paulchernoch
Senior Member
- May 19, 2005
- 1,146
- 585
My nonfiction book is:
Page limit. All my previous books were shorter and could be printed as 6x9" Trade paperbacks. Thus I wrote my book in an editor with the page size set to 6x9". When I finished, it was over 1,500 pages long! I reformatted to 8x10", switched to two-columns per page, and shrank font size. This reduced the page count to about 820 pages. I thereby ducked Amazon's 828 page limit for this trim size. (For KDP trim sizes and page count limits, See https://justpublishingadvice.com/kdp-word-count-file-sizes-and-pages/)
Gutters! However, I overlooked the gutter size, which grows as your page count increases. Once I adjusted the gutter to the recommended minimum of 0.875", the page count blossomed to 855.
Trim Size. I changed trim size again, this time to US Letter (8.5x11"). After days of repaginating and editing out enough phrases to cut the partial pages at the ends of chapters, I got the page count down to 735. Awesome! However, for US Letter, KDP has a lower limit - 590 pages. They have one remaining trim size that comes close: 8.27x11.69" (a metric 21x29.7 cm format) with a page limit of 780. Technically the pages for this last trim size are about 3% larger, but the shortened dimension is the width, which by wordwap is the most sensitive dimension. Cutting from the width will cause another two days of reformatting and might barely miss the threshold. Also, do I want to print a book that is right up against their limit? I do not want the binding to break. Then there is another matter...
Paper. I prefer cream paper. It is a little thicker (less show-through) and looks more professional. If I use cream paper for the largest size paper, the page limit is reduced (because of thicker paper) to 730 pages. Argh!
How about Lulu xPress? I went to Lulu xPress. (They have pricing calculator here: https://xpress.lulu.com/pricing) They seem to support up to 800 pages for many trim sizes, including US Letter. I priced their unit cost for 60# cream, 733 pages, US Letter trim. It is $25.26. Ouch!
Other non-starters. Blurb.com has a maximum page size of 480 pages. (See https://support.blurb.com/hc/en-us/articles/207794816-How-pages-are-counted-in-a-Blurb-book) That is sad, because they have a reputation for been really easy to use.
IngramSpark. Ingramspark.com has a print and shipping calculator. (See https://myaccount.ingramspark.com/Portal/Tools/ShippingCalculator) For the slowest shipping option, B&W 8.5 x 11 in or 280 x 216 mm Perfect Bound on White w/Gloss Lam, for an order of 20 units, the unit cost was $18.30, including all fees but initial setup charge of $49.00. That is significantly less than Lulu xPress (which has no setup fee). Were KDP to have an option for this page count, based on previous experience, it would cost less than that, but not too much less. (IngramSpark is known for its fees, but for a page count like mine, the amortized fee per unit shrinks a lot. Also, the setup fee of $49.00 also doesn't look so bad after you take other things into consideration, like its wider distribution channel.)
Next steps. I have been reading critiques of IngramSpak. Its customer service is commonly criticized but its access to bookstores is unparalleled and the book quality is supposed to be very good. I will check out the capabilities and costs for a few more POD publishers. Ince I select a publisher:
- Get publisher's Book Cover template
- Post revised Back cover copy at CW for review. (My earlier draft did not get rave reviews.)
- Create Cover image for Paperback (I have a portion of the artwork already prepared. I just need to incorporate the text and pick a good font.)
- Revise Cover Image for eBook
- Write Product Description Copy
- Publish eBook and Paperback
- Record Youtube Videos on topics related to the subjects covered in the book as advertisements
- Propose articles to a few Online Newspapers/Magazines
- Figure out more ways to market book
Pray for me. As most of you know, this is a lot of work.
- Written
- Formatted as PDF suitable for e-Book in 6x9" format (Trade Paperback)
- Formatted as PDF suitable for paperback in 8.5x11" format (US Letter)
Page limit. All my previous books were shorter and could be printed as 6x9" Trade paperbacks. Thus I wrote my book in an editor with the page size set to 6x9". When I finished, it was over 1,500 pages long! I reformatted to 8x10", switched to two-columns per page, and shrank font size. This reduced the page count to about 820 pages. I thereby ducked Amazon's 828 page limit for this trim size. (For KDP trim sizes and page count limits, See https://justpublishingadvice.com/kdp-word-count-file-sizes-and-pages/)
Gutters! However, I overlooked the gutter size, which grows as your page count increases. Once I adjusted the gutter to the recommended minimum of 0.875", the page count blossomed to 855.
Trim Size. I changed trim size again, this time to US Letter (8.5x11"). After days of repaginating and editing out enough phrases to cut the partial pages at the ends of chapters, I got the page count down to 735. Awesome! However, for US Letter, KDP has a lower limit - 590 pages. They have one remaining trim size that comes close: 8.27x11.69" (a metric 21x29.7 cm format) with a page limit of 780. Technically the pages for this last trim size are about 3% larger, but the shortened dimension is the width, which by wordwap is the most sensitive dimension. Cutting from the width will cause another two days of reformatting and might barely miss the threshold. Also, do I want to print a book that is right up against their limit? I do not want the binding to break. Then there is another matter...
Paper. I prefer cream paper. It is a little thicker (less show-through) and looks more professional. If I use cream paper for the largest size paper, the page limit is reduced (because of thicker paper) to 730 pages. Argh!
How about Lulu xPress? I went to Lulu xPress. (They have pricing calculator here: https://xpress.lulu.com/pricing) They seem to support up to 800 pages for many trim sizes, including US Letter. I priced their unit cost for 60# cream, 733 pages, US Letter trim. It is $25.26. Ouch!
Other non-starters. Blurb.com has a maximum page size of 480 pages. (See https://support.blurb.com/hc/en-us/articles/207794816-How-pages-are-counted-in-a-Blurb-book) That is sad, because they have a reputation for been really easy to use.
IngramSpark. Ingramspark.com has a print and shipping calculator. (See https://myaccount.ingramspark.com/Portal/Tools/ShippingCalculator) For the slowest shipping option, B&W 8.5 x 11 in or 280 x 216 mm Perfect Bound on White w/Gloss Lam, for an order of 20 units, the unit cost was $18.30, including all fees but initial setup charge of $49.00. That is significantly less than Lulu xPress (which has no setup fee). Were KDP to have an option for this page count, based on previous experience, it would cost less than that, but not too much less. (IngramSpark is known for its fees, but for a page count like mine, the amortized fee per unit shrinks a lot. Also, the setup fee of $49.00 also doesn't look so bad after you take other things into consideration, like its wider distribution channel.)
Next steps. I have been reading critiques of IngramSpak. Its customer service is commonly criticized but its access to bookstores is unparalleled and the book quality is supposed to be very good. I will check out the capabilities and costs for a few more POD publishers. Ince I select a publisher:
- Get publisher's Book Cover template
- Post revised Back cover copy at CW for review. (My earlier draft did not get rave reviews.)
- Create Cover image for Paperback (I have a portion of the artwork already prepared. I just need to incorporate the text and pick a good font.)
- Revise Cover Image for eBook
- Write Product Description Copy
- Publish eBook and Paperback
- Record Youtube Videos on topics related to the subjects covered in the book as advertisements
- Propose articles to a few Online Newspapers/Magazines
- Figure out more ways to market book
Pray for me. As most of you know, this is a lot of work.
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