Book Covers
November 30, 20082009! and MobiPocket
January 5, 2009So I ordered a copy of my book from LuLu. I’ve made it private so only I could see it. Unfortunately, I had to pay $19.77 for it ($13.64 for the book and $6.13 for shipping). I changed my royalty to $0.0 (zero), so I wouldn’t be paying myself back my own money. But the price… $19.77, even with out royalty. That’s just so high. And for me to get any royalty would make it even higher. Sigh. Even I wouldn’t want to pay for a book for THAT much.
What to do. What to do.
Hopefully the ebook would be much cheaper than print. But I understand the printing company has to get paid too.
Well, I found a few mistakes in the book that I need to correct, and my maps were very light, and not easy to see. I’ll have to try to darken them up a bit and see how that works. Some of the book cover was chopped of just a bit and, just a bit, went on the spine. Once I figure that all out, then I’ll have to pay for the $19.77 again to make sure the print comes out ok. And hopefully that will be for the final time.
Sigh.
What we do for self publishing.
Anyway, I also bought some T-Shirts and a cap, flyers and some posters, that I ordered from Vista Print where I uploaded my book cover. I also bought magnets with the book cover on it and that also had the 2009 calendar. I’ll send out the magnets to my family and friends along with my Christmas letter. It looks great! But it was a bit too long for a normal size envelope. Thank goodness it had a lot of white space where I just had to cut a bit of both ends and PRESTO it fits! The hubby bought me a nice cutter so that the lines would be straight. Cutting with scissors didn’t look so well. The magnets, however, were very easy to cut since they’re so thin, but not too thin to look cheap. They’re just right.
So, I’m off to figuring out more on getting my book to look better.
It was just so NEAT to see it in print though. The hubby said, “Wow. It looks like a real book!” And yes it did. The print was very nice! And to see it “looking like a real book…” what a wonderful feeling.
4 Comments
Hi, I’ve been reading up on your self-publishing blog and it is incredibly helpful. I am about to self-publish my next book and have been checking different options. Lulu vs. CreateSpace vs. Lightning Source. So, you decided to go with Lulu then? I looked into them too and the high prices finally deterred me as you have experienced. I also heard too that extra shipping charges for customers of your book may be added on even further. I’m looking into Lightning Source as they now offer a POD option. As opposed to earlier one having to print and buy and store your own books. Hope all goes well. Bye. Michael Karpovage, author of Flashpoint Quebec.
http://www.flashpointquebec.com
Oh cool! I’m glad I’m helping someone out. That’s very nice to know. I started this blog so that I can go through the trials and tribulations and save the headaches for someone else. I couldn’t find a blog that was detail enough to help me out. They were all general and not giving much step-by-step info.
I might check into Lightning Source as well. I heard it is much cheaper to have your books bought through their distributors. But I also heard to do all the setup is taxing as well. However, it can’t be any harder than what I’ve been going through with all of these learning lessons. 🙂 I wish you luck on your pathway to self-publishing!
Deana,
Just read up on your blog. I see you went with Lightning Source too. I did as well and launched my new novel Crown of Serpents in May of 2009 and it’s been quite a success being a publisher! Lightning Source has been wonderful and an incredibly smooth process. I’m sorry to hear about your PDF problems. I am a designer/art director by trade and I did all of the layout and interior and cover design of my novel myself so for me it was an easy process because I’m experienced in the field. Saved me a bunch of bucks too by not having to hire a designer!
I have now been in the marketing/sales phase of my novel and it’s going very well. If fact, I’m doing my first speaking engagement in Georgia at the end of this month. One of the marketing vehicles you might consider is using wix.com to create a kick butt book website for free! I upgraded my site to use my own URL and that only costs $8.25/month hosting. But the design of the site – using Flash animation tools all for free – really makes it an interactive and professional experience for customers. Check out my book site at http://www.crownofserpents.com/
Take care and good luck with everything!
Michael Karpovage
Author, Crown of Serpents
I checked out your website. Pretty Cool man! Thanks for the suggestions on the website. It might come in handy. My website is http://www.zhollis.com/. It’s not posted in a convenient spot on my blog, but it is under the “website” category :).
You’re absolutely right about being able to do things yourself. If I had that trade for art, that would be handy on this “do-it-yourself” path for web-designing, book designing and all that. But I do have somewhat of a computer skill, so any skill for self-publishing would different save you money.
Congrats on the marketing/sales phase! I hope to get there soon. Good luck with your touring and Thanks for posting!