A Brief Overview of Printing Technologies Most books are printed using one of three methods: offset/lithographic, digital, or POD. It’s imperative that you choose the right method for each project. Choosing the wrong method could cost you lost profits or leave you with boxes full of books you can’t sell. Traditional (Offset/Lithographic) Printing is the technology that has been used to print books for decades. Traditional publishers use this for the majority of titles. While offset printing has the highest initial cost, it also produces the lowest cost per book when run in quantities. Offset is best used for longer print runs (generally above 1000). Offset printing allows you to add specialty cover treatments like matte lamination, foil, and embossing. Digital Printing produces shorter print runs (1000 and under) most cost effectively, and is the best option for printing smaller initial quantities to test the market with a book. With digital printing, the per-book cost is higher than offset but lower that POD. Digital printing is also ideal for printing Advance Review Copies (ARCs) for pre-publication book reviews. Print on Demand (POD) produces books one at a time, as they are ordered. While this brings the start-up costs down, the higher cost of producing books one at a time can prevent you from making any real profit, as these titles may need to be priced above comparable books on the market.
A Basic Publishing Glossary Basic Copyedit- before the book is typeset, this checks for spelling and grammar errors, incorrect word usage, missing and incorrect punctuation, and consistency throughout your manuscript. We highly recommend every manuscript has at least a Basic Copyedit before it is typeset. Page Design/Typesetting- the process of formatting the book’s interior pages using specialized design software that ensures your book will look and print beautifully. Proofread- after a book has been typeset, it needs to be verified against the manuscript to ensure no errors have been introduced, and all fonts, styles and formatting are consistent. A proofread is included in our typesetting cost. PDF- Adobe’s Portable Document Format (PDF) allows files to look and print the same on different computers. Although a press-ready PDF file allows you to have your book printed virtually anywhere, it limits the changes that can be made without having to retypeset your book. When selecting a publishing services company, make sure they will provide you with the files for your artwork. Forever Books provides files upon request- at no charge to you. Copyright- Literary Rights Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of most countries to the authors of “original works” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works and is in effect as soon as your manuscript has been written. Registering your copyright with the government is an additional measure that can help protect your work in the case of an infringement. ISBN- An International Standard Book Number is a 13-digit identification number which uniquely identifies a book. Books that will be sold through bookstores (online or offline) require an ISBN. The owner of the ISBN is the publisher of the book. Barcode- Most books include a scannable barcode on the back cover. Books sold through book stores will have a Bookland/EAN bar code. This barcode contains the ISBN and (optionally) the retail price.