  But Print on Demand has changed all of that!

Several leading eBook distributors now offer a Print on Demand service, to cater to the readers who still prefer printed books over eBooks. It’s exactly what it sounds like – they print your book only when it is needed. Printing is taken care of by the distributor, who only prints the number of books that have been ordered, and no more than that.  As an author, all you need to supply them with is a correctly-formatted, print-ready file (usually a PDF). They keep it on hand, and print whenever a book order is placed.

 

Can Blue Cherry help me with Print on Demand?

Yes! Blue Cherry creates print-ready book files to be printed on demand with providers such as Amazon’s CreateSpace. A print-ready book file is similar to a fixed-layout eBook (link), in that it must be designed and then formatted page by page.

 

If your Blue Cherry eBook is already a fixed-layout eBook (link), we provide you with a print-ready file for a small extra fee ($49). Blue Cherry can also convert reflowable eBooks to a print-ready books for you; the price varies depending on the complexity of the book. We use industry-standard page composition software (such as InDesign) to be sure that your print book looks exactly like it would if a major publisher launched it. Except that by self-publishing through print on demand, you have complete control over your content and presentation, and you keep 100% of the royalties!

 

Which Print on Demand services should I consider?

Some of the more well-known Print on Demand providers are CreateSpace (Amazon), Lulu, Blurb, and IngramSpark (Lightning Source). Some factors to consider are paper/print quality, price per book, and ease of distribution. The following websites have compared some of the Print on Demand services that are available.

Blue Cherry will optimize your print book file for the Print on Demand distributor of your choice. If you want to talk about the options, please fill out the form on the right, or give us a call!