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Print on Demand Publishing Economics
Printing CheapA standard 288 page 5.5"x 8.5" paperback book [100,000 words] with a single color laminated cover printed by your local offset shop will cost around the following:
NOTE: printers reserve the right to force you to buy overruns, [ 5% to 10% of the quantity ordered]. This can add significantly to your cost. Most first time printers do a short run of 500 books. These are not printed large presses with metal plates prepared from film, rather they use the same pricess as print on demand, using a large photocopy machine. This means you can create proof copies on any good laser printer
to sell directly. Official copyright registration [optional] costs $30 (http://www.loc.gov/copyright)
Top QualityOne color cover - really gives you two colors to work with, the color of the paper and the color of the ink. Four color – required if you use a color photograph on your cover Use a professional designer available on elance $50 or your local printer at around $200 Professional page compositor - will pick a suitable font, balance the pages, and make sure that the headers and footers are attractive and not crowded. Find somebody experienced in working with printers preparing the camera ready pages, although most presses have entirely eliminated the optical camera step using "output to disk" as the only input to the printing press. Expect to pay $40 $50/hr. After the initial book design is created, the text entry will only take a minute or two a page. Minimum order 500 or more to recover your investment
Comparing CostsThere are key drivers of costs: Trim size - the width x height dimensions of the book in inches. Books are printed in standard sizes, only a couple of which are economical in print runs under several thousand copies.
Trade paperback format - 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", is the only size that can be printed in quantities under 1000 books without a huge premium. In both cases, the printed book will actually be a little smaller, up to 1/8", due to the limitations of the short run binding process. The other sizes are only cost effective for large runs using larger presses.
Small PressesSmall presses are sheet fed, like copying machines or laser printers, with relatively small sheets of paper. This allows four 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" pages to be printed at a time (4 up) on each side of a single 11" x 17" sheet of paper. Printing on non-standard sheet sizes requires an extra cutting step, plus a lot of wastage.
Offset PressesLarger offset presses handle larger sheet sizes, but the plate preparation is expensive.
Web PressesWeb presses are the largest and fastest presses; used by newspapers and large printers. They use large continual rolls of paper, rather than sheets, including cutting and folding operations. Limited to large runs from commercial publishers. Paper weight, type and color a- use standard 50# white offset paper. Cover thickness of paperback covers is measured in points [thousandths of an inch]. The standard paperback cover is 10 points (1/100 of an inch) laminated on one side. Standard book pricing includes a paperback cover with one color of ink. Hard cover books may be highly desirable, but are too expensive for most self publishers at small print runs. To self publish a hardcover for a 100 or 200 book run costs and additional $5 to $10 per book, depending on the process. At 1000 copies, $2 per book. This includes a four color the dust cover. Page 2 of 2 | Back
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