Can I still get my books printed before the holidays?

Can I still get my books printed before the holidays?

I guess that depends on what holiday you are referring to. Columbus Day? A definite no. Thanksgiving? You’re getting real close. Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza? SURE, depending on the type of book you are printing.

Those close to me know that I have a problem telling people “NO”. Generally when I get a “No” response on just about anything where I desire a positive response, I assume that the person did not understand my question. I tend to drive production people and printers nuts around this time of the year. Why am I telling you this? To let you know that you have come to the right place, RJ Communications ( www.BooksJustBooks.com ) if you want to get your books printed, no matter what the occasion.

Many of you have been working on your book for months, if not years. Most of you had no idea when you began writing your book, when, if ever, it would ever be finished. Generally, time was not an issue. Your main goal was to create a great book that, hopefully, people would want to buy.

Magically, as the leaves start to fall, that “laid back” attitude starts to change. As if a light switch is suddenly flipped, everyone starts thinking what a great gift their book will make and how they absolutely MUST have their book for the December holidays. Maybe it’s the thought of not having to go out shopping the day after Thanksgiving. Maybe it’s some article you might have read addressing the reality that only people who are guaranteed to love your book (or at least tell you so) are your friends and family. Whatever the case, this desire unfortunately often turns into an obsession and far too many books are printed before they are complete. On January 1 st , far too many authors are looking at a closet or garage full of books which are full of errors because they were rushed to press too soon. Don’t make this mistake. Your family will understand. I want all my customers to reprint but only after their book sells out, not because they printed a book full of errors.

At this point, unless your manuscript is completely edited and layout and design well under way, you should not be thinking about a December delivery. If your heart is really set on using your book as a present, you might want to think about making up a card as a backup to give people with a picture the book cover on it and a note saying, “good for one copy or…”. You’d be surprised how quickly your blood pressure will return to normal. If your book makes it, great, if not, your world won’t end.

With our back up plan in place, let’s look at deadlines where you have a reasonable chance of making a December 24 th delivery (back up by one week for December 19 th delivery). Good luck. I look forward to working with all of you..

If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a line at ron@rjcom.com . I’ll do my best to help make the upcoming holiday season as pleasant as possible, for everyone.

December Printing Delivery Deadlines for

www.BooksJustBooks.com

Based on a complete pre-flighted PDF file of text and application file of cover and a one day turnaround of book proof and one carton via Air Delivery

Full Color Hardcover Children’s Picture Book – Sorry, we’re already passed the deadline for this year.

Hardcover Trade Book (over 500 copies) – November 7th

Hardcover Trade Book (under 500 copies) – November 11th

Paperback Trade Book (over 500 copies) – December 1st

Paperback Trade Book (over 500 copies) with 10% pricing Up charge – December 8th

Paperback Trade Book (under 500 copies) – December 5 th

Need a cover designed or complete book layout? Try www.BudgetBookDesign.com . – Only $250 for original cover design. Complete text layout from $250.

If you have a question pertaining to the publishing production process, please feel free to contact me at ron@rjcom.com.

Ron Pramschufer

Ron Pramschufer has been in or around the printing and publishing industry for over 35 years. His experience, including working in the pressroom, bindery, production office and estimating department helped give him a firm foundation to build on when he entered sales and management. He was partners in a small press publishing company in Annapolis, MD in the late seventies and co-invented and marketed two controversial political board games which sold over 100,000 copies in the early eighties. Moving from his home state of Maryland to New York City after his game experience, Ron sold printing services to, primarily, small to mid-sized book publishers for over a decade before founding RJ Communications with an old friend. Ron recognized the potential of the Internet very early as a powerful communications tool. In 1997 he started one of the first printer related websites, www.rjcom.com, which caters to the professional print buyer. This evolved into www.BooksJustBooks.com and more recently www.selfpublishing.com which target the print buying novice, primarily self-publishers. All three sites are still operating successfully and SelfPublishing.com was named as one of Writers Digest’s, 101 Best websites for writers for 2006. Educating the novice print buyer has been a top priority from day one. To help address this issue, Ron co-authored the popular title Publishing Basics- a Guide for the Small Press and Independent Self-Publisher, now in its Third Edition, as well as Publishing Basics for Children’s Books, in its Second Edition. He is the organizer of the monthly Publishing Basics Newsletter where he writes a sometimes controversial Ask Ron column which addresses various aspects of the publishing process. On the same note, he started the Publishing Basics Radio PodCast in 2005 and serves as the show’s host. A wide variety of topics are covered including a very popular series titled, The Truth Behind POD Publishing, where he conducts interviews with a select group of industry insiders. Since its inception, RJ Communications has helped thousands of customers print over 105 million books. Ron is married and has three children. His daughter, Stephanie, teaches second grade and recently self-published her first children’s book in the Oliver the Clownfish series. Matthew, his oldest son, owns a website design business and Erik, the youngest, is enjoying high school.

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