Print on Demand

I am looking at print-on-demand publishing services like Lulu.com and Createspace.com. Both of them offer services which mean that you can turn a pdf file into a book manuscript which can then be printed off as a book. These can be printed when required so rather than printing a thousand books and watching them gather dust in cardboard boxes, it is possible to print off individual copies as required at an economically viable cost.

Now, unless I am much mistaken, some detailed research suggests that Lulu is probably a better service if you are based in the UK, because the other service (which is owned by Amazon) only prints in the US.

There is also the option to produce books through both services, although this might be somewhat cumbersome. Any views on the two services are welcome – just post a comment on this post.

I’m going to use this service in the next few weeks to produce the first couple of books. This is a real move forwards for my publishing press (bluewater books), which until now has only produced hand-printed chapbooks. I’m looking forward to experimenting, and will blog about the progress with it over the coming weeks.