If you’ve decided to publish a book for yourself, you’ll notice that the self-publishing process isn’t as straightforward as it might at first seem. You most likely have lots of questions about how to publish your book, from what type of paper you’ll need to how to go about designing your book. 

In this post we’ll talk about printing methods. You’ll learn the difference between printing methods – short-run printing, long-run printing and print on demand – helping you make the right choice when it comes to self-publishing your book.

Keep reading to discover more about the different types of printing options available and explore which is the best for your book.

A brief history of book printing

At one time, authors had very limited printing options, which meant that they had to find a publisher who was willing to represent their book and could provide access to a large printing house which would use the traditional method for printing their book: offset printing.

Offset printing uses aluminium plates to transfer an image via rollers onto paper and is perfect if you want to print large amounts of books as it can print at very high speeds. However, with high set-up costs, this was restrictive; only those books deemed highly saleable made it to print by means of a traditional publisher and, meanwhile, many worthy books never saw the light of day unless the author had enough cash to access printing equipment and publish on their own terms.

In the late 1960s and 1970s, following the invention of the first electronic printer by Epson, desktop printing became a reality, allowing authors to print their own books – although the price to purchase these machines was still prohibitive, and the results were a far cry from the quality produced by traditional printing presses.

It would be the 1980s before commercial laser printers, and software to lay out pages, became more prevalent, ushering in a new era of desktop publishing whereby people could quite easily produce a book using their own personal computer. As computers became more affordable, the door opened for many more writers to self-publish.

During the 1990s, print on demand transformed the publishing scene once more. Print on demand uses digital technology – producing a digital image of text and images – to print directly from a file such as a PDF onto the paper. It allows an author to print just a single copy of a book. Because the files are transferred digitally, a book can be printed the moment an order comes in, rather than printing in advance and hoping that the book will sell. What’s more, distribution is also part of the service – so authors don’t have to fulfil an order themselves.

Print on demand made printing a book accessible for self-publishing authors from all walks of life, eliminating the costs usually associated with traditional printing presses.  

So, print on demand can make for a much more cost-effective publishing option than offset printing because there’s no waste and no need to buy in bulk and then store copies of the book, which comes with the added stress of having to sell them all in order to recoup the money you’ve spent.

Today, authors generally have a choice of short-run printing, print on demand and offset printing.

Here are your main options:

Short-run printing

With short-run printing, you can print anywhere from approximately 10 books up to thousands of copies, but each batch is generally quite small. The optimal number of books for short-run printing is a few hundred.

One of the benefits of short-run printing is its quick turnaround, with print runs often taking no more than 48 hours to complete.

Short-run printing is handled using both digital and offset equipment; some printers use a hybrid approach for the cover and interior of the book, or use different printing methods depending on the requirements of the job. In this way, short-run printing offers many of the advantages of traditional offset printing, especially when it comes to quality. It is able to produce highly detailed and top-quality prints. Furthermore, books can be printed to certain specifications that are not available with print-on-demand, such as a hardback book with high-end customisation.

Additionally, if you spot a mistake it’s fairly easy to remedy this with a short print run, as this can be corrected in the next batch of books you order, without much wastage. Adjustments are often easily carried out thanks to the use of digital equipment, with no plate creation adding to the cost as per offset printing.

Print on demand

With this option, you can print anywhere from a few to a few dozen units (books), hence the name ‘print on demand’, rather than large quantities. Essentially, writers can dip their toe in the water to see if their book can establish a readership without spending too much cash on large print runs of hundreds or thousands of books. You can use the trial-and-error approach to the look and feel of your book, changing binding types and covers as you test the market.

With this method, you simply print as needed – and the turnaround time for printing your book is speedy. Often, batches of no more than 10 books are printed at any one time. If, however, you know that you want to order large volumes of books, print on demand then becomes very expensive per book as compared with traditional printing.

A huge advantage with POD is the ease with which changes can be made. It allows for quick edits to be made and applied with immediacy, whereas if you’ve opted for short-run or especially long-run printing, you may still have lots of copies circulating which contain errors.

This has become a popular option, enabling authors to sell and distribute their book online easily, with orders being fulfilled through print on demand and shipped quickly to readers worldwide.

POD is perfect for standard books, and the quality of print on demand books is comparable to offset and short-run printed books even though it has a chequered history due to some hiccups in the earlier days of the technology. However, when it comes to the addition of special considerations such as large amounts of colour images or inserts, print on demand simply doesn’t compete an offset printer; or these extras come at a high price. Although it has come on leaps and bounds in recent years, print on demand is more suited to regular books with simple black and white print, simplified design and standard paper sizes.

The more customised details you want to add to your book, the more likely you are to need an offset printer.

Offset/long-run printing

As old as the hills, offset printing is still an efficient way to achieve quality prints of your book, and remains the most popular method for large print runs. This option is your best bet if you’re ordering large quantities – usually some thousands. This is because the more your print, the greater the discount you’ll get; the price per unit, or the price for a single copy of your book, becomes much cheaper than print on demand, which generally remains the same no matter how many copies you order.

So, if you’re confident of selling lots of copies of your book, then this might be the best route for you. This is the way to go if you’ve done market research or have generated enough buzz around your book prior to publication and perhaps even gained some pre-sales.

Another advantage to offset printing is that it allows for more creativity. For example, you can choose a greater range of paper – giving the reader a more tactile and immersive experience when reading your book by using mottled paper, or a weightier feel using thicker pages. It’s also easier to add a coating such as varnish to your book, which is great for reference books and gives the book a more quality finish.  

A disadvantage of offset printing is that amendments are difficult once your book is already in print; it requires setting up a plate for each print, with all the costs associated with this – whereas with print on demand, it’s easy to tweak the pages digitally and then send to print.

Offset printing is usually reserved for top-selling authors, speakers and those published by a traditional publishing house. For the indie author, the upfront costs are just too prohibitive.

Talk to Wellness Books about how to self-publish your book – we’re happy to answer queries or to take a look at your manuscript. Contact info@wellnessbooks.co.uk to get started.