Print on Demand (POD)

Cyberseeker · 05-12-2017, 01:34 AM

Which is the best 'Print on Demand' (POD) service, dealing with e-pubs as well as printed books?

I was looking at Lulu and Create Space. No doubt there are more, but I thought Id ask here and see what other folk thought about the various options.

fjtorres · 05-12-2017, 07:29 AM

Lulu partners with Author Solutions so you need to be very careful dealing with them. You will likely become a target for AS high pressure telemarketing.

It really depends on your goal.
The two formats are best treated separately. For epub, DIRECT2DIGITAL is highly regarded and SMASHWORDS is still useful. KOBO you may want to go direct, like AMAZON but D2D is a painless way to reach the epub world.

For POD, well... there lie dragons...

If you just want a few copies, look for a Kinkos with an Espresso POD machine.

If you are looking to self publish, the two most reputable are Ingram Lightning source and CreateSpace. CreateSpace comes in two flavors: Amazon-only and Extended, which makes them available to any bookseller.

Amazon is currently beta-testing Kindle Press, a unified ebook/POD service. Nook and Kobo have similar offerings. I don't know about Kobo Press but Nook Press apparently works through AS. Same caveat as Lulu. Anybody who deals with or ever dealt with Author Solutions is suspect. They are poison.

Searching for self pub services online is tricky because Author Solutions is all over, working through aliases, fronts, and alliances with otherwise reputable outfits that should know better than to get into bed with scammers but don't.

Buyer beware.

Your best bet if you don't want to deal with the two big boys is to ask around at Kindle boards or other reputable self pub forum. Check with WRITER BEWARE or the SFWA, RWA. or other writer's group. NOT AUTHOR'S GUILD. They used to feed victims to AUTHOR SOLUTIONS. Probably still do. They have so many fronts it's hard to keep track.

Btw, AS is far from the only scam outfit looking to ripoff the unwary.
You're on the right track doing your due diligence but the writers' sites and forums will have more of the reputable options. Contrary to what you may hear from scammers and tradpub it does NOT cost thousands upon thousands to self pub a professional-grade book. You just need to do your homework.

Good luck.

frahse · 05-13-2017, 12:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Lulu partners with Author Solutions so you need to be very careful dealing with them. You will likely become a target for AS high pressure telemarketing.

It really depends on your goal.
The two formats are best treated separately. For epub, DIRECT2DIGITAL is highly regarded and SMASHWORDS is still useful. KOBO you may want to go direct, like AMAZON but D2D is a painless way to reach the epub world.

For POD, well... there lie dragons...

If you just want a few copies, look for a Kinkos with an Espresso POD machine.

If you are looking to self publish, the two most reputable are Ingram Lightning source and CreateSpace. CreateSpace comes in two flavors: Amazon-only and Extended, which makes them available to any bookseller.

Amazon is currently beta-testing Kindle Press, a unified ebook/POD service. Nook and Kobo have similar offerings. I don't know about Kobo Press but Nook Press apparently works through AS. Same caveat as Lulu. Anybody who deals with or ever dealt with Author Solutions is suspect. They are poison.

Searching for self pub services online is tricky because Author Solutions is all over, working through aliases, fronts, and alliances with otherwise reputable outfits that should know better than to get into bed with scammers but don't.

Buyer beware.

Your best bet if you don't want to deal with the two big boys is to ask around at Kindle boards or other reputable self pub forum. Check with WRITER BEWARE or the SFWA, RWA. or other writer's group. NOT AUTHOR'S GUILD. They used to feed victims to AUTHOR SOLUTIONS. Probably still do. They have so many fronts it's hard to keep track.

Btw, AS is far from the only scam outfit looking to ripoff the unwary.
You're on the right track doing your due diligence but the writers' sites and forums will have more of the reputable options. Contrary to what you may hear from scammers and tradpub it does NOT cost thousands upon thousands to self pub a professional-grade book. You just need to do your homework.

Good luck.

Excellent! As usual, a well considered superior post. Very deserving.

Cyberseeker · 05-13-2017, 01:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fjtorres

KOBO you may want to go direct, like AMAZON but D2D is a painless way to reach the epub world.

I think I may go with Kobo. I know enough of HTML not to need D2D.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fjtorres

For POD, well... there lie dragons...

Yeah, I may just sell off my own website. Thanks for the good info.

HarryT · 05-13-2017, 03:08 AM

Moved to the Writers' Corner forum, where you're more likely to get help.

gmw · 05-13-2017, 04:36 AM

fjtorres has given you a very good response already.

I use Lightning Source. One of the big factors when I made this choice was having local (Australian) representation that I could deal with. The fact that they are part of Ingram, and so make your work available world-wide for very little cost (but it does cost a small fee per book every year), was also very important. My experience has been very good. They have been an excellent company to deal with and they produce excellent print results.

I cannot compare to Create Space, as I have never used that service, but I have had no reason to be disappointed with Lightning Source.

gmw · 05-14-2017, 05:00 AM

I forgot to mention that I do not use the Lightning Source ebook services - but they do have them (but also for a fee, I believe). I go through Amazon and Smashwords for my ebook distribution.

I remain quite content that I should deal with ebook and print separately. Producing a good quality print book takes more than just dumping your text onto the printer - and, despite my participation here on MobileRead, printed books are still important to me.

HarryT · 05-14-2017, 05:31 AM

As a customer, I've never been happy with POD books. I've bought a number over the years from Amazon (mainly extremely obscure reference works) and their binding's always been very poor compared to traditionally-published books. I don't know if other POD publisher bind their books any better than Amazon does?

gmw · 05-14-2017, 07:32 AM

Harry, I have been more than happy with the quality of what Lightning Source produces for me. I put the quality of the binding on my books (they are "perfect bound" paperbacks) up against pretty much any I have seen from traditional publishers (and definitely better than some).

The cover image quality is very good to excellent (I chose a gloss laminate finish), though perhaps not up there with the very best of the trad-pubs I have - though in this case it may be the quality of image I supplied rather than printing that lets it down, I am still learning after all.

The text print-quality, too, is very good (I leave readers to assess the other qualities of the text

).

I was also very pleased with the paper quality. I chose a "creme" paper, which turned out to be very fine and crisp.

Lightning Source print at locations nearest to distribution, so my copies came from Australian printers. I checked my with friend in the UK and as far as I can tell the quality was just as good there.

The main negative things I have to say about my own print books have to do with my choices rather than anything Lightning Source did. I used a slightly smaller font, and relatively small margins, in order to keep the page count (and so the final cost) down as much as I could. I have had no complaints in that regard, but my own tastes would have preferred the font just a bit larger (I'm not as young as I was).

HarryT · 05-14-2017, 07:36 AM

Thanks, gmw. Sounds as if perhaps Amazon's POD books aren't up to the quality of Lightning Source. I've no complaints about the paper or the cover; the specific problem is that an excessive amount of the page close to the spine seems to be glued, resulting in a book that's difficult to open. That's annoying with a reference book, which you want to leave open at a specific page. Probably less of a problem for a novel.

gmw · 05-14-2017, 07:42 AM

Ah, yes. I see what you mean, Harry. In novels you expect a certain amount resistance to opening, but that's not so good in reference work. I have only done novels with Lightning Source, so can't comment on their larger books.

crich70 · 05-15-2017, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Lulu partners with Author Solutions so you need to be very careful dealing with them. You will likely become a target for AS high pressure telemarketing.

It really depends on your goal.
The two formats are best treated separately. For epub, DIRECT2DIGITAL is highly regarded and SMASHWORDS is still useful. KOBO you may want to go direct, like AMAZON but D2D is a painless way to reach the epub world.

For POD, well... there lie dragons...

If you just want a few copies, look for a Kinkos with an Espresso POD machine.

If you are looking to self publish, the two most reputable are Ingram Lightning source and CreateSpace. CreateSpace comes in two flavors: Amazon-only and Extended, which makes them available to any bookseller.

Amazon is currently beta-testing Kindle Press, a unified ebook/POD service. Nook and Kobo have similar offerings. I don't know about Kobo Press but Nook Press apparently works through AS. Same caveat as Lulu. Anybody who deals with or ever dealt with Author Solutions is suspect. They are poison.

Searching for self pub services online is tricky because Author Solutions is all over, working through aliases, fronts, and alliances with otherwise reputable outfits that should know better than to get into bed with scammers but don't.

Buyer beware.

Your best bet if you don't want to deal with the two big boys is to ask around at Kindle boards or other reputable self pub forum. Check with WRITER BEWARE or the SFWA, RWA. or other writer's group. NOT AUTHOR'S GUILD. They used to feed victims to AUTHOR SOLUTIONS. Probably still do. They have so many fronts it's hard to keep track.

Btw, AS is far from the only scam outfit looking to ripoff the unwary.
You're on the right track doing your due diligence but the writers' sites and forums will have more of the reputable options. Contrary to what you may hear from scammers and tradpub it does NOT cost thousands upon thousands to self pub a professional-grade book. You just need to do your homework.

Good luck.

I imagine part of the boogy man of cost to self publish is from how much it cost at one time to get copies printed since you had to order a minimum # of copies, am I right? That and the old style advertising pre-internet of course. Now I imagine anyone can promote their own work by putting up a webpage with a link to a retailer like Amazon and take a lot of the work out of things.

ARM X Author · 05-21-2017, 04:27 PM

I cannot speak for Lightning Source, though I have heard good things. I can say that if you know how to format a paperback book, Create Space provides a pretty easy and streamlined service for a quality product. Sometimes their e-proofs aren't 100% accurate in consistency, so you have to have some patience. Their direct conversion of a paperback to an ebook doesn't seem to be so great, though, and so you'd probably have to pair Create Space with Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing program, which is great for Kindle ebooks. All of that said, Amazon is the process of pairing these two services with a new program, and I'm not sure how that will end up yet. Still, on the whole, there's nothing really that wrong with CS and KDP. In 2017, I, too, would avoid the company that fjtorres mentioned. In the end, go with what works best for your goals. Best of luck!

toddhicks209 · 07-30-2017, 07:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyberseeker

Which is the best 'Print on Demand' (POD) service, dealing with e-pubs as well as printed books?

I was looking at Lulu and Create Space. No doubt there are more, but I thought Id ask here and see what other folk thought about the various options.

I used to use Lulu and I think it's a waste of time. They require buyers to create an account and not many people want to buy books sold through their service.

Lemurion · 08-01-2017, 04:03 PM

It took a bit of work to get things right, but I'm quite happy with the results from Amazon's KDP POD offshoot.

05-12-2017, 01:34 AM	#1
Cyberseeker Connoisseur Posts: 60 Karma: 602194 Join Date: Apr 2017 Device: Ipad	Print on Demand (POD) Which is the best 'Print on Demand' (POD) service, dealing with e-pubs as well as printed books? I was looking at Lulu and Create Space. No doubt there are more, but I thought Id ask here and see what other folk thought about the various options.

05-12-2017, 07:29 AM	#2
fjtorres Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,732 Karma: 128354696 Join Date: May 2009 Location: 26 kly from Sgr A* Device: T100TA,PW2,PRS-T1,KT,FireHD 8.9,K2, PB360,BeBook One,Axim51v,TC1000	Lulu partners with Author Solutions so you need to be very careful dealing with them. You will likely become a target for AS high pressure telemarketing. It really depends on your goal. The two formats are best treated separately. For epub, DIRECT2DIGITAL is highly regarded and SMASHWORDS is still useful. KOBO you may want to go direct, like AMAZON but D2D is a painless way to reach the epub world. For POD, well... there lie dragons... If you just want a few copies, look for a Kinkos with an Espresso POD machine. If you are looking to self publish, the two most reputable are Ingram Lightning source and CreateSpace. CreateSpace comes in two flavors: Amazon-only and Extended, which makes them available to any bookseller. Amazon is currently beta-testing Kindle Press, a unified ebook/POD service. Nook and Kobo have similar offerings. I don't know about Kobo Press but Nook Press apparently works through AS. Same caveat as Lulu. Anybody who deals with or ever dealt with Author Solutions is suspect. They are poison. Searching for self pub services online is tricky because Author Solutions is all over, working through aliases, fronts, and alliances with otherwise reputable outfits that should know better than to get into bed with scammers but don't. Buyer beware. Your best bet if you don't want to deal with the two big boys is to ask around at Kindle boards or other reputable self pub forum. Check with WRITER BEWARE or the SFWA, RWA. or other writer's group. NOT AUTHOR'S GUILD. They used to feed victims to AUTHOR SOLUTIONS. Probably still do. They have so many fronts it's hard to keep track. Btw, AS is far from the only scam outfit looking to ripoff the unwary. You're on the right track doing your due diligence but the writers' sites and forums will have more of the reputable options. Contrary to what you may hear from scammers and tradpub it does NOT cost thousands upon thousands to self pub a professional-grade book. You just need to do your homework. Good luck. Last edited by fjtorres; 05-12-2017 at 07:41 AM.

05-14-2017, 07:36 AM	#10
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Thanks, gmw. Sounds as if perhaps Amazon's POD books aren't up to the quality of Lightning Source. I've no complaints about the paper or the cover; the specific problem is that an excessive amount of the page close to the spine seems to be glued, resulting in a book that's difficult to open. That's annoying with a reference book, which you want to leave open at a specific page. Probably less of a problem for a novel. Last edited by HarryT; 05-14-2017 at 07:38 AM.

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05-13-2017, 03:08 AM	#5
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Moved to the Writers' Corner forum, where you're more likely to get help.

05-13-2017, 04:36 AM	#6
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,818 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	fjtorres has given you a very good response already. I use Lightning Source. One of the big factors when I made this choice was having local (Australian) representation that I could deal with. The fact that they are part of Ingram, and so make your work available world-wide for very little cost (but it does cost a small fee per book every year), was also very important. My experience has been very good. They have been an excellent company to deal with and they produce excellent print results. I cannot compare to Create Space, as I have never used that service, but I have had no reason to be disappointed with Lightning Source.

05-14-2017, 05:00 AM	#7
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,818 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	I forgot to mention that I do not use the Lightning Source ebook services - but they do have them (but also for a fee, I believe). I go through Amazon and Smashwords for my ebook distribution. I remain quite content that I should deal with ebook and print separately. Producing a good quality print book takes more than just dumping your text onto the printer - and, despite my participation here on MobileRead, printed books are still important to me.

05-14-2017, 05:31 AM	#8
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	As a customer, I've never been happy with POD books. I've bought a number over the years from Amazon (mainly extremely obscure reference works) and their binding's always been very poor compared to traditionally-published books. I don't know if other POD publisher bind their books any better than Amazon does?

05-14-2017, 07:32 AM	#9
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,818 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	Harry, I have been more than happy with the quality of what Lightning Source produces for me. I put the quality of the binding on my books (they are "perfect bound" paperbacks) up against pretty much any I have seen from traditional publishers (and definitely better than some). The cover image quality is very good to excellent (I chose a gloss laminate finish), though perhaps not up there with the very best of the trad-pubs I have - though in this case it may be the quality of image I supplied rather than printing that lets it down, I am still learning after all. The text print-quality, too, is very good (I leave readers to assess the other qualities of the text ). I was also very pleased with the paper quality. I chose a "creme" paper, which turned out to be very fine and crisp. Lightning Source print at locations nearest to distribution, so my copies came from Australian printers. I checked my with friend in the UK and as far as I can tell the quality was just as good there. The main negative things I have to say about my own print books have to do with my choices rather than anything Lightning Source did. I used a slightly smaller font, and relatively small margins, in order to keep the page count (and so the final cost) down as much as I could. I have had no complaints in that regard, but my own tastes would have preferred the font just a bit larger (I'm not as young as I was).

05-14-2017, 07:42 AM	#11
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,818 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	Ah, yes. I see what you mean, Harry. In novels you expect a certain amount resistance to opening, but that's not so good in reference work. I have only done novels with Lightning Source, so can't comment on their larger books.

05-21-2017, 04:27 PM	#13
ARM X Author Member Posts: 11 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2016 Device: Kindle Fire	I cannot speak for Lightning Source, though I have heard good things. I can say that if you know how to format a paperback book, Create Space provides a pretty easy and streamlined service for a quality product. Sometimes their e-proofs aren't 100% accurate in consistency, so you have to have some patience. Their direct conversion of a paperback to an ebook doesn't seem to be so great, though, and so you'd probably have to pair Create Space with Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing program, which is great for Kindle ebooks. All of that said, Amazon is the process of pairing these two services with a new program, and I'm not sure how that will end up yet. Still, on the whole, there's nothing really that wrong with CS and KDP. In 2017, I, too, would avoid the company that fjtorres mentioned. In the end, go with what works best for your goals. Best of luck!

08-01-2017, 04:03 PM	#15
Lemurion eReader Posts: 2,750 Karma: 4968470 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: Note 5; PW3; Nook HD+; ChuWi Hi12; iPad	It took a bit of work to get things right, but I'm quite happy with the results from Amazon's KDP POD offshoot.

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