The Longer, the Better

The Constant Changing by Short Run Printers

The Self-publishing world has been turned on its head in the past few years with the constant rise in popularity of e-books, making the process of self-publishing so much easier and cost effective. That being said there is nothing quite like seeing your book in print, whether it's on the shelves of a book store or your own stall at a book fair, see you words surrounded by a cover with your name on the front is a nice feeling.

I have a range of books, some that I release as digital only copies and others that I want available in print as well, not all books are read digitally and it's impossible to pick up a digital copy in a charity shop, so I still look for ways to release my books in hard copy. On a large release such as I am planning with my new novel Retaliation, I am planning to enlist a long run printer as the costs of print are remarkably low when you start producing thousands of books, however prior to organising my long run I like to do a short run of promotional copies. Large run printers are too expensive for a short run of 30 to 50 books so you are left in the domain of the short run printers, therein lies the problem.

Short run print costs are consistently changing, in order to approach my budget in an organised manner I run an initial quote based upon how many books I believe I will need along with an estimate of how many pages the book will be once it has cleared editing. I use that quote to assist with putting together my marketing budget for the publication. However in the 4 to 6 weeks between my initial budget inquiry to my finished product the price has shot up. 20 books with 250 pages at £60 has now been re-quoted at 20 books with 230 pages for £80. Although I do have the option of re-using the initial quote, but in order to do this I now have to re-format the entire book so I am not left with 20 empty pages at the back of the novel.

This isn't the first time I have fell foul of the constantly changing prices of the short run printers, my first children's picture book Izzy Explores was only being used as a short run print with an initial print run of 30 promotional books, but when I returned to them 2 months later to carry out a larger run of 200 books I couldn't get the books for any less than what I had paid for the initial 30. Even re-running the quote rather than accepting a re-print rate I couldn't get 200 books to come out anywhere near the rate I had for re-print. So what is going on?

I understand that these are often small businesses with limited resources but their main customers which are self-publishers like myself are normally operating on even more limited resources, surely they have to realise that consistency in pricing brings loyalty of customers.

I would love to hear what you think? Have any of you had similar issues?

Written by Martin Wallace

Retaliation
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0957501536?keywords=retaliation%20martin%20wallace&qid=1456137715&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

Izzy Explores
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Izzy-Explores-Jungle-Meets-Geraldine-ebook/dp/B00NWX7L7M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456137754&sr=8-1&keywords=izzy+explores