Hi guys, although I'm not quite ready to be published, I would like a physical copy of my book when I'm finished (as a trophy). Nicely bound, good quality cover and paper, does anyone know of any services that could do this for me? Preferably one I can contact online, send them a PDF, of the correct dimensions, obviously, and then they send me the copy. Thanks in advance, S.S. P.S. a service that would allow me to specify the design of the cover, front and back, and the text on the spine, would be preferable.
Well, typically, publishers give the author a handful of copies for themselves and to give out. However, if you want special binding, you'd have to find a service for that. I know you can get real nice bindings online, no idea who could actually put that and the pages together.
I hope you don't mean I am an incompetent writer seeking vanity publishing, LOL The copy is just for my own use and I require only one.
POD shops like Lulu or CreateSpace are probably favourite. From what I remember of dealing with mainstream printing houses (disclaimer: this was a few years ago now) they'd be happy to run you off a single copy of your book, but the setup costs mean the prices are going to be significantly higher than somewhere specifically set up for print-on-demand. If you're going to be submitting to trad publishers as well, you might want to check with more knowledgeable people if they'd count putting it on CreateSpace just for getting an author copy as 'already published'.
I don't think printing your book out once will count as publishing it, as you retain the copy. Sure, how do publishers even get to view people's work? Through a printed copy. I found a group in Dublin that will do 25 copies (enough for my friends and family) for €159, which is the best price I could find. Would Lulu / Createspace be as good quality / cheaper?
Having just checked CreateSpace, they quoted about $125 for 25 copies of my book, including the shipping. That works out to about €99 at today's rates. That's for a 210-page 6x9 paperback. I'm happy with the quality, but I can't say 'better' or 'worse' without seeing something from your print house. I think it's as good as any mainstream paperback I've seen.
