Costs to self publish

Our Fast Books division prints and perfect binds paperback books in all sizes. The most popular "book trade" sizes are B format (small paperback) and C format (trade paperback). We have reintroduced our special "Reprints cost less: 20% less" offer.

We closed our factory in 2003 to enable us to offer more flexibility in print run styles, bindings and locations. For deliveries to clients in Australia, we print in Australia. For deliveries to clients in the UK, that's where we print. And so on.

One price fits all popular paperback book sizes for 2008

• B format 200x130mm
• C format 235x153mm
• A format 199x119mm
• B5 format 250x176mm

Printing in black & white on 80gsm acid free paper, full colour cover on 260gsm board, includes gloss or matt celloglaze, perfect binding and trimming. Price includes GST. Please note that these prices are subject to sighting of materials. We can print and bind books as thick as 700 pages.

• These prices are for books printed directly from PDF, in Australia. We need a ready to print PDF for the cover and a ready to print PDF for the text. Because you are supplying the files "ready to print", we know you have double checked everything. To save you money, we do not provide further proofs.

Ball Park Extras for Covers:

Layout, design, formats: $440 - $660 - $880, plus $22 per scanned image. We do not charge for adding a bar code.

Ball Park Extras for Text Pages:

The price varies according to the genre. Fiction is the least expensive whereas local histories or memoirs incorporating photos, family trees and other graphic material costs more. You will need to arrange a meeting to discuss the options. Roughly, anywhere from $8.80 per page to $22.00 per page can be expected. After the page layouts are completed, we send you a complete PDF by email for your review and proofreading. Alterations due to our mistakes are at no cost. But rewrites and adjustments are charged.

Full Colour Books

We now produce softcover, saddle-stitched (stapled) full colour picture books. The most economical size is 260x190. 250 copies of a 16 page book, plus cover, will costs less than $4000 including GST, from a ready-to-print PDF file. See the formatting instructions for further details.

How to Choose a Printer/Publisher/Book Producer

• Price. Value for money expert service. Print only as many as you need, for yourself, your family, your friends.
• Deliverability. When we say your book will be finished, it is.
• Materials and machines of the highest quality.
• Skills and professionalism. APA members for over 30 years.
• On going benefits. Reprints cost less: 20% less.

Here is a 2006 comparison survey of book producers across Australia, which uses government benchmark weightings for tenders. Fast Books wins the job.

Budget

Most authors who choose to self-publish expect to make their money back; some hope to make a profit; some go on to make a fortune. Charles Dickens and Jacqueline Susanne were both incredibly successful self-publishers who made their fortunes by taking risks. They paid to print their own books.

Lonely Planet was started as a self-publishing venture in 1972 by Tony and Maureen Wheeler, who printed and distributed their own guidebook to Southeast Asia at a time when the major travel book publishers concentrated on Europe and North America.

Family historians and autobiographers usually self-publish for reasons other than financial: their investments will benefit their lifestyles and give priceless memories to their families and friends. Personal life stories which are well-told can also be of interest to a wider audience, with some self-published books getting picked up by mass-market publishers.

For example, Kate Shayler's self-published autobiography of her childhood tells the story of growing up in a children's home. She attended the Patty Miller Life Stories Writing Classes and self-published the resulting book which was reprinted twice before being picked up by a major mass-market publisher, Random House.

Good manuscripts are easily overlooked by mass-market publishers.

Unless you know someone who'll shepherd it through the submissions minefield, your investment in photocopies and postage will only result in a rejection slip.

However, 8 years ago, mother of nine children Carol Barbar, came to us for advice about her manuscript BIRTHS GALORE, which she was unable to get published.

She decided to do a trial run with Fast Books, and asked us to design it too. After it was printed, Carol worked very hard marketing her book: she sent review copies to all the relevant magazines and wrote to mass-market book publishers to gauge their interest in taking up the rights.

She was successful: it's now in print with Simon & Schuster.

Fundamentals of Self-Publishing

• It's your money. Pay for it in cash, cheque or on a credit card. Don't take out a mortgage on your house.
• Decide how much you will risk. The more effort you put in yourself, the less you'll need to pay others.
• Put money where it will do the most good: the cover needs to be good and colourful.
• Print only twice the number you know you can sell within a few months of publication. There's nothing worse than having books stacked in your garage or under the bed to remind you of your poor investment (and thus, your poor writing).
• Set the selling price - the amount people will pay you for the book - at twice what it costs you to print. Don't include any costs of editorial, design, photos, layout, etc. Just print cost. In this way, you will break even on the print cost (get your money back) when you sell half the print run.
• Reprint with the profits you make.

When you print too many books:

No, you won't save money. Sure, the more you print the less each book costs. But it never gets to zero. Here's a real example of what happened to John:

John wrote a book called Black Lagoon. He worked hard to get publicity and was happy when favourable reviews appeared in regional newspapers. He sold many copies himself to country booksellers.

However, he found out that big city bookshops would not stock his book. National radio and TV didn't want to know him. Even major media personalities who promoted themselves as helping battlers wouldn't assist him in promoting his book.

He's sold about 200 books out of a print run of 1,000. Unfortunately for John, the printer doesn't take returns.

This first experience in self-publishing has put him off developing other book ideas.

A self publisher's conundrum:
If 1000 copies cost $17 per book, and 200 copies cost $35 doesn't it seem like common sense to print 1000?

Not if only 200 copies sell.
To print 1000 copies would have cost $17000.
To print 200 copies would have cost $7000.

$10,000 saving if only 200 books had been printed.

Testimonials

"Thank you very much for your efficient service. I liked the colour for the cover and so did the children. Thank you very much." - E. Browne

"I'm very happy with how you printed LIGHT. It looks great." - C. Latham

"I am writing to congratulate you and your staff of an excellent job. It is very satisfying to have such a good product to be available in such a short time, and even earlier than promised." - L. Dun

"Michael Helsham has just brought in a copy of his book... It is a charming publication, beautifully produced. I congratulate you on it... you deserve a great deal of credit for the final publication. Congratulations!" - R. Brian, NSW Parliamentary Librarian.

"I am pleased with the work you have done in assembling and binding the book. It appears very satisfactory ... thank you for your prompt attention to my order." - F. Ireland.

"You are so far ahead of the game, thanks for that." - A. Oliver

"We are delighted with the presentation of the final product ... please relay our appreciation to your staff who have evidently worked hard to create such a stylishly presented book." - D. Roche, Perpetual Trustee Co.

"It is a pleasure to do business with such an efficient firm." - T. Preece, 466-462 Squadron

"We launched the pottery book today... it is a credit to your firm and we want to thank you for your careful and efficient attention to detail during its production." - V. Kerr

"Special thanks to your lovely manageress Patricia for her patience trying to understand me and put up with my anxiety." - M. Agius

"Thank you for the wonderful job you made of my book... I am delighted." - B. Ward

• and many many others!

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