What is the Best Service for Print on Demand Books

What is the Best Service for Print on Demand Books What is the Best Service for Print on Demand Books? When it comes to determining what how best to print your self-published book, there's no easy answer. Most indie authors will prefer the flexibility of print-on-demand solutions over the upfront cost of offset printing, but even then there are lots of other factors to consider: the type of book you’re printing, your budget, your plans for online distribution,  which distributor(s) you'll actually go through, and the quality of the printers.At Reedsy, we wanted to know how the major POD providers out there stack up along these lines. To find out once and for all, we printed a book using four of today's most popular services - and we're revealing the results in this post. What are the top print on demand services?To ensure we got the real indie author experience, we printed a copy of Not the Faintest Trace - a novel by Reedsy author Wendy M. Wilson, formatted through the Reedsy Book Editor, and designed by Patrick Knowles - from the four print-on-demand companies. We then had each copy delivered to BookTuber Mandi Lynn so that she could give us her indie author input. View her honest feedback in the above video. (The video was filmed before Draft2Digital released their printing services, so they are not included in the review).We also had each copy delivered to Reedsy HQ so that we could review the quality, look, and feel of each proof. Here's our review of each platform.1. BookBaby is a self-publishing platform that offers lots of support to self-publishing authors, including POD, ebook, book editing services, design, marketing, and distribution services.User friendliness: Easy, little to no learning curve.Pros of BookBaby: If you want a user-friendly, handheld process, BookBaby could be the choice for you.Cons of BookBaby: It’s expensive to distribute your book via BookBaby - and because you are actually accessing their distribution options via Ingram Book Group, you’re charged an extra middleman fee. (More on this later).For a tutorial and extensive review of BookBaby, check out this post! ðŸ“â€"👠¶4.  Blurb#gallery-8 Planning to focus most of your sales efforts on Amazon? Go with KDP Print and opt out of their expanded distribution option to earn the highest royalty.Planning to focus on sales outside of Amazon - and hoping to get stocked in physical bookstores? Go with IngramSpark for direct access to the largest variety of retailers and wholesale networks.Want sales on both Amazon and non-Amazon stores? You got it: go with both IngramSpark and KDP Print! Variety is the spice of life, why not benefit from the royalty potential of both services? If you want to maximize the benefits of both of these printers, ensure that you do it this way: distribute to Amazon via KDP Print  and opt out of their expanded distribution, then use IngramSpark to distribute everywhere else except for Amazon. If you use both to distribute everywhere without opting out, you’ll end up with doubles on each retailer - which you don’t want.Does your book have many visual components that differ from a tradit ional novel format? Blurb’s specialized formatting tools and printers will be your friend. Blurb should be used by authors who are printing illustrated/highly visual books, or when you need to place bulk orders - as they offer good discounts for volume purchases.Is support your #1 concern - above budgetary restrictions and earning the best royalty per sale? BookBaby’s support team is top notch, and they offer self-publishing services that authors who want the most streamlined experience as possible might enjoy. Most of all, don't let the overwhelming options deter you from printing your book on demand - especially since it can really pay dividends!  Whichever POD service you choose, you'll get beautiful hard copies of your book that you can admire for years to come... and that might just lead you to publishing success.Have you used any of the above companies for print on demand books? Tell us about your experiences in the comments below!