I’m looking to start my own small publishing company eventually, but for right now, I’m working on getting a family cookbook into print. I’ll probably be printing between 50 and 100 copies (I have a lot of extended family), but I don’t want to put a lot of money down and get burned if some family members decide they don’t want the book. I’ve looked at lulu.com, and they don’t quite offer what I want (mostly I want to be able to have either three-ring or Wire-O binding, and lulu only offers perfect binding), but something along those lines would be ideal. I’m sort of looking at CreateSpace or Blurb, but I’m wondering what other options are out there. Ideally the service would offer the following:
1. Only print a copy of the book when it is sold, so I don’t have to put down a lot of money ahead of time.
2. Allow me to keep all legal rights to the book.
3. Have a relatively low base cost per item.
4. Offer a free ISBN service (not necessary, but it would be nice in case I end up selling more of these outside of the family).
I don’t need a big expensive design package; I can take care of that on my own. And I’m not looking for help with editing or marketing or anything. Just simple, legitimate POD printing (and preferably not lulu, even though that seems to be everyone’s favorite).
Lulu offers perfect bound (paperback) and hardcover. They’ll set up an e-store to sell your book. There’s also a $50 (or so) "distribution" option, but that’s another topic.
I believe CreateSpace only does perfect bound. They’ll assign a free ISBN for your book, and set up an e-store. You can also sell it through Amazon if you want; Amazon will take a 40% commission. With a $40 pro account you can "buy down" the printing charges per book. If you have a low page-count and only expect to sell a few books it’s probably not worth it. Otherwise it’s worth calculating a break-even analysis. Cost depends on how many pages.
Blurb is good for high-quality art books and coffee table books, but more expensive. They offer hardcover and paperback.
Most local printers or copy centers should be able to make you a coil/spiral bound book, but you won’t get good pricing by printing one at a time. Even in volume, I would think the cost of labor and materials is higher than perfect bound.
The online POD companies are economical because they are streamlined (i.e. limited options). Because the orders are pooled together you get the benefit of high-volume cost efficiencies.
The e-stores are convenient but the customer pays shipping. If your customers all live near you, they might prefer to by directly from you to avoid shipping charges.
I have used CreateSpace, and my book is selling on Amazon.