Self-Publishing Coffee Table Books - Options & Opinions

[Fitz Frobozz]

If you were an epub guy like me and were thinking about printing a high-quality, labor of love, extremely limited edition coffee table book, what service would you use and why?

I am getting close to the point where I will need to make some important decisions about self-publishing something that I've been working on for a number of years. It was going to just be epub, but it strikes me that several elements add up to justify considering a small number of nice coffee table book editions.

Being the epub guy that I am and not knowing very much about print, after a bit of research I came away with the impression that KDP may be adequate, but only so long as one is content with 8.5"x11" or whatever the maximum dimensions are, and provided that one opts for high quality glossy images and, of course, provides high-res versions. I'm lucky in that I have great images, but I'm not sure I'd be content with that size/format.

As for profit and such, this is largely just a labor of love. I do not expect to capture a large audience with this book, although the subject matter certainly is interesting enough that I can imagine that possibly happening if the stars lined up just right or something. Really, though, my main aim is just to have a pile of books created so that I can share them with family members, so I was leaning toward "extremely limited edition" or whatever the kids call them these days.

So I'm curious to read opinions about KDP for this specific use case, and about alternatives that someone in my position should probably at least acquaint themselves with. What services/solutions would you consider using, and why?

I'm sure there are other questions that I should also be asking here, but I'm just too green at this stage and don't know what else to ask. So, apologies for the limited number of questions and for asking such an open-ended one at that, and for this post meandering around like it has.

[jhowell]

I believe that you can produce a much higher quality coffee table book using a service like Shutterfly.

[Quoth]

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.

[Fitz Frobozz]

Great stuff, Quoth, really great stuff. I didn't quite follow some of what you mentioned about Draft2Digital requirements or expectations; what is an extended price barcode? That went over my head.

Jhowell, your dry, terse comment made me laugh out loud, even though I suspect you weren't intending for it to be funny. (I probably just have an odd sense of humor.)

Lots to think about here!

[Quoth]

A regular EAN/UPC barcode has the 13 digits of an ISBN. The extra barcode to the right has the price, but setting a publisher price is illegal in most countries and also the shop's Point of Sale / database only needs the ISBN. Draft2Digital wrongly insist the book must have it and if there is no price it's set to 90000. I've not seen it in Irish or UK book shops for years, or on books bought from Amazon USA or UK.

[MegDreamsofBooks]

This is something I’m looking into this year, as I’d like to do something with my photography besides just dumping it on a hard drive forever.

Having printed cheap photo books in the past and acquired some nice ones (from other photographers) recently, I’d highly recommend looking into actual photo book printing services rather than KDP. A good photo book has more consideration than just printing, there’s paper weight and quality, color matching, layout options, and size.

I haven’t chosen a service yet, but this comparison (I have no affiliation with them) is a good place to start on the services available currently: Best Photo Book Printing Services comparison