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Archive for the Books category

Organizing your book’s front matter

There’s a standard way in the U.S. to organize front matter in printed books, and readers are accustomed to this organization. Don’t irritate your readers! It’s best to stick with this order, which is pretty flexible, unless you have a compelling reason not to. Front matter Half title (the very first page, which contains only . . .

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CreateSpace vs. IngramSpark vs. Lightning Source

One of the biggest decisions new self-publishers have to make about print books is whether, how, and where to print their books. While offset printing is less expensive, the publisher then becomes responsible for storing books and fulfilling orders. Printing in bulk (most offset print jobs don’t become cost-effective until about 500 copies are printed) . . .

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Setting a price for your print book

When you set your book’s list price, you have to make it high enough to cover the cost of printing and the retailer’s discount. Let’s assume you’re printing a 200-page book at CreateSpace. The discount is 20% for sales through CreateSpace, 40% for sales through Amazon, and 60% for Expanded Distribution.* For B&W books of . . .

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