Should I buy the printing for my first book directly from a printer to save money?
As a printer with over 35 years experience, my answer should be an obvious yes. However, my answer is a resounding NO. Let me tell you a story which explains why.

Last month I was an exhibitor at Book Expo America in New York. This year’s booth was a mix of the new Self Publishing PodCast radio show, www.wbjbradio.com , and the launching of our new website, www.SelfPublishing.com.

During the weekend a nice older man came over to the booth to talk about his recently self- published book. He was looking for a distributor to distribute 6000 recently printed copies of his book which were sitting in his garage. I normally don’t get involved with a book if it has been printed somewhere else, but I took a special liking to the old guy and spent some extra time with him finding out more about his book. Turns out my new friend’s main claim to fame was that he had sold 7300 used cars in his lifetime without ever being sued. Wow, I thought to myself, that was a pretty impressive claim. My curiosity got the best of me so I asked him to explain a little more about his book. I assumed, of course, that it was something about salesmanship or honesty and integrity or the used car business. “The book is my life story”, the author explained. A loud “uh oh” went off in my head. Bill and Hillary Clinton may be Ok with their life stories but I wasn’t too sure about Joe.

The next day Joe brought me a copy of his book. I almost had a heart attack right there in the booth. Not only was the book printed on expensive coated paper and was over 600 pages long, it had color snapshots spread throughout the book. How much did you spend on this Joe? Over $50,000 he replied. UGH! The last nail in the coffin, so to speak, came on the train ride home that night when I decided to read a few chapters of Joe’s book. Well, if Joe had been my granddad, I would have read it cover to cover just to get to know granddad better. The book was Joes life story all right and someday I’ll hopefully do the same thing for my grandkids. But 6000 copies? A couple hundred copies maybe, but 6000?

The next day when I saw Joe I asked him who guided him into printing 6000 copies. The “Printer” of course, he replied. Did you try to buy fewer copies? The printer said the price would be better if I printer more copies, he replied.

My first thought was that the printer should have been shot for taking this old guys money but then it dawned on me. Printers print. Printing sales people get paid to sell printing. Printers are not there to analyze your manuscript to determine its marketability. If you are a young commissioned sales person do you think you would want the commission on 200 black and white books or 6000 full color books? So here lies the problem. If you don’t buy direct from the printer, than how do you buy your printing?

I try not to “toot my horn” too much in this column but I’ll make an exception in this instance. Unless you are a professional print buyer with years of publishing experience as well, you will be better off buying through a publishing services company like RJ Communications, owner of www.BooksJustBooks.com and www.SelfPublishing.com than buying directly from the printer. There may be other services around but I can only vouch for my own service. RJ Communications has been around for 10 years and my partner, Dana, and I have been in the printing and publishing business for over 60 years combined. At RJ Communications the focus is getting you to the point where you have sold your first run and are ready for a “reprint” not filling your garage with books. Initial quantities can range from 100 to 10,000 and we match or beat 99% of any “printer direct” pricing you are going to find out there on the Internet.

The case of Joe is not an isolated case. There are thousands of “Joes’ out there right now talking to their local printer, asking advice on how to spend their printing dollars. One of those “Joes” might very well be you. The printing portion of your new publishing venture is most likely going to be your largest capital expenditure. Printing the right quantity can be the difference between success and failure. Remember, once you put ink on paper, you can’t take it off. In other words, once you have books in your garage, they are only worth the price of scrap paper unless you can sell them.

Thinking of publishing with one of those online Print on Demand publishers? Get an insiders look at the POD, Vanity and Subsidy Press industry by listening to my new PodCast show on Publishing Basics Radio where weekly I help you navigate the self publishing minefield. www.WBJBRadio.com

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.

Last 5 posts by Ron Pramschufer

• What do you think about Amazon’s announcement that small publishers need to print with their printer in order to be listed on Amazon? - April 17th, 2008
• What are the steps are involved in Self-Publishing a book? - March 24th, 2008
• Do you know any good book printers? - February 11th, 2008
• What do you think of Facebook as a marketing tool for self-published books? - December 5th, 2007
• Did you change your mind about authors buying a single ISBN? - October 22nd, 2007