Print-on-Demand Printers
and POD Publishers
This page features a list of services which provide on-demand production (printing on demand) of books. Many of these companies can print, bind, and ship one book at a time, although most are more efficient and cost-effective at doing 10 to 100 copies. We try to be comprehensive in these listings, so we list anyone. A listing does not necessarily mean a recommendation by us. — John Kremer, author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books
POD Printers: A - B - C - D - EF - GH - I - JK
L - MN - O - P - QR - S - T - UV - W - XYZ
Jeff Lazerus, POD consultant. Email: jeff@jefflazerus.com. Specializes in publishing on demand. Experienced in layout, design, prepress, and digital printing.
Lightning Press Printing Group, 140 Furler Street, Totowa NJ 07512; 973-890-4422; Fax: 973-890-4414. Email: sales@lightning-press.com. Books on demand: paperbacks, hardcovers, reprints, and catalogs.
Lightning Source, 1136 Heil Quaker Boulevard, La Vergne TN 37086; 615-213-5815; Fax: 615-213-4425. Email: inquiry@lightningsource.com. One of the main advantages of this system is its affiliation with Ingram Books, the major book wholesaler in the United States. All books on its system are automatically available to bookstores across the world. It uses the IBM InfoPrint 4100 and HP Indigo technology to print single copies or more of perfectbound or hardcover books. Currently offers 300,000 titles from over 3,000 publishers. They are the biggest POD printer probably in the world. Note that Lightning Source is more oriented towards working with professionals rather than amateurs (hence, the frustrated user comment below).
Frustrated user comment: “The biggest frustrations are the errors committed by the company combined with the attitude my customer service rep exudes. She is extremely abrupt and disinterested, and she does not answer my questions, even when it is clear that Lightning Source has committed a flagrant error. Unlike other service-oriented companies that try to reconcile the issues, Lightning Source simply doesn't acknowledge mistakes and, thus, doesn't endeavor to make it up to the customer.”
New Zealand publisher: “Main advantage is the Ingram list. Libraries and bookstores buy easily, and our books are on web sites in Japan and Germany even though they are only written in English at present. LSI allows us to set a 20% min retail commission. They answer the phone and reply to email. They charge a set up fee, but we find LSI competitive once sell over 50 or so books. Once we finalize a book, we use them. A proof copy 200 page Royal B&W book will cost about $75 to set up, and $3.50 per book to print, but if it then sells through Amazon, we can set a commission of 20%, in contrast to Create Space that forces a 40% price.”
Literally Publishing, Andy Hey, The Covert, Main Street, Claydon, Oxfordshire OX17 1EU, United Kingdom; 44-1295-690969; Fax: 44-1295-690859. Email: enquiries@literallypublishing.com. A UK-based publisher of new and undiscovered authors in POD format.
Llumina Press, Deborah Greenspan; 954-726-0902; 866-229-9244. Email: deborah@llumina.com. “We help authors self-publish books in quantities of one to thousands through POD or offset. All Llumina books are edited (if necessary) and professionally designed. Cover art, distribution, marketing, as well as personal, caring service. Affordable, all-inclusive packages. Free evaluation of manuscripts.”
Lulu.com, Stephen Fraser, Marketing Director, 3131 RDU Center Drive #210, Morrisville NC 27560; 919-459-5858. Email: sfraser@lulu.com. Lulu.com offers free, on-demand publishing for books, ebooks, custom calendars, music, and images. Founded by open source entrepreneur Bob Young (founder of Red Hat), Lulu.com offers an open publishing platform that allows content creators to bring their content directly to consumers. With over 10,000 titles published in the last year, Lulu.com is one of the fastest growing on-demand companies in the U.S. Authors set their own royalties. No set-up fee or minimum orders. Nonexclusive contracts. Color or b&w printing. They offer ISBN assignment and expanded distribution to Amazon.com and others for an additional fee. Their web site gets 15,000 visitors a day. A 6x9 softcover book of 150 pages costs $7.50 per copy.
New Zealand publisher: “High cost of printing, fast turn around, instant approval of proof. Most focused on amateurs, but we use them for first draft fast. Reasonable international postage ($7.50 to NZ). A proof copy 200 page Royal B&W book cost $16.49 including shipping to New Zealand, of that $8.50 was for the book.”
“Without glitzy idealism or funky hopelessness, Kremer does a sound job of talking about marketing, telling stories from his own and others' experiences. He knows his subject, imparting important information in a fast-paced, very open way. Extremely good stuff here.” — The Book Reader
May, 2006. ISBN: 0-912411-49-X. 704-page softcover. $27.95.
John Kremer's Self-Publishing Hall of Fame — This book features the stories of hundreds of self-publishers who have gone on to great success. It also features tips from many of the hall of famers on how to do what they did. I publish this book as an ebook because I’m continually adding new heroes to it. A great motivational and educational tool! January 2008. 225-page ebook download. $20.00.
Copyright © 2010 by self-publishing expert John Kremer
Email: JohnKremer@bookmarket.com
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