Self Publishing In Print: Why I Have Returned To Printing My Books

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• When I first started doing print editions of my books, I only sold a handful of copies, probably to family members who didn't own ereaders. I wasn't sure it was worth all the extra time and effort, but now that I have five books out, it's definitely picking up. So, even though I make a lot more from ebooks, my last print book paid for itself in the first month.

  I would say I agree that if someone isn't a graphic artist themselves, they should defintely hire cover art done, but formatting isn't at all difficult. I have a video guide on my website that shows how to format for CreateSpace from a Word document. I can format a book easily and with fantastic results in a couple of hours.

  • I think that's exactly what happens India, so I advise people to go print-only first and then move into print after a couple of books justify the extra expense.
    I absolutely agree with you that internal formatting can be done yourself, but I'd rather pay $150 for someone to do it for me, so I can avoid the frustration! That's a personal decision.

    • I'm finding more authors realising (usually after their first book) that their time is best spent elsewhere doing other tasks that REALLY move the needle such as organising reviews, blog tours and building relationships. Delegate one off tasks like formatting. You'll get a more professional result without the headaches.

  • Hi India,
    Thanks for your offer of the video on your site! I will definitely check it out! This is perfect timing since we are about to pursue print now for D.I. Telbat's eBooks, and I was looking at Createspace. Thank you!

    Thank you for this post, Joanna. We first did eBooks, as well, as we didn't have the funds for print, but now that the first three have done well (at least on Amazon), we can now move forward with print. Thanks for the confirmation! :)
    Dee

• Great post, and very timely for me :) Thanks!

• I did exactly this. After my ebook had been out for 6 months i went for printed copies on Createspace. They sold well over the Christmas period although it's very quiet again now, but it's so easy, and you then know that both formats are easily accessible. Thanks for confirming that i got the timing right - albeit by luck!

• I just wanted to thank you for breaking down, in your video, exactly why you decided to join print books again. As an unpublished author, getting a straight answer feels nearly impossible at times; and this is hauntingly timely as I plan to begin professional edits in about two months. I never would have thought of a "maturing" timeline with print books and was worried about how I would pay for them to be ready at the same time as my ebook. Thank you again, I'm gonna have to write a thank you letter to my buddy for reccommending your site. =)

  • Fantastic James! I'm so glad this has helped you, and I try to be straight up with all my sharing here, so please do let me know any other questions. Most of us have done this all before and made lots of mistakes, so one of the aims of this site is to help others avoid the pitfalls.
    All the best with your book!

• I am SO glad I saw your post today. I have one book out on Kindle and print through createspace. I am about to publish my second. Your post confirms what I have read in others, you have to get more books published before they really take off. Time is another factor. Print on demand is wonderful. :)

• Sound advice, as always. I love that we can learn from each other and not make expensive decisions that we regret later. I wish I had been following a blog like this about franchising before I got into that!

• I jumped into print-on-demand right after my ebook went live, as I wanted to capitalize on the Amazon Kindle momentum.
  I used CreateSpace (Very user-friendly) and simply uploaded a PDF version of the same Mobi manuscript which I'd already paid for. There's no basic charge for CreateSpace, but I opted for the $25 US extended distribution. I already had a front cover designed by Derek Murphy of CreativeIndie (highly recommend, but be patient - he's busy), so there was only an additional $100 for the rear cover & spine. I gave him all the copy and layout making minimal design time on Derek's part. The total cash outlay for a 6X9 355 page softcover was $125 US and I'm thrilled with the professional quality. Amazon's minimal POD price is $13, so whatever you set above that is yours, and you can order one at a time.
  There's another value to having a print version. Like Joanna says, there social proof among family and friends that it's a real book when they can see, feel & smell it, but a hands-on, print version was given to an influential media person which has led me to an interview opportunity on a major Vancouver radio talk-show. That could be awesome return for 125 bucks!

  • I also understand the need to have a print version of the first book Garry, as I did it myself. And congrats on the media attention!

  • Hi Garry,

    I want to correct you about something on CreateSpace, in case others are reading your post. The cost of your book is $13, but that is not the cost for everyone, as it is based on the book dimensions, page count, paper choice (white or cream) and colour. There is a calculator offered on their webdsite to see what royalties you can make. Also, there are different streams for CreateSpace, so if you set up a CreateSpace e-store (a direct link from your own blog or author website) you will make more royalties vs. selling through Amazon or extended distribution. As well, you can order your own books at an author rate (the cost of printing without distribution) and shipping if you want to have books on hand to sell.

    For my YA novel, I want to make about $2 / book, therefore I have to sell my book for about $8.99 on Amazon to make that royalty. But if customers buy directly from me through the CreateSpace e-store, I make $4. With extended distribution, you make the least amount of money, but it opens up your book to libraries and schools and bookstores. No matter what they sell your book at, you will always make the same royalty set up in your contract.

    I hope this helps,
    Heidi.

• Hi Joanna and thanks for all the great posts (and tweets!). I'm pondering this very question right now. I've released three ebooks, one of which was picked up by a traditional publisher but which is not available where most of my readers are (except for an exorbitant fee). My readers have complained in the past about not being able to get their hands on a printed copy of my eBooks. I'm about to launch a new book and have been seriously thinking of giving Kickstarter a try - i.e. offering people the chance of buying printed copies beforehand. That way I'll also know how many to print and won't have excess copies. My only concern is that I'll still have to mail the books overseas from where I am, so I won't make much on each copy, but I'm still inclined to think that it's worth it to get printed copies out there and also to keep my loyal readers happy. Any thoughts?

  • Hi Alda,
    I think Kickstarter is only of good use when you have an established audience who are happy to pay. It's more a buy-up-front option for an established fan-base than any kind of fund-raising activity and as you say, if you do it that way, you have to do all the shipping.
    If you just use Createspace, you don't need much cash upfront and you already have the books and an ebook cover, and then people can just order them, so you get the Amazon rankings & sales logged, which you wouldn't get through Kickstarter anyway. So using print on demand you won't have to mail anything - good for everyone.

    • Thanks for your thoughts - very much appreciated! :)

• .
  I've been considering experimenting with paper this year (starting with a short story since I'm doing it myself).
  I like your idea about "delayed paper" - to test if the ebook sales increase before investing time/money in physical books.
  I'm actually surprised by the note that Amazon's lowest POD price is $13 per Garry's comment. I had thought the author price was $7 for proofs then some price above that for the final customer price. I'll have to research the variables there again.
  .
  Two other items to add to your list of reasons to do paper:
  -goodreads giveaways
  (for some reason [insert any thriller conspiracy here] goodreads holds to the requirement of physical books to do giveaways, while selling authors on the "explosive growth" in readership after a successful giveaway).

  -amazon categories
  (a physical book gives an indie author a third category for readers to discover them). I think that is why Audio is so interesting for many authors. Joanna, if the old physical 6x9 book still 'works' with your branding, keep both 6x9 and 5x8 up.
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  • Hi JS
    The reason Amazon charged me $13 is because of the large size - 6X9, 115,000 words, and 355 pages. They base their price on the amount of ink & paper required. The $13 included their hard cost & profit but not shipping. What I meant by 'minimal' price was that's what my basic charge was. I think that $7 for a small print book would be reasonable. Hope this clears things up.
    Garry

  • Reiterating Garry as below, the cost on Createspace is based on your book size, number of pages, color/B&W, paper type etc, so it is all variable.
    I'm definitely going to go back to doing Goodreads giveaways as you say - they need print!
    On the 6x9 version, I have re-written the text since then and 'unpublished' that about 18 months ago, but Amazon won't remove it unfortunately, but the only copies out there are selling for $40+ so no one will buy them! (until I'm hugely famous of course!)

• I've self-published in print, digital and audio. Is print worth it? YES!