Book Formats

As Lives & Times nears its conclusion my thoughts are turning towards publication. When I self-published the first book, Beating Bowel Cancer, on Amazon back in 2012 I used the tools on the site to produce the book in paperback and ebook formats. It was quick and fairly pain free. This time I am exploring the options in much greater detail, partly to maximise profit for the charity, but also to see if a hardback option is also feasible?

I have found a company that does all three formats called Lightning Source. The advantages of using them would be a greater percentage of the sales price would go to the charity. They do offer a hardback option, which really interests me, as there were a number of people who asked about this for the first book. They have a UK base, which means that they can turn around print runs very quickly. They can sell the book through all the usual channels, which means that the book would once again be available on Amazon on  a print to order basis. It would also mean that I could buy books up front and sell them directly to people once again maximising profits. I would also be able to offer the book to shops at a discounted price if there is any interest on that front. The only downside  I can see is there are set up costs, meaning I would probably have to shell out £250 approx to get the book published. I think it is probably a price worth paying though.

The one thing that I have failed to do so far is get any sponsorship for the book. A sponsor would enable me to absorb the up front costs, and be able to buy a bulk run of books to sell. If anyone has any ideas of companies that might be interested I'd love to hear from you.

I am down to taking the last few photos now. I am hoping that I can finish the photography in the next month or so and then finish a bit of writing and create the front cover. Then it will be all systems go. However if it goes back a bit I won't stress too much as the main thing is to get it right and not rush it out. Each time I complete a chapter I really want people to be able to read it straight-away, so I feel as impatient as anyone at times. I am sure that it will be worth the wait...