Can you really get a book published for less than $200, or for free? Maybe.
Strangely named Aachanon Publishing, which had offered a $195 publishing package, has apparently gone out of business.
Strangely named Wasteland Press has raised the price of its least expensive package from $195 to $245.
Inept and dishonest Outskirts Press still offers a nearly useless $199 package.
The $199 Emerald publishing package from Outskirts actually provides what looks like a “real” book. The package is notable not for what it includes, but for what it excludes.
Most notable is the lack of an ISBN (International Standard Book Number), which means that the book can’t be sold by bookstores. An Emerald book is not even available on the Outskirts online bookstore.
For $199 you are limited to one book size (5.5 by 8.5 inches) and a choice of two cover designs. You get exactly one book which you can read, give away, sell or display on your mantelpiece. You can order more books if you want to. They won’t be pretty, but they are books.
The top package from Outskirts costs $1,099. Some other publishers may charge over $50,000. Be careful. A big investment won’t guarantee a great book, and may kill any chance of making a profit. Be sure of your goals and your budget, and act accordingly.
Some of the websites and ads for self-publishing companies tout
“free” publishing programs. What you get for free is hot air. CreateSpace, Lulu, UniBook and others will not charge you when you upload
your book’s files—but if you want real books, you pay real money. (These
companies assume you will do all of the design, editing and promotional work yourself or hire others
to do it.)
How can they publish a book for free? They can’t. They’re lying.
Their publishing is free as long as you
don’t expect any books to be produced. Every book they print, or distribute as
an ebook, is paid for. Their notion of publishing does not include the final
product—a book.
CreateSpace is an Amazon subsidiary that
says it lets you “Self-Publish
a Book-Free.” The only free things I
could find on its website are “free tools to prepare your content for
publication” and an ISBN that identifies CreateSpace (not you) as the
publisher. If you want CreateSpace to
do more of the work in designing, producing, promoting and distributing your
books, you can pay up to $4,999 for a publishing package. (I sometimes use
CreateSpace for printing and distribution, but nothing else.)
Beware of companies that don’t provide
distribution to booksellers. DiggyPOD
can produce excellent books and will ship cartons to you or to any place you
specify. However, the company has no system to make your books available to
booksellers.
In a comparison webpage, DiggyPOD claims that CreateSpace charges extra for laminated covers and it’s hard to find a phone number for support. Both claims are untrue.
In a comparison webpage, DiggyPOD claims that CreateSpace charges extra for laminated covers and it’s hard to find a phone number for support. Both claims are untrue.
UniBook says, “Your book is instantly available for
purchase worldwide in the UniBook online bookstore.” Unfortunately, like
DiggyPOD, UniBook has no way to get your books to stores or online booksellers,
and its books are very expensive.
InstantPublisher
has a helpful website, but no distribution to booksellers and its minimum order
quantity is 25 books. Other companies—such
as CreateSpace—have no minimum.
Maverick
Publications says it provides “full-service book printing” and
“self-publishing.” Its prices are MUCH higher than Lightning Source or
CreateSpace, it takes MUCH longer, and has no distribution.
Maverick’s online
bookstore shows exactly one book—from 2001. After 12 years, it has ZERO reviews on Amazon and a sales rank below 5,000,000. That's not very impressive for a company that promises "Marketing Strategies and Promotional Materials" and "Help with Selling your book on Amazon."
Cheap book editing services are not secret that editing is one of the most challenging and troublesome aspects of writing a book. There are numerous reasons for this, it’s very tedious work that requires a high degree of focus and attention, which is often difficult for people to muster at the end of the long writing process.
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