Which POD publisher to use?

[RedRyder]

So I'm putting the final touches on one of my novels and am hoping to upload it to amazon in the next couple of weeks. I'd like to do an ebook version as well as a printed version. Ebook I'm fine with who I'm choosing to upload it through. It's the print on demand publisher I'm struggling with. There are lots of self publishing print services out there, and so far I haven't found what I'm looking for.

Basically, I don't need/want anyone to edit or market my book, and my cover artist is a succesful graphic designer that will do my designs for free. I don't really want to spend a lot of money for a print on demand book, and keep finding hidden costs with self publishers who say its "free" to print your book. I'm doing the majority of the work myself and want something that is either free or costs basically nothing. Does anyone have any recommendations of which service to use? I'm thinking Lulu would be my best bet, but would rather get some information from someone with experience with a company before making a decision. Thanks all for any advice!

[munley]

Many of the self-publishing houses don't do their own manufacturing, but contract the job out to Lightning Source, Inc (LSI)  in Tennessee.

You can go to LSI directly and have them set up your title, but not as an individual author. You would have to set up a publishing company and be prepared to proceed with very little hand-holding from LSI. They do have clear guidelines, though, including templates for the cover, spine, and dust jacket, as well as inside formatting. We used Adobe CS5 and submitted PDF files. LSI does not offer editing or advice on content or cover or anything. You just have to comply with LSI's technical specs. It is up to you to make sure you've written a quality book.

A paperback set-up is under $100 and a hardcover is just a little over. LSI has periodic deals like refunding your set up cost with a minimum order of 50 books or whatever.

As for distribution, LSI is owned by Ingram, the largest book retailer in the world, so there is an advantage in distribution. I just did a novel with LSI and it automatically showed up on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and tons of other online bookstores.

Besides making your book available on so many online bookstores and offering it to retailers through Ingram, LSI allows you to order books to distribute yourself, and also lets you do drop-ships. A drop-ship means you have LSI send books to whatever individual or outlet you order them for.

Your best bet for deciding on LSI versus other options it to do an Internet search with keywords such as:
     compare "Lightning Source" and "Create Space" and [name another company or two]
and you will find some comparison charts with advantages and disadvantages of each as well as comments from people who have actually used some of them.

[AnyaHarker]

Munley gave a great description. Mine was going to be "friend of mine use LSI and they love it because of the wide distribution net".

[longknife]

And, of course, there is always lulu.com.  Easy to use although their prices for users is a bit on the high side. Readers pay whatever price you set.

[RedRyder]

Thank you all! I will definitely check out Lightning Source, and look into Lulu a little more.

[Fina00]

Don't know if you're still looking for help with POD, but in case you or someone else on the boards is....

I'm considering CreateSpace https://www.createspace.com/ (Amazon) and http://www.Smashwords.com for POD.

Check out this blog post on one author's success publishing his paperbacks via CreateSpace (plus he also offers lots of great advice on self-publishing): http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2012/07/06/making-money-from-paperbacks/

Also, I just finished Let's Get Digital (http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/lets-get-digital/), his book on self-publishing, and it's excellent. You can download the free pdf from his website or purchase print or ebook versions through all the various e-channels.

Best of luck!

[RedRyder]

This is waaay late in coming, but thanks everyone for the sugesstions! Fina, I will definitely have to check that book out. I recently published my first novel G-157 on amazon and ultimately decided on going through createspace. It's been a long process because I had no idea what I was doing  and still have a few changes I want to make both on the e and printed versions. I've definitely learned a lot and think my second book will go much more smoothly. Thanks again everyone for the advice and resources!

[bodwen]

For you I'd recommend CreateSpace.  It's a lot cheaper than LSI, and uses the same distributor. 

The drawback is that you you can't set your royalty percentages, (you're locked into 40% discount to amazon, 65% discount to everyone else) but you'll save about $100, can buy a cheap ISBN, and your book will be available almost everywhere.