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Printing your book – how it can lead to a publishing project disaster

How important is it to get print parameters right?

Here’s a succinct warning. It’s as blunt as i can possibly be (and yes Green Hill staff tell me I can be quite blunt).

Get your print parameters wrong and you are sure to fail in self-publishing.

I hear many say… but isn’t it about the message, the literary merit of the writing, the depth of my research, the strength of my book concept, the size of the market or the currency of the issue etc.?

As a student of economics many years back at one of the most rigorous economics schools in Australia, I learned the lesson of the robustness of economic law – the principles of supply and demand – in particular the gradient (or slope) of the supply and demand curves.

Book printing disaster You can break laws but you need to get expert advice!

Just like the law of gravity you can get lift-off if you have an expensive plane and plenty of fuel. You can sell a book no matter how expensive, if you have something extra. But conventional wisdom says the dictates of economics need to be applied if you want your book to be widely distributed, e.g. through the book trade; widely read and financially successful.

Let me explain it like this. One of our authors had a perfectly marketable book but insisted on the interior (with photographs) be printed in colour. The book was so expensive it couldn’t get lift-off. That book just didn’t have enough to break through the gravitational price point at market.

Here’s the blunt advice: draw on professional knowledge and experience when putting your print deal together. 

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Interested in publishing your book but unsure where to start or what is even involved? Tell us about your project and we will post you a copy of our:

 

The Little Book of
Big Publishing Tips.

 

In just a quick 8,000 words, this little book will equip you with the knowledge you need to successfully publish your book.

The Little Book of Big Publishing tips goes into the essentials of self-publishing a book, outlining the business and financial side of publishing, legal issues, design, editing, sales and marketing. There's even a section on how to identify a vanity-publishing scam.

submit your project details

I want to print in China

So many books, so many print options!

We’ve printed books in China and India with great quality results.

The key to printing off-shore is finding a reliable supplier. I’ve been on the factory floor in India, China and Cambodia and printing in these locations can be rewarding but  are normally complex and fraught with financial danger. 

If you are trying to do it alone: beware!

What might seem to be a great-deal printer is likely just a broker who might be sourcing plastic rubbish bins from Bejing, shoes from Cambodia and printing from Thailand. They may be doing “what-ever turns a buck”.

So many things can go wrong with printing. Printing takes a specialist who has technical knowledge of the print and finishing process.

If you want to get a quote see our Green Asia service.

David Walters – Director

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The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.

Interested in publishing your book but unsure where to start or what is even involved? Tell us about your project and we will post you a copy of our:

 

The Little Book of
Big Publishing Tips.

 

In just a quick 8,000 words, this little book will equip you with the knowledge you need to successfully publish your book.

The Little Book of Big Publishing tips goes into the essentials of self-publishing a book, outlining the business and financial side of publishing, legal issues, design, editing, sales and marketing. There's even a section on how to identify a vanity-publishing scam.

submit your project details

The Big Con

I talk daily with hopeful Australian authors starting their self-publishing project. Every day the same big questions with the same issues stand up like mountains. As authors push toward the finish-line after years of hard work, there are questions about editing, design and print.

But the real ‘Mount Kosciusko’, or better ‘Mount Everest’, is a question that is seldom asked, the question – how will my book come to be read?

Readership is all about visibility and access. This means an author’s book must first be visible or known. Then readers must have an easy way of getting the book.

I can sum up these two factors in one simple salient term – marketing.

Marketing is both art and science. Unfortunately our industry is plagued with gimmick-laden marketing packages that cost too much and deliver too little. This is why Green Hill doesn’t offer marketing packages. They simply don’t work.

Each author and more specifically each book needs a fully customised marketing plan. That’s why expensive cookie-cutter packages that include junk like book-stubs, posters, library email blasts, press releases and the mother of them all: “worldwide distribution” can make my blood boil.

Even worse many authors are misled to think that if the marketing package is expensive it will get their book known and read. Nothing can be further from the truth. Most features in our competitor’s marketing packages take the click of a mouse online and are ineffective.

Green Hill doesn’t offer “marketing packages”. But we can be engaged on an hourly rate to customise a marketing plan that has the very best chance of success.

My advice is to always start with the fundamentals and then build. Don’t commit to a big marketing package with a big price tag. The first things to do are:

  1. Get an ISBN
  2. Get professional book design

Add in good content and there’s your foundation upon which to build readership and sales.

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No Results Found

The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.

Interested in publishing your book but unsure where to start or what is even involved? Tell us about your project and we will post you a copy of our:

 

The Little Book of
Big Publishing Tips.

 

In just a quick 8,000 words, this little book will equip you with the knowledge you need to successfully publish your book.

The Little Book of Big Publishing tips goes into the essentials of self-publishing a book, outlining the business and financial side of publishing, legal issues, design, editing, sales and marketing. There's even a section on how to identify a vanity-publishing scam.

submit your project details