MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Self-Publishing Coffee Table Books

Quoth · 02-21-2025, 10:29 AM

It's POD, "Print on demand". You are best to buy a block of barcodes and "invent" an imprint if selling. It doesn't need to be a company or trademark. Big publishers have dozens. You simply add it to the ISBN block purchase.

If you use a "free" barcode then the POD company is the publisher.

Maybe https://print.24bookprint.com (Europe). Lets you do your own barcode (easy with Inkscape).
or
Maybe https://draft2digital.com/ who may get Ingram to print it. (USA, Europe is feasible) They bought Smashwords and can distribute to Amazon. They do insist on the extended price barcode, which contrary to what they claim is now rare. Publisher set pricing is illegal in many countries. By default it's 90000. They generate the barcode. I forget if they do hardbacks.

or
https://www.lulu.com (USA, but we've used them in Ireland). They used to even do POD for copyright material you simply wanted a personal copy of.

All 3 far better than Amazon/KDP/Createspace for books and especially for "Art" books. All let you order proof copies. MAKE SURE any POD does.

You need a correct PDF with left & right pages exactly as per the paper. The cover is a single wrap image, so you can upload the PDF and they tell you what the trim margin (for full bleed) and the spine thickness (decided by paper weight and number of pages), then you can finalise the full wrap cover image.
All images should be exactly 300 dpi.
LO Writer seems better than Word and/or Adobe. Simply use page styles for each kind of page. Use paragraph, frame, graphic and character styles. Zero direct formatting. Export PDF. Only edit as odf.

Preview PDF on a 23" or larger 4K screen not in HiDPI mode in two page mode and first page MUST be on the right and last page on the left!

There is also Ingram Spark. They used to have an upfront charge, not sure if they still do.

Absolutely not KDP. Everyone else is more flexible.
Not Amazon/Createspace because they don't do that sort of quality. The books are branded Amazon even if you have your own imprint and many shops won't order Amazon titles.

02-21-2025, 10:29 AM	#3
Quoth Still reading Posts: 14,122 Karma: 105211945 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	It's POD, "Print on demand". You are best to buy a block of barcodes and "invent" an imprint if selling. It doesn't need to be a company or trademark. Big publishers have dozens. You simply add it to the ISBN block purchase. If you use a "free" barcode then the POD company is the publisher. Maybe https://print.24bookprint.com (Europe). Lets you do your own barcode (easy with Inkscape). or Maybe https://draft2digital.com/ who may get Ingram to print it. (USA, Europe is feasible) They bought Smashwords and can distribute to Amazon. They do insist on the extended price barcode, which contrary to what they claim is now rare. Publisher set pricing is illegal in many countries. By default it's 90000. They generate the barcode. I forget if they do hardbacks. or https://www.lulu.com (USA, but we've used them in Ireland). They used to even do POD for copyright material you simply wanted a personal copy of. All 3 far better than Amazon/KDP/Createspace for books and especially for "Art" books. All let you order proof copies. MAKE SURE any POD does. You need a correct PDF with left & right pages exactly as per the paper. The cover is a single wrap image, so you can upload the PDF and they tell you what the trim margin (for full bleed) and the spine thickness (decided by paper weight and number of pages), then you can finalise the full wrap cover image. All images should be exactly 300 dpi. LO Writer seems better than Word and/or Adobe. Simply use page styles for each kind of page. Use paragraph, frame, graphic and character styles. Zero direct formatting. Export PDF. Only edit as odf. Preview PDF on a 23" or larger 4K screen not in HiDPI mode in two page mode and first page MUST be on the right and last page on the left! There is also Ingram Spark. They used to have an upfront charge, not sure if they still do. Absolutely not KDP. Everyone else is more flexible. Not Amazon/Createspace because they don't do that sort of quality. The books are branded Amazon even if you have your own imprint and many shops won't order Amazon titles.