Checklist

After thinking about your publishing aims, you may want to start thinking about the practical side of things, such as the kind of book you’d like to produce. Each choice you make about the book’s production influences the cost of the book, and we will need to know (in some cases, only very roughly) what you want to do for each of the attributes on the list below.

Not sure on the terminology? See our Jargon buster.

[Don’t be overwhelmed by what follows, it is merely intended to give you food for thought before you discuss your book with us. That said, if you feel confident that you know what you want, please contact us to ask for a price based on what you've decided. Use the walk-through form to make sure you give us all the information you need.]

We will need to know what you’ve decided on for each of the following items.

Word Count

How many words is your book?

We need to know (to the nearest 500) how many words the manuscript (text) has. If you have typed the work into your computer it will be able to show this figure. If the work is handwritten or typed on a manual typewriter you need estimate the number of words. Although we can type manuscripts in it will almost certainly be cheaper for you to arrange this yourself and supply us with a disk.

Images

How many images? Colour or black and white?

You will need to tell us roughly how many pictures, if any, you wish to include, how you will supply them (originals – the best way to ensure good quality – scans, photographs etc), and whether you want any of them in colour.

Cover or Jacket

We can design one, or you can supply an example.

Consider whether you want a one-, two- or full-colour cover. One- or two-colour covers are slightly cheaper to print, although the design costs will be the same as for full colour. Generally, unless the budget is very tight indeed, we advise that they opt for full colour because the finished books look so much better, and the price difference is not significant. You can also choose whether to have a gloss or matt lamination on your cover.

Paper

Consider books you’ve read before – think about what a difference the paper quality makes.

There is a bewildering array of papers to choose from but basically all you need to do is to decide whether you want a white or cream paper and we will select the best and most economical paper to meet your requirements.

Book size

Again, look at other books – what size would be suitable for your book?

Books are printed in a variety of sizes and you may have a clear of what you want or you may be totally unsure. Either way, we will discuss page size with you and advise as to the most appropriate and economical size for your book prior to you making your final choice.

Binding

Hardback or softback?

You need to decide whether or not you want to have your book published as hardback or paperback. Everyone knows that paperbacks are cheaper to produce but many people think that hardback is double the price, when in fact hardback is about 50% extra. The sorts things you need to bear in mind when you are deciding are: your budget; that if you will be selling your books to shops you can charge a lot more for a hardback, but you will need to consider how much buyers are likely to want to spend on your book; whether you will be paying to send copies of the book by post, as hardbacks weigh a lot more; and hardbacks last longer than paperbacks.

Printing

How many copies?

We can arrange the printing for you but in order to give you a meaningful price we need to know how many copies you want (i.e. the print run). You can have anything from 10 copies to 1000s, although of course the price per copy will be high if you only have a few. However, it is sensible to be realistic about how many copies you actually need so that you don’t end up with too many unwanted books. If you are only having 300 or fewer printed we will probably use what is called the digital print method, designed for small quantities of books.