I have a vanity book I want to get printed, only a short run of 50-100 copies as it is will probably only appeal to my Mum and her friends that she will force it on.

Anyway, I do want to print something that I will be proud of and am looking for a good printer of short run paperbacks. At the moment it is all “words” but I would like to have a b/w picture at the start of each chapter.

So, can anyone recommend where I should look. I have investigated Lulu and seen some of their output but am not sure if it is up to the standard I want. Basically it needs to be as good as a Penguin paperback. I don’t mind making a bloody great loss.

Thanks for any advice.

Try Inky Little Fingers. Ideal for short runs.

Thanks but they look like a *basic* quality outfit unless I am mistaken?

Maybe try asking Nick Hand who did the Slow Coast cycle ride published as ‘Conversations on the Coast’, lovely little book see http://departmentofsmallworks.co.uk/

The worst book I have ever read was a vanity book written by my wife’s niece.

That was a hardback but published by bookguild.co.uk and of pretty good quality printing

I’ll try and top that then paulwf 😉 It will be along the lines of this but slightly different

I get mine done by Blurb – excellent quality, and they do quantity discounts…

I am self-published on Lulu and have found their quality excellent. In fact, I am working on a new book and put some black and white photos in. These were a lot better than other properly published books from other publishers, whose black and white photos were terrible.

Lulu sometimes do special offers with a free first order of your book so you can check quality.

My book

Simon
Which options did you use for printing your black and white book on Lulu?

Plus one for blurb
Not really what you’re going to do.

Hi David

It is publisher grade, and perfect bound.

Have you purchased any books on Lulu to see their quality? I was really pleased with mine. As well as a couple of on-line reviews from websites, Resurgence Magazine also published a review (albeit on their website and not in the actual magazine.) I do feel that self-publishing is now of a very high standard (although people may debate the quality of writing 🙂 )

In fact, I ran a workshop this last weekend and sold 5 physical copies which was great.

Thanks Simon, I haven’t but I will.

I’ve just finished the writing today and it tops out at 83k words, how does that compare to the book in your picture?

Hi

I have just had a look. 100,650 words over 308 pages.

Page size is set to 14.78 x 20.99, and then the margins are around 2cm more or less.

Font Times New Roman, 11, normal line spacing (not 1.5 for example).

Obviously there are some blank pages, or pages with section titles etc.

Oh and the other thing is that you can get distribution on Amazon for free. You never know, you may have a massive hit on your hands!