How to Self-Publish Your Book

When I wrote, "The Wolf Enlightened," I knew it would not have a large commercial audience and that I would have difficulty finding a traditional publishing house willing to publish the collection of short fables. I did want it published, however, and decided to self-publish.

After completing the final draft, I began the search to find out what my options were. I waded through numerous vanity publisher sites and several kinds of self-publishing sites, but vanity publishers were out of the question ( and using a vanity publisher is not considered "self-publishing" anyway) and most companies were simply too expensive. Many printing companies required that I purchase a minimum of 100 books and usually more. If you feel you can easily sell a large number of books, and you have the money to purchase a large volume, then that might be the better way for you. It wasn't for me, though.

I was happy when I finally found instantpublisher.com. Their minimum purchase was only 25 books, and their turnaround time was very quick. In order to use their services one must download special software that allows ones own computer to connect with Instant Publisher's printer. This download was easily done and did not take very much time.

Price:

Currently, for 25 perfect bound 5 1/2 by 8 1/2 books with a color cover, it costs $6.09 USD per book.
As with most printing companies, the more you buy the less the cost-- i.e., 50 books would cost $4.85 per book.

You may use your own artwork or you can choose from a selection of pre made covers. If you choose to use your own artwork, remember to save it in the appropriate format (CMYK) or the colors will not come out correctly (I made this mistake).

They charge half the amount when the books are ordered and the other half is charged when they are shipped. The time between the order is placed and the completed books are shipped is within just a week or two.

You can order a proof but know that will cost extra and also will delay the order (I do recommend getting a proof in order to catch any errors ahead of time).

With instant publisher you don't have to send a disk or hard copy by mail. Their software allows you to upload your manuscript directly to their site where it is created then as a PDF document. You can look over this document to double-check for errors before submitting it to their printer.

Tips:

Use a standard true type font such as Times New Roman.

Follow the templates provided by instant publisher, or whichever printing service you are using, to format your manuscript.

Instant Publisher is one of many; I recommend shopping around to see what company is right for you and your needs.

Some other printing companies:

diggypod.com

morrispublishing.com

bookmasters.com

Please note that I have only had experience with instantpublisher.com and not with any other companies