A Mac/PC Print-on-Demand Service

Richard Lewis

Here is a website that might be of interest to members.

http://www.blurb.com

It's a print-on-demand service, which offers free page layout and book creation software for Mac and PC. It works very nicely. You download the software for free and take your time creating your book. I've used it to self-publish books of photos and was pleased with the result. There is a text-only format offered at a lower price.

Then, if you play the game their way, you upload your book and offer it for sale at your own price via their site. They take a cut and pay you the difference. You can, however, have them print and send to you, so you can sell from some other place, without giving them a cut. I'm not sure how well the economics of that work out, as the printed books are not really cheap enough to give you a useful margin and you have to factor in shipping. Anyway, it's worth looking at perhaps.

Following the launch of Apple's iPad and the Apple Book Store, I reiterate how important it is for authors and their agents not to give away digital rights in exchange for (increasingly irrelevant) royalty escalators on HB copies etc. Digital rights are the ones most worth fighting for at this stage and into the future.