Glossary
What is print on demand?
Print on demand means a single copy is printed and shipped only after a customer orders it. There is no print run, no minimum order and no box of unsold books in your hallway — you are paid the difference between the list price and the printing cost.
What it changes about the money
Traditional printing gets cheaper per copy the more you print, and you pay for all of them up front. Print on demand costs roughly the same per copy whether you sell three or three thousand, and you pay nothing up front. For a self-published author who cannot predict demand, that trade is almost always the right one.
The printing cost comes off the top before your royalty is calculated, and it depends on page count, trim size, and whether the interior is colour. Colour interiors cost several times more than black and white, which is why most self-published non-fiction is set in black and white with a colour cover.
The main services
- KDP Print — Amazon’s own. Best royalty on Amazon, and the simplest if Amazon is where you sell.
- IngramSpark — reaches the bookshop and library distribution network that Amazon does not. Charges setup fees; requires your own ISBN if you want the wider catalogue.
- Lulu, BookBaby and others — smaller, with their own trade-offs on storefront and distribution.
What they demand of your files
All of them reject files for the same handful of reasons: fonts not embedded, the wrong trim size, missing bleed on images that run to the edge, and a cover bound into the interior PDF when it was supposed to be a separate file. Getting those four right is most of getting a paperback accepted.
Related terms
- Trim sizeTrim size is the finished width and height of a printed book after the pages have been cut. It is chosen before the interior is laid out, because changing it later re-flows every page and changes the page count.
- BleedBleed is the extra artwork extended past the edge of the page so that when the pages are trimmed, no white sliver shows. The standard allowance is 0.125 inches — about 3mm — on every edge that runs off the page.
- ISBNAn ISBN is a 13-digit number that identifies one specific edition of one specific book. Bookshops, libraries and distributors use it to order the right thing; it is a product code, not a copyright registration.
- RoyaltiesA royalty is your share of the list price after the store takes its cut. On Amazon there are two ebook bands — 70% and 35% — and which one you get depends on your list price and a set of conditions attached to the higher one.
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