SPoaB Guide: A Free Self-Publishing on a Budget Guide

A Simple Way to Publish Your Book as a Hardcover

For a long time, I didn't produce hardcover copies of my book.

There were two reasons why.

First, I didn't get around to it. I don't have anything else to add to that other than to hang my head in shame.

Second, I found it painfully complicated. I just couldn't figure out how to do it. The issue isn't the interior PDF of your Hardcover book (that's done the same way as your regular print book). The issue is with the cover. Formatting a hardcover cover file is really tricky... at least at first.

When I finally overcame the monumental obstacle of reason #1 above, I tackled reason #2 by contacting a friend (author R. E. Henderson) who had hardcover copies of his book. I asked him how he did it. I took his reply and tried what he said and still ended up confused. I then left it for a month or two (or longer). Sometimes I'm slow up on the uptake. This experience is a perfect example of that.

Finally, I figured it out. I now want to offer two simple ways to create a hardcover book: Using MS Publisher and using DocHub. This blog won't include a step-by-step for all the clicks in MS Publisher or DocHub as anyone familiar with creating covers in MS Publisher will be able to work with the one and the other involves making use of the tools you have right on the screen (DocHub).

So, here we go!

1) You need an IngramSpark account.

https://ingramspark.com/

I've blogged a fair amount on the topic of Ingram (https://www.shawnpbrobinson.com/ingram-and-the-self-publisher/). They are an excellent company to work with, and they produce a quality print. If you want your print books distributed all over the place (much further than Amazon can reach), you should be using IngramSpark.

There are other Hardcover services out there. One such service is called Blurb (https://www.blurb.com/). You will find Blurb will be a little easier to work with than Ingram in terms of their system for uploading and more. Their site is also far more impressive looking, but there is a big downside: your book will cost around double the amount it'll cost with Ingram. In the end, Blurb uses Ingram to distribute your book anyway, so you might want to just go through Ingram from the start. The advantage with using Blurb is they provide a free ISBN, which can save you a lot of money, but considering the HIGH cost of printing books through

Blurb, you will likely pay for your ISBN cost in 10-20 book sales.

I think it's worth going with Ingram.

Another option is Lulu (https://www.lulu.com/).

Again, they have the same benefits as Blurb (although they are cheaper per book than Blurb), but they are still pricier than Ingram. Also, Ingram's quality is known as being better than Lulu.

Here is a breakdown of a cost/book (this is your print cost, which means you have to price it way above this for sale to get a royalty). For the example below, I used a 6"x9" book, black and white interior, casewrap hardcover, at 150 pages:

Blurb: $14.25/book
Lulu: $11.50/book
Ingram: $7.68/book

This means if you go with Ingram, you can set your book at a much lower price (be more attractive to buyers) or keep the price high (and make more royalties).

NOTE: with Ingram, there are loads of fees for setting up books and revisions and more. Anytime there is a fee, do a Google search for a coupon code. There are always coupon codes out there that get rid of the fees. I've used Ingram a LOT over the years and have never paid a single fee.

2) You need an ISBN

You'll have to purchase an ISBN (if you use Ingram). ISBNs are purchased differently in each and every country. Check out my blog on where to get an ISBN: https://www.shawnpbrobinson.com/where-do-i-get-an-isbn/