Which print-on-demand-with-distribution services for books do you use?

fanyart 2016-01-07 14:31:22 UTC #1

I would like to make my comics available as printed books but I can't really handle the distribution myself, so I can't have like 100 copies printed at once that I would send out to readers. Years ago I used Ka-blam print on demand and their online store Indyplanet (where readers could order the book and Ka-blam would print it and send it to them themselves), but I believe the quality could have been better and recently they started requiring a weird form (not the W8 one) which I don't know how to file.

I have read the thread about POD services here, but I am really limited by the handling of the shipping and such (I live in the dorms and in a backwater country called Czech Republic). Does anyone know of a good service that would handle both printing a full color paperback (saddle stitch or perfect bound) AND the orders and shipping of the books to readers?

So far I know about Lulu.com, which offered a marketplace years ago (so I hope it still works that way), but I would welcome any tips and experiences you have with other similar services. Has anybody tried Peecho, for example?

Thanks a lot for the help!

kambreapratt 2016-01-07 15:23:42 UTC #2

We used Create Space before and they did a good job for us. They are through Amazon and I think you can have them print and ship.

fanyart 2016-01-07 15:40:57 UTC #3

Thank you for telling me! How was the quality of the printing? I read in the other thread that the interior paper isn't very good for full color.

TopJimComics 2016-01-07 15:52:24 UTC #4

I used Create Space and I was very pleased, but I'll admit I had a "low bar". The interior pages look very much like what you'd expect, a high quality color laser printed them on bright white paper. I think where I was pleasantly surprised was the quality of the cover, I guess I expected it to be pretty poor, and it came out looking pretty nice.

kambreapratt 2016-01-07 15:53:12 UTC #5

Ours is full color and we had no issues, however, we haven't used them for a couple of years, we switched to Offset printing, and it might not be the same as it was.

fanyart 2016-01-07 16:48:34 UTC #6

Thanks, @TopJimComics and @kambreapratt! I have looked into createspace, and remembered giving it a try years ago, but got stuck that they required you to order a proof copy before you could finish the book set up. Do they still require it? I need something that I wouldn't have to invest money into first...

kambreapratt 2016-01-07 17:24:18 UTC #7

I don't know. I know places allow digital proofing, but I can't remember is Create Space allows digital or not.

TopJimComics 2016-01-07 17:46:43 UTC #8

No, you can approve a digital proof I believe.

VermillionWorks 2016-01-07 18:13:40 UTC #9

I've been considering printing my comic later, if I can, after I go through and do some editing on my early chapters.
I was considering using Ka-Blam, anyone have opinions on them?

....and what's a good number of copies to have printed when you're not even sure how many are interested?

AnnaLandin 2016-01-07 18:25:33 UTC #10

I was part of an anthology that printed with Ka-Blam a couple of years ago. Quality-wise, it turned out pretty nice, but keep in mind that you have to pay toll fees if you live outside the US. Those can get pretty steep. These days, I print with local printers, to cut down on shipping costs.

I've been doing print-runs of about 50. That's a number that's small enough to be manageable, and while it's unlikely you'll sell ALL of the copies at a single con (the most I've managed is 25 copies in a weekend), it's a nice, round number. You can move that many copies over a couple of cons, if you need to - and depending on how you price them, you might even make back printing costs after selling half your stock. Ordering 100 copies and not being able to shift them all would feel kind of terrible.

VermillionWorks 2016-01-07 21:37:07 UTC #11

Thanks for the info! Though I've never been to a convention before (maybe sometime, but I'd probably just go wander around at one first to get a feel for it before trying to get a table and sell comics) so I'd probably just sell them online initially.

Oh, and I live in the US, so I guess no problem there. XP

TopJimComics 2016-01-08 13:39:44 UTC #12

CreateSpace has no volume discount other than shipping gets cheaper the more you order. To me the magic point was to order 10 at a time (ordering more than that didn't really affect the price-per-book enough to make a difference). My comic isn't very popular, though, so I didn't worry about suddenly running out of copies.

saeedfaridzadeh 2016-01-08 15:23:20 UTC #13

I use createspace and have been very happy with them. The quality you get is better than I thought it was going to be, but I would suggest ordering a book for yourself from their store to see what it's like for yourself.

If you are going to ship with them, I would strongly recommend giving yourself ample time. I have their stuff shipped to the UK and there can sometimes be a bit of an issue as far as tracking or delivery times. However, Createspace has always been there to help, and even shipped a brand new order as a replacement for the original order that did not arrive on time.

In time the original order did find it's way to me, but it was cutting it WAY too close to the convention. So do give yourself a couple more weeks than what their website says. Just in case.

illizard 2016-01-08 16:58:52 UTC #14

I haven't used any print-on-demand services myself (so thank you very much for opening this discussion) but just recently I've got some books from Lulu. I must say, I haven't had seen such a poor printing quality for a long time now. Looks like it was printed on some ancient xerox machine.

marfivemai 2016-01-09 03:40:24 UTC #15

You can do a digital proof and approve of that. The only problem is you wont be able to get a good look at how the colors come out. So you'd have to buy a copy for yourself to make sure. The good thing about purchasing a proof is that they only charge you cost + shipping. But yes! You can 'proof' the book digitally without purchasing anything!

The bad thing about createspace is that they charge a LOT for the books when they sell them on Amazon, based on the number of color pages. If you want to use color try to keep the book under or around 60 pages or you wont be able to charge enough to make a profit without making the book really expensive. I ran into that problem but couldn't do much about it by the time I figured out the process.

saeedfaridzadeh 2016-01-09 11:38:06 UTC #16

One thing to keep in mind with a book that's 60 pages is you will not be able to have text on the spine. You'll need at least 100 pages to be allowed text on your spine. It might not be important to you, but worth mentioning.

fanyart 2016-01-09 20:41:26 UTC #17

@TopJimComics Thanks for the info on Createspace!

@VermillionWorks I used Kablam for my first book and back then I was satisfied with the customer service (though I'm not sure anymore since last time I asked about something, nobody replied). The colors weren't as great as I think they could be, but I can't tell since I have nothing to compare.
I liked Kablam because you could sell the books directly to readers and didn't have to order anything yourself (but it probably doesn't work for people outside US anymore). How many copies, that depends on where you want to sell them, how many people are sure to buy it and how popular is your comic. I think 5-10 should be about a good number, since all bulk discounts are from 10 and then 100 copies, you can always order more.

That's good to hear! It's not like I want to sell something I haven't checked myself, but I trust my skills in graphic design and if their quality isn't good, then there's nothing I can do about it anyways. I do plan to buy a copy though, if the earnings from the book allow for it.

We don't have conventions here, so this can't happen to me

@illizard Was the book from Lulu black and white or color?
You may find some info in this thread:

@marfivemai Thanks for the info! I guess I'll try Createspace after all. My comics won't be that long, I plan to turn Ikou's tale into book and maybe the Little Leaf tale, but I fear it won't have enough pages, on the contrary
Did you publish Dragon Tutor through Createspace? You can make them available on THE giant Amazon with this service? Or is listing there paid?

marfivemai 2016-01-11 19:09:59 UTC #18

@fanyart You sound PERFECT for createspace! As long as your book is 30 pages it will be long enough for createspace to make. So even if you don't have enough book pages you can just have white blank pages in the back. You could just put some of your Q&A responses or Patreon information in the back if you think you need to add to 30 pages.

I did publish through createspace! And YES! Using createspace lets you put your book on Amazon for FREE. They will also guide you to making your book an ebook if you're interested in that! You'll need an ISBN number. If you buy your own they can get expensive but Createspace has free ones for you to use. Createspace can be used to publish your book for absolutely FREE. It's pretty awesome. And having your book up on Amazon itself is a great plus!

There are downsides to createspace. You don't get to choose your own quality of paper (it's a one size fits all sort of thing) but you CAN choose the size of you book. They can go super tiny or pretty big. Different cuts cost different prices because they have to set up their printers to handle the sizes. They have several 'generic' sizes that are always set up, so those sizes are cheaper to print.

If you need any help with Createspace Fany don't hesitate to ask. I've been through the process multiple times. I'd be happy to help you out with it! <3

illizard 2016-01-13 11:49:47 UTC #19

It was black and white.
(Thanks for the thread link!)

PotooGryphon 2016-01-13 14:14:40 UTC #20

I recommend Comic Wellspring/Greko Printing over Ka-blam for Print of demand, however neither of those printers also include distribution services. You have to mail out the books yourself to your customers.