Cost-Cutting tips for self-publishing
from J. Mark Press

 

How to determine your parameters. HOW SIZE AFFECTS YOUR COST Your cost can fit your budget if you pay attention to these tips. Different page-sizes, and different quantities of books or pages, require different presses.

Very IMPORTANT money-saving tips: Do you need 8½"x11" pages (?) 8½x11" is the size we are first asked for by most self-publishers because that's all they've ever worked with. 8½"x11 is twice as large, uses twice as much paper and press time, and is twice as expensive as 8½x 5½." Most hard cover books in bookstores are 8½x 5½." 8½"x11" is limited to gold-titled vinyl/cloth covers. (You'd need to make dust jackets on very large paper, (24"x11," very costly on short runs.) At most printers, the color separation negatives for full color dust jackets starts at $120 per color (without printing). You can make a dust jacket with "skimpy flaps," on 11"x22" paper, on a color inkjet printer that handles that size, probably at a Kinko's. (HP and Epson sell printers that handle 22" paper for around $400.00) But your book can't exceed ½" thick or it won't fit.

If you must have 8½x11" For 8½"x11"  in a quantity under 100 books, simply print your own pages and we'll bind them. The price per book becomes more favorable if you print 200 or more books of 64 pages or more in 8½"x11". We will not "print & bind" less than 64 pages and less than 100 books in this size.

A large-size economical alternative is 8½"x7" We can bind your pre-printed larger pages click onto Hard Bind Your Own already Printed Pages in that size.

Do you need lots of color pictures? You will need to print it yourself and let us hard bind your pre-printed books. Color printing on a full color printing press has to begin at 10,000 books. We do not have such presses. It is easy enough to get yourself an HP or a Cannon inkjet copier/printer for a few hundred dollars that prints 2 sides of the page in color. Just put your original in the document feeder, and the printer hands you a duplicate. Make as many books as you need with very little effort. Instead of paying a printer, you pay yourself with a machine to keep. Click here to Hard Bind Your Own already Printed Pages TIP FOR SELF-PRINTING Our favorite machine is an HP 610 with duplexing (2 sides of page simultaneously). See guidelines next page. $398.00 Office Depot or online at HP.com Or Cannon's new Pima MP780-$300.00 at Staples.

Do you need 20 to 100 books? It is advisable to use 8½x 5½ page size below. You keep the cost down further by not exceeding 54 pages, and by printing your own pages. We do not print books under 64 pages and 100 copies. We will gladly bind your printed pages. Do you need 64 pages or more? You keep the cost down per book by printing at least 200 books in 8½x 5½." (Click for  8½" x 5 ½"100 books &up Over 64 pages)

Do you need a very low price per book? The initial cost to layout your pages and adjust settings is the same for 20 books or 5,000 books. So the more you make at one time, the cheaper the price per book. (Click for  8½" x 5 ½"100 books &up Over 64 pages) "Discounts for Quantity" only apply to the current job. Afterward, most set-up has to be redone. Costs may even be higher at a later date. Materials, printing and labor cost the same per book on 20 books or 5,000 books. So, some cost is never changed.

Here's How Else J. Mark Press Will Help You: We are respected publishers (not just book printers) since 1963. ISBN Numbers are needed to list your book in the library/bookstore reference "Books in Print," and simultaneously in the databases of all bookstores, even Amazon, Borders, and Barnes and Noble, plus most academic and public libraries and bookstores in the world...We can provide our ISBN's (International Standard Book Numbers) for your book, so your title can be located forever in every library and bookstore in the world for only $55 per year. COPYRIGHT You are protected by common law. If you fear plagiarism or being accused of it, copyright registration is useful. If you request it, we'll insert a copyright notice on your title page. We'll provide you with a copyright registration form. You send it to the copyright office, "Library of Congress," with $50 and 2 finished books.

We reproduce your (camera-ready) pages  To give you  the lowest prices and fastest turn around on small-quantity hard cover binding you need to  Click here for preparation instructions. Photos, or line drawings must be sharp, clean, contrasty black and white or color. click for (camera-ready) preparation instructions. NOTE: No dark, or dense areas of one color. They can get blotchy. (We can also print your color photos in black and white if you request.)  There are extra ink and set-up charges for photos, drawings, and color as follows.

WE CAN HARD-COVER BIND YOUR ALREADY PRINTED BOOKLETS or PAGES click here This saves you money when you want a small quantity of hard cover books with many pages, or you want lots of color pictures that you can print yourself.  ( click here.) We Make It Easy to Afford! You can use your credit card or check on our securely encrypted internet processing system, (Ebay-owned) "Pay Pal." They process your credit card (online only.) Or we can e-mail you a secure "Pay Pal request for payment." You can also mail payment with your order. No proofs are involved since we reproduce what you send. There is no need for deposits and balances. Your book goes right into production. (except for our printing of 64 pages or more where blueline proofs are required prior to press-run to check page-assembly .)

*Allow about 8 weeks  (from the day we receive your order to the day we ship the finished books)  for a basic 32-page, 8½" x 5½" book from our start to shipping. *Often sooner, (sometimes a bit longer), depending on how busy we are when your book arrives here. Due to Murphy's law... ("Never make plans until they're in your hands!")

All J. Mark Press book manufacturing sales are subject to our terms of use below the price chart.

Before you know it you'll be holding a  hard cover 
book with your family history (genealogy), poetry, 
juvenile fiction, recipes, reports, etc. in their 
permanent hard cover binder to sell, give, and share.