Are You Ready For Me?

Before commissioning me to take on your project, please try to be decided on the following information where applicable (see below list for further info):

1. What is the trim size of you book going to be?
2. What type of book cover do you need?
3. What colour paper will you use? White or Crème? It affects spine width.
4. How many pagesis your book? It affects spine width.
5. Who are you printing/distributing with?
6. Are you using your own ISBN? If so, I will need it.
7. Are you providing your own images? See below for how I need them.

FURTHER INFORMATION

DETAILS YOU SHOULD OBTAIN FOR PRINTED BOOKS

1. Trim size? Click HERE to see choices.
2. Paper colour?
   1. Crème
   2. white
3. Cover type?
   1. Paperback
   2. Hardcover Laminate,
   3. Hardcover Dust Jacket
4. Book texture?
   1. Matte – Soft sheen, low glare, granular texture
   2. Gloss – High shine, powerful colours, smooth finish
   3. Cloth (hardcover only)– Wrapped with or without foil stamping
5. Binding?
   1. Perfect bound – Pages and cover glued at spine, cover is paperback
   2. Saddle stitch – Pages stapled together, one inside the other
   3. Case laminate – Pages are glued to hardcover at ends

MY ADVICE ON PRINTERS/DISTRIBUTORS:

Option One

This is for you if you want to spend zero money and can put up with a little bit of uncomplicated, but sometimes time-consuming hassle (especially in the long term when you need to keep track of sales reports and royalties from different places). You’re not too fussed about your book only being available from the major retailers (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and iBooks). If this sounds like you, we advise you distribute with:

• Kindle Direct Publishing for Amazon Kindle and Print-on-Demand
• Draft2Digital for ePub retailers

Never heard of these things before? Let me break them down for you.

Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is owned by Amazon. It enables you to self-publish in print and electronically for Kindle for free from anywhere in the world. The clincher is that your print book will only be available for sale at Amazon. If you want KDP to distribute to other retailers, such as Barnes & Noble, you will have to register for Expanded Distribution. But books sold via Expanded Distribution channels take a really high percentage of your cut. (In case you don’t know, Kindle is an eReader that is exclusive to Amazon.)

Draft2Digital is a distributor who lists your eBook at multiple retailers. Most importantly iBooks (iTunes) and Nook (Barnes & Noble), and Kobo. They also distribute to Kobo and a couple of other less popular sites, but they do take a little cut from your royalties which is why I suggest uploading to Kobo separately. The reason I’m recommending you use Draft2Digital for iBooks and Nook is because these retailers do not allow you to upload your book from anywhere in the world. Well, they do … but you might not be able to get paid because they do not accept bank accounts from all countries. Being an expat myself, I am aware of these restrictions and think you should know. If you live in the US or UK, however, you will have no problem directly uploading your books to iBooks and Nook, just like I have suggested you do at Kobo.

Option Two

As Amazon is a huge player in this industry, you will benefit from going through Kindle Direct Publishing regardless, as you will be able to retain a 70% royalty per sale from them. This is a no-brainer for us and should be for you too.

If you’re keen to spend a small set-up fee for minimal hassle in the long run, I advise you register with IngramSpark. IngramSpark doubles as a print and ePub distributor, which saves you an enormous hassle, as all your books will be in one place, and all your sales reports and royalties will come from the same place, too. Also, the list of retailers they distribute to is phenomenal, and even though you are going to get the majority of sales via the four main players, the more places your book is available, the better for your visibility online.

To see IngramSpark’s distribution partners, click HERE.

To see the retailers to which IngramSpark distributes, click HERE.

To see pricing, click HERE.

PLEASE SUPPLY YOUR IMAGES:

1. Separately and not embedded within the text document (as this can degrade the resolution of the image).
2. As print-ready JPGs scanned at a minimum of 300dpi, A5 size or larger (A4 or larger for children’s books).
3. RGB if the images are to be used on an eBook cover.
4. CMYK if the images are to be used on print cover.
5. Greyscale if the images are to be used in B&W.
6. Each image file named in such a way as to identify which project it goes with.
7. Send all images via a free file sharing service such as WeTransfer or Dropbox.