Welcome back! Today’s post, the seventh in the “Self-Publish a Book” series is all about writing a great book.

Previous Posts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

The notorious POD

(print-on-demand publishing)

 

So you now have your ebook out there (at least on Amazon), you might wonder, “why go through the trouble of making a print version as well?”

Admit it, physical books are still awesome

Most people still love the experience of holding a real book. There are also certain promotional activities that require you to have print copies available—for instance, some book reviewers will not review ebooks on principle.

What is print-on-demand?

Print-on-demand services are a boon to self-published authors. As the name suggests, they print copies of your book when they are purchased. This is the opposite of traditional offset printing, where you print in large quantities to reduce your cost-per-book.

As an independent writer with limited resources, the last thing you want is to spend a fortune on a print run, only to be left with thousands of copies gathering dust in your garage.

 

How can I print my book using POD?

Before you can use a POD service, you will need a print-ready PDF version of your book. While there are templates and online converters that can help you do this, the Reedsy Book Editor lets you instantly export a print-ready version of your manuscript.

There are a bunch of services you can use, but the only two you need to know about are CreateSpace and IngramSpark.

If your aim is to reach the largest possible audience, your best bet may be to use both of them. The jury is out on which of these provides the superior service, so you could try a few sample orders from both and decide for yourself. Start here if you want to know more.

One other thing: in the last lesson, I mentioned ISBN as something you may need when it came to ebooks. When you’re selling printed copies through a POD, it’s an absolute necessity. Find out how you can get an ISBN in your country right here.

There you have it—your book is now out there in the world. Come back for the final leg of this course, where you will learn how to boost your sales with a killer marketing strategy.