By Ron Pramschufer, President , Self Publishing, Inc. - Helping Authors Become Publishers since 1995 Hundreds of Print on Demand - POD companies are willing to help with your book, selling you a package with one of their ISBNs, publishing your book, and paying you a royalty on your book sales. For tens of thousands of authors every year, this vanity press publishing model has been … [Read more...]
Why do you feel that a self-publisher needs to print at least 100 books to get started?
By Ron Pramschufer, President , Self Publishing, Inc. - Helping Authors Become Publishers since 1995 Even in this day of e-this and e-that, you haven’t published a book unless you can hold it in your hand… flip through the pages, book mark the place you left off and pass it on to a friend after you have read it. One copy is what you buy from a store for your personal use. Ten or twenty copies … [Read more...]
Is the customer always right?
By Ron Pramschufer, President , Self Publishing, Inc. - Helping Authors Become Publishers since 1995 I started my first job in a printing company over 40 years ago. After a short stint in the pressroom, I was moved into the production office where I started dealing with customers. I have been dealing with customers in one way or another, ever since. I moved to New York over thirty years … [Read more...]
Why should I buy my offset printing from SelfPublishing.com rather than directly from an offset printer?
By Ron Pramschufer, President , Self Publishing, Inc. - Helping Authors Become Publishers since 1995 First off, while most printers can print a book, only a small percentage of offset printers are book printers … a very small percentage. Now put yourself in the printer’s place for a minute. Would you rather deal with one print buyer who prints a thousand titles per year or a thousand print … [Read more...]
“Hey guys, what exactly is a ‘Pre-Flight,’ anyway?”
By Ron Pramschufer, President , Self Publishing, Inc. - Helping Authors Become Publishers since 1995 One of the services that Self Publishing, Inc. provides to its book printing customers is a Pre-Flight check of printer-ready PDF files that have been provided to print book covers and interiors. What exactly is a Pre-Flight check? Any pilots out there? Whether you think of your book as a … [Read more...]
“My Books Are Not Right!” Dealing with the printer
By Ron Pramschufer, President , Self Publishing, Inc. - Helping Authors Become Publishers since 1995 The first thing that comes to mind when someone asks this question is a concept dating back to Ancient Babylon and shared by most of the world’s religions commonly known as the “Golden Rule” … “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This holds true whether the errors are the result … [Read more...]
How do I write a set of specifications to obtain a quote from a printer for my book?
Just as you would not ask a group of automobile dealers to give you a price on a car with an engine, four tires and brakes and expect to be able to compare pricing in any meaningful way, you can’t ask a group of printers for a “quote” on printing a book, with only vague specifications. Printers print books based on a customer supplied purchase order. As the print buyer, it is your responsibility … [Read more...]
I received my books today and the type on the front cover wasn’t centered. Can I make the printer reprint the books?
By Ron Pramschufer, President , Self Publishing, Inc. - Helping Authors Become Publishers since 1995 This was a real case that came up this past week and is very typical of some of the problems an author faces when he puts on the Publisher hat. The simple answer is, if you signed the printer proof as “ok to print” and the books match the signed proof, you’ve bought the books. The … [Read more...]
How are you coming along with that short run (under 100) printing that you were talking about?
Good question. As of today, anyone who is part of the SelfPublishing.com Thor distribution program simply needs to sign into their Customer Resource Center, click on Fulfillment/Thor orders, enter any quantity from one on up, fill in a few lines on an order form, and wait a few short days and …. Poof…. The books are at your front door. My basic self-publishing philosophy has not changed. If you … [Read more...]
Is 292 pages a good page count for my new book?
By Ron Pramschufer, President , Self Publishing, Inc. - Helping Authors Become Publishers since 1995 Not too many years ago my answer would have been NO. In 2014, the answer is not quite as clear. We haven’t had a printing lesson in this column for a while but I don’t see a way around it so bear with me. The Cliff’s Notes version of this answer is NO…. Have your book designer make your page … [Read more...]