Self-publishing - Paperbacks

For the uninitiated, yes, you can self-publish in paperback yourself for no cost!

This was a glaring example to me of how I shouldn't let previous experience close me off to new possibilities. You see, I've had a fairly lengthy career across marketing, PR and events management and one of the things I got to do was manage a print production process. In those days, digital was embryonic at most, and final print costs per unit (one item) were totally dependant on print runs (total number of items printed). I take the time to understand behind-the-scene stuff with anything I do, so this made complete sense to me.

What I hadn't taken into account was technology - don't ya just love it! Before digital, I was used to organic growth, now in the digital age, we are accustomed to exponential growth and even more recently, the explosion of viral growth!
Long story short, I finally woke up to find that what I had learnt was not true and what I couldn't conceive of, was. Hello technology!

How does this relate to self-publishing your own paperback at no cost to yourself? It's called Print-On-Demand (POD).

It is possible for yes, you've guessed it, Amazon, to print one paperback book complete with full colour cover to fill one order!

As you can imagine that shot to hell my perception that if I wanted to self-publish in paperback, I would have to go to some small-time printer, scrape together the funds to get 100 copies published and then store them in my garage with practically non-existent means (financial and marketing platform) to sell them.

Amazon has given us indie authors, Createspace. So, what does Createspace do for you?

• Formatting
• Size of book
• Colour of paper
• Selection of cover templates to choose from
• ISBN

As with the process on Kindle Direct Publishing, I strongly recommend you read whatever guidelines you can on Createspace before you start. Remember, I'm only relating my experience with a novel, that means I have no internal images, no strange fonts or complex formatting, no table of contents, no bibliography.
Once everything is in place, your book is ready, and Createspace highly recommends that you get a proof copy sent to yourself to see how it looks.

You see there is one major difference between publishing on Kindle and publishing on Createspace - and that's the formatting.

This is my story... (wow, did I laugh!)
My Kindle edition looked great - I used an Arial font, 14 pt - and when I checked it out on Kindle Previewer, it looked pretty cool, I have to say so myself.
So, I took the same format, did a bit of work fitting it into the trim size (actual dimensions) of the book and finished the process.
I immediately ordered my proof copy which is free of charge, but you pay for the shipping. Not trusting myself to handle the anticipation of waiting three weeks for the regular delivery, I selected the fastest delivery time and then put myself on bread and water for the rest of the month (only kidding!).
It arrived three days later and I cannot put into words the thrilled awe I felt when I held my book in my hands for the first time. But I digress.
When I opened the book, it looked like it was meant for someone who was visually challenged - the font was huge! (I myself am visually challenged, so no offence meant or taken).
Yes, I'd seen it online and there it looked great, like my Kindle version on which it was based. But in print, it looked so wrong!
This is the value of the proof copy underestimate it at your peril.

You see, font styles and font sizes that look great on an e-reader do not necessarily look good on the printed page.
It appears that sans serif (Arial, Verdana, Trebuchet) better suits e-readers and serif (Times, Georgia) suits print. Just one of the things you'll learn on the self-publishing journey.

I am currently revising my paperback version (still in process), but am strongly leaning towards Palatino Linotype for the font, 10 or 11 pt.

Hope this helps
Until next time.