Need advice on whether to print a book, and how

jwfacts

I wrote an 800 page book when I left, basically for my own sanity, and that is what is contained at jwfacts.com. I have just finished re-writing it as a 300 page book. I am not sure yet about printing it, as I don’t know how many people would want to buy it. Does anyone have any idea how many copies I would be likely to sell?

Keep in mind that most of the information is already available for free at jwfacts.com. However, I think the book is far more effective. It contains a prologue and conclusion, and is ordered in a way that I think is most effective for prying open the cult afflicted mind. The information is also very interesting for people that belong to other religions.

I think I will end up printing it as an on demand book through lulu. However, this costs about $12 per copy in black and white (or $50 in colour). If I do vanity printing it would cost only $5 per copy in colour, but I need to do a minimum of 2000 copies, so have to put up $10,000. I doubt I would sell 2000 copies, in fact wonder if it is realistic that I would sell more than 100 copies.I have no intention of making money from printing a book, but also can not really afford to loose too much money either.

If anyone has any experience in this I would love some advice.

Scully

You could try self-publishing at lulu.com and charge for the PDF version. The reader can keep it on their computer or print it out at their own cost.

It seems to work for a lot of people.

jwfacts

The pdf is a good idea Scully. The book is paginated 6"x9", but I could change it to A4 for the pdf so it could be printed on less pages.

Nathan Natas

Printing at LULU will cost you NOTHING, except for the books you buy for your own use.

The minimum press run at Lulu is ZERO - you will not have a garage full of unsold books. Your customers - not you - pay for the books as they buy them.

As Scully said, you can distribute the Adobe Acrobat pdf file as a FREE download if you wish.

The reason hardcopy books have a minimum cost per book is because Lulu has to pay for the paper to print the books on and the people who run the presses.

jwfacts

Does anyone know how many copies of Captives of a Concept and Out of the Cocoon has sold.

FairMind

Well, I downloaded a copy of Captives of A Concept , so at least one copy was sold.

Shepherd Book

If you make it available in printed, bound book format, I'll buy a copy (I much prefer reading a 'real' book as opposed to a computer file).

Stealth453

I agree with Scully. I, too, am writing a book, and will probably use lulu.com.

Good luck.

jwfacts

I think that I will have a free pdf and then use lulu for people that want to purchase a hardcopy. The only thing is that I need to make a slight profit if I want to be able to advertise it on banners so that it can be found.

Need advice on whether to print a book, and how

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