There was a time when self-publishing a a course in miracles was an extremely challenging, and expensive, task. Book printing costs alone were often a small fortune. But now, thanks to the Internet and countless technological advances, self-publishing your own book is easier and more affordable than it’s ever been before.
One of the reasons self-publishing online is so much more affordable is that book printing costs aren’t really a factor up front. In the past, a self-published author would have to already have enough money to buy copies of his book from a book printing company. These companies usually have a minimum order, so the author would have to order hundreds, or even thousands, of copies of his book. And if he didn’t manage to sell those books, that was money lost.
Now, thanks to print on demand, a book is only printed when it’s already been bought. This means a writer doesn’t have to invest as much money upfront in order to start selling his book. And while selling only a handful of copies might be disappointing, it won’t be a great monetary loss.
When it comes to online book printing, or print-on-demand companies, you have many options. While Lulu is probably the most famous POD company, there are countless others, and all operate in more or less the same way. At a POD company, a digital file of your book and its cover is created. When an order comes in for the book, the book printing process begins. After printing is finished, the book is delivered to the customer.
If you’re going to self-publish online, it’s important to know the book printing costs of each POD company, because this can affect the amount of profit you make from each book sold. Some companies, for example, charge a base price for each book depending on the length, the type of cover it has, and so on. You, as the author, decide how much to add to the base price, and that will be the amount of money you make from the sale of the book.
Say, for example, you’ve decided $15 is the most you can charge for your book if you hope to sell it. If the POD’s company’s base price is $10, you will make a respectable $5 profit. But the higher the base price, the less you are likely to make.
There are several advantages and disadvantages to going the POD book printing route. One disadvantage is that each book costs more to print than it would if printed by a traditional book printer, so you have to charge more for each book to make a profit. This means there will probably be a lot of people who will never read your book because they think it costs too much. On the other hand, with POD book printing, you don’t have to worry about paying to print out a thousand books, and being stuck with 970 of them that you’re never able to sell.
