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03

How To Publish Your Book In Paperback Format Without Breaking The Bank

Posted By: Val on November 3, 2009 at 6:38 pm

Please leave a comment for me by clicking on the comment/no comments link above. Appreciate it.

Someone asked me a question today about getting their book published without spending hundreds of  Rand or Dollars. They are unable to find a Publisher willing to take on their book.

I am delighted to be able to assist with some great advice. Please feel free to send me your questions and I will do my best to help you.

If you are going to self-publish, the first thing is to get your manuscript typed. Use Microsoft Word and I suggest using the A5 page setup. (That’s half the size of the regular A4).  Use a nice font like Verdana, Bookman or Arial.  You will be able to see what your book looks like as you type. That will save you a lot of setup costs.

Next, get a stunning front cover. Contact Clive Thompson for a quote – email him at cliveleet@mweb.co.za. He does a really nice professional job.  Remember, the cover sells the book. Tell him the size of your book and the number of pages so he can get the spine right.

Next, turn your book into a PDF.  Here’s a link to some free software that will easily do that for you – www.pdfill.com. Upload your book and cover picture to a Print-On-Demand Publishing Service.

1.  If you live in South Africa and are wanting to print just a few copies and you are not too worried about “bookshop quality” – contact Molly Ferreira of Digital Image Printing -  ids@lithotech.co.za.  You pay approx. ZAR twelve cents per page (or thereabouts) for a black-and-white interior and a full colour cover. The cost is the same whether you print one copy or one hundred copies. This is great for short runs.There are POD companies in the USA, but it costs quite a bit to get the books to South Africa. This is your cheapest option.

2. If you want a quality book, sign up with www.createspace.com in the USA. They are an Amazon.com company. Just upload your PDFs to their system (they will help you do that) and the company will prepare your book for sale.  They will also put it in the Amazon.com database so folk can buy it. They handle all sales, posting, finance (but not marketing)  and give you a 50% royalty. You set the price of the book upfront. This will give you a nice quality paperback, which you can import to South Africa at quite a good price.  The only cost to you is the initial copy you have to buy in order to authorise the publication. That will set you back about USA $12. Visit their site and take a look. They even give you a template for the cover, which you can send to your cover designer.

There are other companies that do similar work and a search on Google will help you find them. However, I work with these two and highly recommend them.

The sky is the limit!

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7 Responses to “How To Publish Your Book In Paperback Format Without Breaking The Bank”

  1. Piet Smit says:

    Hallo Val

    Verdra my dat ek in Afrikaans skryf.

    Jou raad en wenke is fenominaal. Jy is ervare en ken jou veld.

    Ek het reeds drie boekies die lig laat sien, deur dit self te finansieer deur die kerk waar ek was in Vredendal en dan het ek weer al die inkomste net so aan die kerk teruggegee.

    Die boodskappies is alles goed wat ek vir die plaaslike koerant geskryf het. Tans is ek op Malmesbury en bedryf ek ‘n Epos Inval Gedagte Bediening, waar ek elke weeks oggend vir baie mense ‘n boodskappie stuur. Nou wil ek baie graag van uitgewers gebruik maak soos CUM en Carpe Diem maar hulle het nog elke slag nie my goed aanvaar nie. Ek het nou weer iets aan Carpe Diem voorgelê en hoop hulle sal dit die slag aanvaar.

    Ek deel maar sommer net my hart met jou en verwag nie jy moet iets doen nie.

    As jy my geestelike boodskappies vroeg oggend wil ontvang, kan jy my net jou epos adres gee en ek sal ook vir jou stuur.

    Mooi dag in Jesus

    Piet Smit

  2. val says:

    Hello Piet,

    Congratulations on your work.

    The “big” Publishers are not showing much interest in the “little guys” so why not go with the POD publishers and get your book printed in the quantities you can cope with? It’s a great service.

    I would love to receive your devotionals – send them to val@valwaldeck.com.

    Blessings!

    Val

  3. AnnReynolds says:

    Hi Val,
    Wow!
    This new technology is amazing! It opens up a whole new world of available books to read and music to enjoy!
    What a wonderful means of spreading The Good News.
    Shalom
    Ann

  4. Solomon Bam says:

    Hi thanks for this information
    I will make use of it graete work

  5. Shelley says:

    thanks for this great advice! it has really helped me with understanding where to start, awesome!

  6. Barbara Shaw says:

    Dear Val
    Thank you for sharing you knowledge.

    I have two clients who have written their autobiographies and would like to see them in print. I see that an A5 book of 200 pages and a cover would come to around R24.00. Am I right? It seems very reasonable.

    Also, does this include a few black and white photographs?

    Kind regards, Barbara Shaw

  7. CJ says:

    WOW! Thank you so much for this detailed info!



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