As I’ve been working on the illustration competition I’ve been asked by a number of people who have an idea for a book of their own where to have their books printed. This is a hard one, and there are a number of fantastic printing companies in the UK. My project is for a much larger book than a lot of people will be interested in putting out there, but the quotes I’ve found are for a book with the same size and specs as mine. This is a full colour A4 200(ish) page product and I’ve found quotes for 200 of them. if you’re looking to print something only 100 pages that would cost about 2/3s of what I’ve found quotes for. if you’re only looking for 100 copies, again, that would cost about 2/3s (obviously you can check your exact specs on the websites linked.
You also need to keep in mind that these quotes don’t include any formatting or checking of your work. You’ll need to convert and format everything. You should also remember that price isn’t everything – I haven’t worked with any of these printing companies so I don’t know about turn around times, response times or their attitude to last minute changes when you realize at the 11th hour that you’ve changed someones name halfway through. You know not to make your decision based purely on price – email the companies you’re interested in and see how long they take to get back to you. Phone them and ask questions about bleed and pagination. (page order). You need to be sure for your self before you part with your hard earned cash.
I’ve tried to compare like for like where possible.
Me – I include set up service, ISBN and proofing too
www.etsy.com/uk/shop/EmmasAtticPublishing
200 pages
200 books
115gsm full colour
250gms colour cover
£2,300
https://www.bookprintinguk.com
200 pages
200 books
115gsm full colour
250gms colour cover
£2,303.75
http://www.copyshop.co.uk/info.asp?id=1038&prodcat=perfect&prodid=alsc4s
200 pages
200 books
125gsm full colour
250gms colour cover
£2,327.95
http://www.inkylittlefingers.co.uk/
200 pages
200 books
115gsm full colour
250gms colour cover
£3529.35
200 pages
200 books
100gsm full colour
Unknown
£4,182.90
http://www.starprintbrokers.com have a minimum order of 2,000 books but that would be about £6,350 so if you had a bigger budget this would be the best deal!
There are more printing companies too, below are the companies who I couldn’t get a quote from on a Saturday but other indie publisher I know use them so maybe call them on a Monday.
readingroomcafeproject 