Digital book printing has given writers new options for printing and marketing their books. Traditional book printers offered two options: publisher-funded printing, usually accompanied by fulfillment and marketing, and self-publishing where the writer funded the printing in full. Newer options online include publishing on demand, online fulfillment services and electronic books in digital format rather than printed on paper.

There is more to publishing than printing books. Many book printers provide the following services in addition to printing:

1. Editing and other services, which include proofreading. Some offer an evaluation of your book’s marketability.

2. Designing of the book pages and the cover, staring with picking an appropriate size and binding for your book.

3. Marketing and fulfillment services offered by book printers to help get your printed book into the hands of readers.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Start with printers of books that have years of experience

While many of your options include digital printing techniques and marketing over the Internet, book printers who have been in business since before the Internet came about still have a place in the book publishing industry. You can benefit from its expertise and experience.

I recommend: Choose from several binding formats at King Printing, a self-described complete book manufacturer. Get a free quote from ECPrinting, a full service book printer that has been in business for over 30 years.

Find book printers who offer design services

Even books that appear to be nothing but text have design elements. Books will be more attractive and easier to read when a professional designer develops them. Another way to design a book is to use templates that a professional book designer created, so you can control the layout without making design mistakes out of ignorance of the basic elements of design.

I recommend: Let the professionals at iUniverse.com design your book for you. They can also provide editorial and marketing services. If you want more control, use Blurb BookSmart to help you design a beautiful book.

Save up-front costs with print on demand book printing services

Print on demand, sometimes referred to as POD publishing, means that the publisher gets the book ready to print electronically. This lowers the cost over self-publishing services that require you to buy a set quantity of books. POD publishers don't print copies until you need and order them. Some companies even print individual copies or take orders from others and give you a percentage of every sale.

I recommend: Get your book printed in a variety of formats at Lulu, which will sell your book for you and provide many other related services as well. Take advantage of one of the many levels of printing and publishing services that Virtualbookworm.com Publishing provides, according to your budget and needs.

Get your electronic book published by a book printing service

Electronic books, or ebooks, are popular in certain publishing niches and are becoming a more popular method of low cost book printing. Short how-to and self-help books and science fiction and fantasy are examples of topics that sell well this way. Readers like ebooks because they can order them online and still get them right away, even if they order from halfway around the world.

I recommend: Printpusher.com publishes blooks (online books published via blog) and printed books that started as blog content. If other publishers rejected your book, try Press For Change Publishers, a small publisher that prints books which sell mostly online.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Plan ahead when working on your book. Consult a printer of books to determine page size and binding, as well as the number of pages, before planning out the layout of the interior content.