What's an idiot-proof way to print a few copies of a book?

December 10, 2023 11:40 AM

I wrote my kids a 12,000-word story, my first nervous foray into fiction, that I'd like to have printed as a small book. Not for sale, just a few to have for fun. I've been looking at options like Lulu and Blurb, following up on this question from a few years ago, and I'm wondering if there are any new or better options.

It would be all text, no illustrations. I might be able to come up with some kind of cover image, but if there's some way to automate that (AI?), even better. I'm not a designer.

Most important is that the process is as close to "upload word doc and get book in mailbox" as possible. Writing is hard enough. Reading through Lulu's Book Creation Guide (spine width? bleed margin?) is already making me anxious.

posted by gottabefunky to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

For one-off books, Lulu worked well for me but it was a couple years ago. Unfortunately books are physical objects with shape and function, there's always going to be technical design aspects to it. However, if the book is just for you, you just need to get close -- if the cover isn't centered right or the text is too close to the middle and is hard to read, it's just your book, you're not trying to get it on the shelves of Barnes & Nobles. After you run the first one, modify your design and reupload it if it doesn't look right.

If you want somebody else to typeset your book, design the cover, etc., there's freelancers out there who will do this if you write a check for it. I want to say I've heard Fiverr has these sort of services but don't quote me on that, I have no direct experience.
posted by AzraelBrown at 12:14 PM on December 10, 2023

It's even pretty easy on Amazon.
When you click on Create a Book, it takes you to this page, which has all the specific instructions.

Given that you're talking about text books and you don't even really care about the cover...
It's relative cheap on Fiverr to get help with book formatting, though it's probably not necessary, so long as:
- you're not picky about finicky details
- you have it in a Word file
- you're capable of using even simple free online tools to do things like crop an image to specific dimensions.

Canva, specifically, has pre-formatted book covers freely available that are already the correct dimensions. Simply go to the Canva book cover tool, pick one that you like, update the title and author, and the images/graphics if you wish, etc - and download the file.
posted by stormyteal at 1:42 PM on December 10, 2023

A totally different option: check copy shops near a university campus if you have one nearby. (Heck, ask Kinko's or FedEx or whatever they're called now if there's one nearby.) My advisor would get his students' dissertations bound plus copies for you/your parents, so a print run of three or four. That was a "proper book" with hard cover and sewn binding, but obviously they print course materials with glued bindings and spiral bindings too. It's mostly a matter of what you want to pay for and knowing to have bigger inside margins.
posted by hoyland at 1:54 PM on December 10, 2023

https://kindlepreneur.com/how-to-format-a-book-with-word/ follow these instructions. It's reasonably fool proof, i did one for a friend recently. A copy shop will print it for you if you then save it as a pdf and send it to them.
posted by Sebmojo at 2:45 PM on December 10, 2023

Blurb is great because they give you the software tools to get it done and their quality is excellent. You could copy paste all text into Blurb very easily.
posted by tiny frying pan at 2:57 PM on December 10, 2023

Amazon KDP is pretty easy and the best pricing as far as I know, but I think you do have to publish it (i.e., someone could theoretically buy it) at least temporarily while you order your copies. $2.15 for a standard sized paperback up to 108 pages, I think, plus shipping.
posted by snofoam at 5:13 PM on December 10, 2023

I just printed a book for my sister using Barnes & Noble Press. It was easier and far more affordable than I expected. It hasn't arrived yet, so I can't speak to the quality, but the ordering process was simple.
posted by hessie at 5:54 AM on December 12, 2023