Where to Print Your Book?
When releasing my latest book, A.I. Human, I hit a snag. The original digital cover file wasn't translating well into print. So my cover artist made some adjustments, and I reuploaded the files on Amazon KDP and IngramSpark to order proofs.
But by that time, KDP was experiencing significant shipping delays. IngramSpark wasn't accepting the new file, and their customer service wasn't responding. My release date was two weeks away, and I was in a panic.
So I quickly scrambled to set the book up on Lulu and 48 Hour Books (and hopefully resolve the IngramSpark issues) in the hopes one of them could print and ship my books in time.
In the end, 48 Hour Books was able to get my books to me for my launch (whew!). Since I now have printed copies of my books from all four vendors, I thought it might be helpful to rate the print quality and experience for other authors who are wondering where to print their books.
One thing to note about the photo: What you’re seeing here does not match what I see with my naked eye. I tried to adjust the photo settings to match what I see in person, but I failed miserably. So if you’re looking at the photo above, and some of the things I say about the covers don’t make sense, you’re just going to have to…trust.
So let’s get into it. For reference, my book, A.I. Human, is printed as a 5.5” x 8.5” paperback with 288 pages (a little over 80k words). All of these copies were printed from a digital CMYK PDF with a matte cover.
First, the numbers:
Note: In subjective categories, I ranked the printed books from 1 (best) to 4 (worst). These are my opinions only. Amazon KDP
Obviously, this is the juggernaut. Amazon prints author copies the cheapest, and it shows. The matte cover is smooth–it is not a soft-touch cover like the others, and the pages are printed on a paper so smooth it’s almost slick in comparison. Whether you care for it or not is simply a matter of personal preference. Personally, I liked other copies where the pages felt like they had more texture. But the color of the paper is a nice, neutral cream color.
The cover art was my least favorite. To the naked eye, the background feels the flattest and the stars least visible. I realize it looks fine in the photo, but in person, it’s much duller. However, I want to be clear--it’s not bad. All of the covers printed well, and I wasn’t unhappy with any of them.
One unusual thing I tested was floppiness. I had never given this much thought, but a lot of readers like a floppy paperback, because they find it a little easier to hold open. Amazon’s was the floppiest of the lot.
A final thought: KDP is notorious for printing and shipping errors. The page edges on this proof were roughly cut (not smooth), and one of my recent author copies of Ahelno came back with a nearly ⅛ inch cut error (there’s a white, diagonal line across the top). If you are in any author forums, you know this is a common experience, so buyer beware.
Even though it’s the cheapest, I’ll be least likely to order from Amazon in the future. The ship time is ridiculous, and I don’t want to waste time fighting with Amazon to return books due to printing errors.
48 Hour Books
Because of the time crunch, I ended up ordering from 48 Hour Books. Was it hella expensive? Yes. Did I have my books in under a week? Also yes. Note that the 5 days included a weekend (ordered on a Thursday, had my books on Tuesday), so it could be even faster if you order early in the week. 48 Hour Books says to expect 2 business days for production and 2 business days for shipping.
It took an additional six days to get the digital and print proofs approved. That's much faster than any other vendor, but you still need to add setup time to your time frame. Once your book is approved in the system, you can get books quickly whenever you need them for an event. Be aware they have a 30-book minimum to order. The price per book does go down with the quantity you order. 100 books would take it down to about $8/book for me, which is more reasonable, but still a little pricey. The quality of the book is evident. It has a premium, soft-touch velvety cover--definitely the nicest of the group. The paper also has a nice weight and texture. It's a bit thicker, making the final product nearly a quarter inch thicker than the IngramSpark and KDP versions.
The paper color is also lighter than IngramSpark and KDP, but not quite as bright as Lulu. The effect creates a very readable contrast with the text, without feeling stark.
In my opinion, the printed cover was a little oversaturated and didn’t quite match the cover file, but the result was very nice. It actually looked very good, but I downgraded it to third because of the lack of fidelity. They have a human person who works on your file, and I suspect she may have adjusted the artwork on purpose. The effect is nice, and it looks very good in person. It just doesn’t quite match the original file, and I suspect that's important to a lot of authors and designers.
The quality isn't in dispute, but I won’t order from them again unless I’m desperate for time.
Lulu
In my opinion, Lulu’s cover was the closest to the original artwork. I’m not a graphic designer, but the colors, saturation, and brightness matched the digital file the best (in my eyes). The cover texture wasn’t as velvety as 48 Hour Books or IngramSpark, but it was still a noticeable upgrade from the Amazon matte cover.
The paper had a nice weight to it (same as 48 Hour Books), and was surprisingly much brighter than any of the others. Of the cream papers, it was the closest to white. That’s not necessarily a bad thing–the printing on the page looks a little darker because of the contrast, so it’s very readable. It’s just not as warm as some of the others, if that’s important to you.
This felt like a premium product at a more reasonable (but still expensive) price. An order of 100 books would bring the price down to about $8.70 per book. Surprisingly, 48 Hour Books offers a more significant discount for larger orders and would beat their prices on quantity. Something to consider.
IngramSpark
IngramSpark is my number one choice for the overall balance of quality and cost.
The cover printed nicely, although it felt slightly faded compared to the original file. Still, I was very happy with it. The cover also had a very nice texture–second only to 48 Hour Books. The pages were a bit lighter in weight, and they had the darkest cream, which felt a bit nostalgic to me. The paper texture is also a significant upgrade from the slickness of the KDP paper–more like the premium printers.
IngramSpark came in a very respectable second in most of my highly subjective categories. It’s a solid choice at a great price, so they’ll be my choice for most paperback printing going forward. Feel free to share your experiences with printing your books below!
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