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.

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.