Publishing a book

inishindie

I'm looking to publish a book/booklet about some aspects of gardening, with loads of pictures. I am getting a bit confused about how to go about getting the book printed.
I read that Vanity publishers can be very expensive and ask for a lot of money upfront (and don't always deliver) Self publishing can also leave you with a garage load of unsold books and a big bill.

Would anyone know of a publishing house in Ireland (or UK) that would be in the business of printing these types of books please? One that takes control of the distribution as well as the printing

sceptre

Moved to Creative Writing as it's more likely to get a useful response there - it's not within the Literature forum's scope.

inishindie

Thanks Sceptre....missed that forum posting title...

EileenG

Lulu.com seems to be one of the better Print On Demand companies, but you will either have to do a huge amount of editing, layout, etc yourself, or pay them a lot of money to do it. Distribution you will also have to do yourself. Only commercial publishers will handle marketing and distribution for you.

Abelloid

Printing is the easy part, distribution is another story (sorry) altogether.

inishindie

Thanks for the pointers to Lulu..I'm checking it out. I am happy enough to do the layout and design through Adobe Indesign.
Like you say it's the distribution. I have a website set up and do a bit of traveling around to centres in summer, so hopefully I can put it around.
I was also looking at Amazon and the ways you connect with them for selling. Looks interesting but obviously it picks away at the profit margins. Might be worth doing though.
It's funny how these things escalate. It was only supposed to be an A4 leaflet )

EileenG

I strongly recommend you get a professional editor to do that part of the job. Every self-published book I've seen that didn't use a professional editor looked rubbish, with obvious spelling and punctuation mistakes.

Something that might be worth considering is to do it all as an e-book. That avoids the whole printing and distributing hassle, though you'll have to work hard to get interest, it does mean you are not restricted to selling in places you can actually go.

Also, as an e-book, your costs will be lower, so you can offer it more cheaply. A lot of e-publishers find novellas are popular, because people will take a chance on an author they've never heard of, if they are only laying out a couple of $/€ instead of 10-15.

inishindie

Thanks for the tips EileenG. I'm taking it all on board. I know what you mean about books without publishers. Sometimes authors can get too close to their work. I like the idea of an e-book, like you say it saves on a lot of hassle. Sometimes as well it makes sense to give the e-books away...It gives the related site publicity and can build up lists for marketing further work..

EileenG

From what you've said, it could be expensive to publish as a paper book, but cheap as an e-book. Also, it would be easy to update.

inishindie

Good point, there's always something new to add...... I was looking to offset the cost of a printed booklet with advertising...I'd be entering into the world of telesales and marketing then

Mylesie

inishindie wrote: »

I'm looking to publish a book/booklet about some aspects of gardening, with loads of pictures. I am getting a bit confused about how to go about getting the book printed.
I read that Vanity publishers can be very expensive and ask for a lot of money upfront (and don't always deliver) Self publishing can also leave you with a garage load of unsold books and a big bill.

Would anyone know of a publishing house in Ireland (or UK) that would be in the business of printing these types of books please? One that takes control of the distribution as well as the printing

"aspects of gardening" and "loads of pictures" sounds like a pricey product, especially in vanity publishing, not forgetting you do the marketing etc!
Have you thought of looking in Derry - Try the Verbal Arts Centre in Bishop Street or the Guildhall Press in Creggan, their initial advice might be useful. Cheers

EileenG

inishindie wrote: »

Good point, there's always something new to add...... I was looking to offset the cost of a printed booklet with advertising...I'd be entering into the world of telesales and marketing then

Might be harder than you think. Without realistic projected sales, your market for advertising is limited.

ztoical

When you say lots of pictures are you taking black and white or full colour? The jump from black and white to full colour printing is massive both cost and qaulity wise. I've used a number of decent printers for printing comic books but the second it goes to full colour it's taken ages to find a printer the does both good work at a decent price and turnaround time. Currently using a crowd called inky little fingers who are fantastic but the big selling point is they offer free delivery within the uk which is great as I'm currently based in London but I'm not sure what their delivery prices for ROI would be. If there are going to be alot of images you might consider one of the comic book printers like Comixpress or Kablam - have printed with both and quality is very good but turnaround is very slow esp if it's coming up to a big comic show. There is a uk small press comic printer called print X who did print a gradening book [focused on allotment gardening] called 'Growing Your Own (for the terminally ordinary)' as one of the owners is a big gardener.

inishindie

Some good links there..thanks...I like the comparison checker with Lulu too...very informative... I'm very near to Derry too. I'm bookmarking everything and will get to it on Monday when they are open.....

mgbarry

Make a list of relevant publishers in the area, then email them to find out what their submissions policy is - some may accept unsolicited submissions, others won't. Then repeat for relevant agents.

Gardening books seem to be popular and a publisher or agent would have a good idea about what sells, even in niche quantities and will happily take on the burden of editing and layout if they think there is a profit to be made.

Mylesie

inishindie wrote: »

Some good links there..thanks...I like the comparison checker with Lulu too...very informative... I'm very near to Derry too. I'm bookmarking everything and will get to it on Monday when they are open.....

Meant to mention info@movilleinishowen.com who might point you in the direction of a writers group there.