Publishing Formats

KC

There are two main questions you will need to ask yourself when you’re ready to print

  1. How do I want my books to be printed?
    • Your main options are: Print on Demand or Offset Printing
  1. Which formats do I want to publish?
    • Your main options are: E-book, paperback, and/or hardcover

Print on Demand vs. Offset Printing

What is Print On Demand? POD is using a 3rd party service (like IngramSpark or Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing) to print books as your books are ordered.

What is Offset Printing? Offset printing is actually a specific printing technique. The reason I put this as the second option is because often when people opt out of print on demand, it’s because they are looking for the better quality that offset printers can provide.

Below I’ve highlights some of the major pros & cons that come up when comparing print on demand vs. offset printing.

Print on DemandOffset Printing
No upfront costsUpfront costs
Quality can be iffy
(For instance, I’ve had POD experiences where the pages aren’t cut perfectly, the book starts over in the middle, and the color varies from book to book) 		Better quality control
(If you find the right printer, you can have more confidence in consistency of the product that you produce)
Cost per book is typically higherCost per book is typically less
(This depends on how much $ you put upfront)
Don’t need to deal with storageNeed to deal with storage (and maybe shipping)
(This could be in your house or someplace like an Amazon warehouse. But remember… storing something counts as having a physical presence somewhere, which could impact how you do your taxes. Talk to a tax professional to learn those details.)

Ultimately, the way you want to print your books is up to you. Personally, I chose to use print on demand services because I didn’t have a large sum of money to invest in printing upfront.

E-book, Paperback, and/or Hardcover

The second question you have to ask yourself is which formats do I ultimately want my book to be available in? Because the answer to the first question (POD vs. offset printing) impacts how you approach this question, the below information is specific to if you decide to use Print on Demand Services.

Two of the biggest print on demand services are: Amazon and IngramSpark.

E-Book

Popular Options: Amazon, IngramSpark, Draft2Digital, PublishDrive, Smashwords

Paperback

Popular Options: Amazon, IngramSpark

Hardcover

Popular Options: IngramSpark

There are a million and a half ways you can combine these options and many self-publishers have strong opinions about what gets your book out to the largest audience. Here is an article that I found to be particularly helpful when navigating this world for the first time.