Children's Books

BookPros

BookPros is a traditional publishing company founded in 2003
in Austin, Texas. The company only accepts high-quality books; to ensure this,
they go through a screening process, and since they make sure the published
book is of high-quality, both in content and design, it takes 10 to 18 months
for them to finish publishing the books..

With regard to printing, they have paperback and hardcover
printing. They offer a variety of services, such as:

• design
• printing
• publishing
• publicizing the book.

If you are interested to have your book published with BookPros, you may have free market analysis scheduled with them.

Alexa Profile: BookPros
Website: www.bookpros.com
Services: Design, printing, publishing

48HrBooks.com

As the name states, 48HrBooks publish your books in 48 hours. The prices vary depending on the  number of pages, number of color pages, size, quantity, and whether it’s standard, rush, or super rush shipping. To help you find out the cost, they have a price calculator.

The standard binding format for the published books is perfect bound, but hardcover ($10 per book), spiral coil ($0.60 per book), and saddle-stitching (for 36 pages or less only) may be chosen as well. Your book may also have a cover design, with an extra charge as well. It is also convenient to place an order on their site as they provide you with understandable instructions, or you may contact them if you have any additional question.

On a personal note, we used 48hrBooks to publish School Time, and will definitely use them again in the future, they were very helpful each step of the way.

Alexa Profile: BookPros
Website: www.48hrbooks.com
Services: Printing, publishing

iUniverse.com

iUniverse is a self-publishing company that offers services which are usually only offered by traditional publishing companies, such as editorial, design, and marketing services.

Authors can choose among six different packages, whichever suits their publishing goals:

• Book  Launch Premier Pro which costs $4,200
• Online Premier Pro which costs $3,150
• Bookstore Premier Pro which costs $2,099
• Premier Pro which costs $1,549
• Premier which costs $1,099
• Select which costs $599.

However, an additional of $100 is added to the provided prices should “publish by mail” be opted.

iUniverse have softcover (in various trim sizes) and hardcover (in two trim sizes only: 5.5 × 8.5  or 6 × 9 in.) in perfect-bound format. They do not offer wire-o, plasticomb, three-ring, or spiral-bound publishing.

Aside from the abovementioned services, iUniverse also offers evaluation, production, and bookselling services.

Alexa Profile: iUniverse
Website: www.iuniverse.com
Services: Editorial,  design, marketing

CreateSpace.com

CreateSpace is a self-publishing company where the customers may choose between selling DVDs, CDs, and books so they can make available their videos, music, and writings on demand, so no inventory is needed. What’s more is that no setup fee is charged, the author is only required to buy and approve a proof copy of the book. There is even no limit as for the quantity of orders. The author may order just one, or as much as 500, even more books!

The prices  for publishing books vary depending on the interior type, trim size, number of pages per book, and the quantity. The authors may use their member order calculator to for the prices. Clients may compare various book cover services so they can choose whichever they want for their books. The authors may also upgrade to Pro plan so they can reduce the charges on their orders. Other services include:

• Publishing solutions
• Editing
• Layout and design
• Marketing

Alexa Profile: CreateSpace
Website: www.createspace.com
Services: publishing solutions, editing, layout and design, marketing

BookSurge.com

Book Surge is a POD (Print on Demand) company which offers self-publishing services to authors. Book Surge will soon merge with CreateSpace under the name and logo of CreateSpace.

Since Book Surge is now considered as one with CreateSpace, choosing Book Surge is exactly like choosing CreateSpace. Therefore, as for publishing, the prices vary depending on the interior type, trim size, number of pages per book, and the quantity. The authors may use their member order calculator for the prices. Clients may compare various book cover services so they can choose whichever they want for their books. The authors may also upgrade to Pro plan so they can reduce the charges on their orders. For their services, they have publishing solutions, editing, layout and design, and marketing.

Alexa Profile: CreateSpace
Website: www.booksurge.com
Services: publishing solutions

The State of Publishing Today

Out with the old and in with the new, they say. Is this what’s happening in the publishing industry nowadays?

Before, with traditional publishing, an author needs to have his work checked by the traditional publisher, or by a line of publishers, actually. If he is lucky, then probably after 6 months, at least one of them accepts his proposal, and buys the rights from him. One thing good here is that the author does not need to worry about spending much money to have his work published—that is, if any one of the publishers accepts his work.

So if time and control over your work is important to you, and money is not an issue, choosing traditional publishing methods is not such a wise move.

The fact also remains that it’s not a guarantee that if you choose traditional publishing, your decisions or styles will be received positively. This is especially true if you’re an unpublished author. Also, you’re not the only one who spent long, demanding hours writing a book. And you’re definitely not the only who needs to have your work published, you are one of many.

This means that publishers have many  works to choose from, and they will definitely choose what they perceive to be the best. Publishers would also not want to publish a book that still needs to undergo intensive editing, when they can choose the works of others that are minimally flawed (flawed in their eyes, that is!). Many publishers also do not accept works directly from authors. They prefer to work only through literary agents, adding even more hoops.

Choosing traditional publishers will not cost you a dime to publish your work, but it’s not a guarantee either if your work will actually be published, and how much of your book you will actually own.

Publish Your Book Yourself!

This post is the first is the first part in a series that looks at all the different self-publishing options available to authors. When I decided to self-publish, I checked out all these different sites. While I ended going with 48hrbooks.com, all of them had something positive to offer.

Lulu.com

Lulu is a growing self-publishing company which, unlike other traditional publishing companies, allows authors to to have their works sold directly to their particular audience without having to go through the hassle of being rejected.

The cost for Lulu marketplace books range from $0.015 to $0.20 per page, depending on the size and whether it is colored or black and white, excluding the binding fee. For binding, prices range from $2.50 to $18, still depending on the size of the book and the type of binding: perfect bound, saddle stitch, plasticoil, case wrap, and dust jacket. The prices for Manufacturing Cost for Distribution Books per page range from $0.02 to $0.15, still depending on the size and whether it is black and white or colored. Binding fee range from $1.50 to $10, again depending on  the size and type of binding.

For their services, they offer:

• publishing packages
• retail listings
• children’s book packages
• all-inclusive packages

Alexa Profile: Lulu
Website: www.lulu.com
Services: publishing packages, retail listings,children’s book packages, all-inclusive packages

What are your book binding options?

Different forms of book binding methods have been easily available in this generation. In choosing which type of binding is appropriate for your book, you should first decide what type of material you are to publish. Whether it be a thick book or just a few leaves of paper, or a report or presentation matters. The following are a few of the bookbinding methods one may choose from:

Perfect Binding

Perfect binding, an adhesive binding style, is the most common binding method which is widely used for paperback books. It is perfect for books, manuals, and brochures, as it gives a professional appearance. However, many of the materials with this type of binding method break along the spine when frequently opened, as the spine of these materials is glued flat. Perfect binding is done by a machine that cuts off the backs of the sections of the materials. The sections of leaves are then glued to a cloth. This gives a similar result as those of paperback books.

Saddle Stitch Binding

One of the simplest binding styles known, and the most widely used as it is the most economical, is saddle stitching. This type of binding is popularly used for booklets, brochures, newsletters, and catalogs. This form of binding only works for very thin materials needed for binding. In saddle stitching, loose printed pages are secured by stapling the materials through their centerfold.

Coil Binding

Coil binding is a popular bookbinding style for reports, presentations, and proposals. This binding style is durable, and various colors and sizes of spiral coil binding spines are available to give the material a more personalized look but still may be within one’s budget as compared to other binding styles. Here, the materials to be bound are punched just near the binding. Then, by using a plastic coil, these materials are connected. The coils can easily be adjusted by hand, so pages can be be easily added and removed manually.

Case Wrap Binding

Case wrap binding is the most common form of binding used for hardcover books. The cover in this type of binding is wrapped in a white stock printed in color. After which, the bound hardcover is then laminated with a glossy finish.

Do I need a dust jacket?

The dust jacket is the outer cover which may be separated from the book. It is usually a paper printed with illustrations and with folded flaps for the covers of the book. The dust jacket also serves as a tool to prevent the book covers from damage. However, since it also delicate, the jacket may be wrapped in another clear material.

A Library of Congress catalog control number is an identification number uniquely assigned to the catalog record for books in collections of catalogs.

It is used by librarians to locate a specific catalog record in the national databases and to order catalog cards from the Library of Congress or various suppliers. There are times, however, when a control number may be assigned to a book before it is published through the Preassigned Control Number (PCN) Program.

Publishers who wish to attain Library of Congress control numbers for their not-yet-published books, they may fill out the application form, and they will be given an account number and password.

The International Standard Book Number is a unique 13-digit number assigned to books and other booklike materials for international publishing to specify a particular book, for tracking and ordering purposes. The principles and procedures for ISBN are in the International Organization for Standardization’s Recommendation 2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN; however, this is usually later corrected.

The use of ISBN was helpful to book industries since it made their task to be simpler and less complicated.

Publishers who want to apply for ISBN should contact their appropriate National Agency. By filling out an ISBN application form, a registrant agrees that the use of ISBN is subject to the ISBN Terms and Conditions.