By Authors, For Authors

 

Abela Business Consulting trading as Abela Publishing

Sandhurst, Berkshire, UK

Registered in England and Wales Co. No. 3866324

Printing

 

Things you should know about printing before you start

 

Just as there are essentially two kinds of publishers, there are also two kinds of printers. There are the offset printers I.e. those that only print large runs i.e. a minimum of 1,000 or 1,500 books or more, and the Print on Demand companies who are prepared to print as little as one book a time.

 

NOTE: There are pros and cons to both.

 

Offset/Large Run Printing

While the cost per book is significantly reduced for large runs, a not unsubstantial financial outlay has to be made upfront - without knowing how the book will sell. Thereafter there are the costs of transport, warehousing and distribution. If you are doing this yourself the costs of these will be yours to bear - and they won’t be insignificant.

 

 

Print on Demand (POD)

POD printing is done using the digital method i.e. your book needs to be digitised (to PDF format) and copies are printed much in the same way as printing from your computer. This enables the Print on Demand (POD) printer to print you one copy at a time. The benefit of this is that you have very little, or no, upfront costs and don’t have to worry about the transport and storage of large amounts of books. However, the cost per book is, understandably, considerably higher and this will reduce your margins.

 

BE AWARE - some POD printers insist a contract be signed upfront.

 

Many Self Publishing Companies and POD printers have teamed up and what is presented, may, in reality, be a publishing contract binding you to them and returning minimal royalties!

 

BE ABSOLUTELY AWARE!