{"id":895,"date":"2018-10-25T22:19:20","date_gmt":"2018-10-25T22:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jameswritinganddesign.com\/wordpress\/?p=895"},"modified":"2018-12-01T15:46:36","modified_gmt":"2018-12-01T15:46:36","slug":"the-world-of-online-book-printers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jameswritinganddesign.com\/content\/the-world-of-online-book-printers\/","title":{"rendered":"The World of Online Book Printers PT. 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Book printers\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I automatically roll my eyes and start shaking my head when I say those words. It is the
\nmost frustrating aspect to publishing your books.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had a lot of experience with printers in general. I\u2019ve professionally printed numerous items
\nfrom business cards to huge fine art canvases. All printers are not equal, but I\u2019ve found that
\neven the worst commercial printers I\u2019ve ever encountered haven\u2019t compared to book printers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Book printers do NOT provide professionals with the information they need to get a good print.
\nThe instructions they provide are utterly lacking on every front, but they are quick to tell you that
\nfor a price they will hook you up with a professional designer to help you in this area.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This means it\u2019s a lot of trial and error, which costs a lot of money in the end.<\/p>\n

Each printer has specific requirements for your book file. For instance, IngramSpark wants a white
\nbar placed on each side of the binded paper to help seal the pages together. CreateSpace doesn\u2019t
\nrequire this. In essence, for every book, you will have to make another master document to tweak
\nfor the other printer. This means you are going to need different document settings for softcover,
\nhardcover, and your Kindle book.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For my latest book, If Only ~ Biblical Truth for Children, I have six rejected copies sitting on my desk
\nfrom CreateSpace. The problems with those books were improper cut marks (it showed white marks
\nwhere they overcut from the bleed) or splats from the printer that messed up pages. I even got a book
\nback that had half of a Spanish book placed into my book. How is that for quality control?<\/p>\n

\"My
My book merged with another book.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Believe it or not, I am still trying to get IngramSpark to actually print me a descent copy of my hardcover
\nof If Only ~ Biblical Truth for Children. I\u2019ve been working with them for four months now. I\u2019ve
\nencountered these problems.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Messed up cut marks<\/li>\n
  2. Messed up cover (times 2)<\/li>\n
  3. Messed up interiors<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    You have to have extra perseverance in the printing realm of book production. It is not for the fainthearted.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Here are some things I wish I knew starting out.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Start with Createspace for printing. They are cheaper, and getting test prints is not only faster, but their
      \ncustomer service will quickly give you a free print if there is an issue with your book. They also don\u2019t
      \nrequire the white box on the interior of each page, which is a hassle to set up.<\/li>\n
    2. On my latest book, If Only ~ Biblical Truth for Children, I created the cover in Photoshop, and I used these
      \nsettings to export.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Export as a PDF-High Quality (don\u2019t check \u201cstandard\u201d, and I used Acrobat 5). No color conversion, and
      \ncheck \u201cInclude Destination Profile.\u201d<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Make sure you UNCHECK<\/strong> \u201cpreserve PS editing capabilities\u201d and everything under the options category.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      OR<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      It will not upload to Createspace. When it doesn\u2019t load to Createspace you don\u2019t get a button. The website
      \nwon\u2019t tell you what is wrong. You are left thinking it is some website issue. I spent an hour on the phone
      \nwith a technician, and then I finally stumbled upon what was causing this issue. The PDF Photoshop is
      \nexporting is slightly different with the Metadata, and CreateSpace doesn\u2019t know what to do with that
      \ninformation, so the website won\u2019t take it, but it won\u2019t tell you it\u2019s not taking it. You are left with a page that won\u2019t respond.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

        \n
      1. When you make your PDF interior, you are going to want to export it with these settings. I use InDesign.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

         <\/p>\n

        I used PDF:X-1a:2001<\/p>\n

        Standard PDF\/X-1a:2001<\/p>\n

        Acrobat 4<\/p>\n

        In the output dialogue box put \u201cNo color conversion & Include all profiles\u201d<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        Createspace doesn\u2019t care if you include profiles. They just ignore them. However, IngramSpark
        \nwants your profiles stripped from your document or they will give you warnings and make you sign
        \na paper saying that they are not responsible for the outcome.<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        Profiles are basically the color codes to follow when printing. I color calibrate my machine, so I know
        \nI am looking at the right colors. Good printers give you profiles to install on your machine, so you know
        \nwhat you see is pretty much what they will print. Book publishers not only don\u2019t give you profiles,
        \nbut they ignore or strip what profiles you are packaging with your document. This means\u2026.<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        You never know what you might get back from them. You in essence are walking blind.<\/p>\n

        \"\"
        The picture above shows all the ink blots from a poor print job<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

         <\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        If you are up on technology, you might be wondering why all my settings are so old. Book printers do
        \nNOT keep up with the latest stuff. If you enable transparency in your document, you are going to
        \nencounter problems. I now flatten all my work, and I place a JPEG inside of Indesign, so when I export it,
        \nI have less issues. This makes for more work, as you can imagine, but I\u2019ve had less print problems.<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        My technical process is as follows:<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        I build my main pictures in Photoshop and Corel Painter. I keep my master copy of everything merged
        \nin Photoshop. I make two copies. One copy is an RGB (screen copy needed for promotions and the
        \nKindle version), and the other is a CMYK (print copy needed for book printers). I lighten my CMYK
        \ncopy because things always print darker with printers. I use either a \u201cCurves\u201d or \u201cBrightness\/Contrast Adjustment.\u201d<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        I export a copy of this out of Photoshop (PS), and I use these settings:<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        PDF-X4:2008, acrobat 7 with Standard PDF-X-4:2-10 selected. The automatic settings under \u201coutput\u201d are as follows:<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        No color conversion, and then Document CMYK-US Webcoated Swop 2<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        I also unchecked \u201cembed SRGB color profile.\u201d<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        I then take this flattened JPEG and I put it into Indesign. This means if something is wrong, you gotta go
        \nback to your main PS picture, fix that, export a new one, and import that into Indesign.<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        When you export your complete color book into a PDF from Indesign, for the printer, you want to have the following settings:<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        Createspace Printer Settings<\/strong><\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        PDF:\/X-1a:2001
        \nStandard PDF\/X-1a:2001<\/p>\n

        Acrobat 4<\/p>\n

        In the dialogue box put \u201cNo color conversion & Include all profiles\u201d (remember you lightened it already in
        \nPS to compensate for the print.<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        You must have a separate PDF for your cover and your interior.<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        Remember, these are the settings from my notes, which I am using. You might have to experiment for
        \nyourself. Always get a test print to check your document.<\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        Next month we will tackle IngramSpark Publishing<\/p>\n

        \"\"<\/a>
        A unique, Christian, read aloud book designed to enable parents and grandparents to easily share Biblical wisdom with the children in their lives.
        Don\u2019t read it once and put it on the shelf. Take the book further. Each purchase comes with the ability to download free resources, which will enable you to impress God\u2019s word into the minds and hearts of the children you love.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

         <\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

         <\/p>\n

        \"\"<\/a>
        If Only is a unique, Christian, read aloud book designed to enable parents and grandparents to easily share Biblical truth with the children in their lives.
        Don’t read it once and put it on the shelf. Take the book further. Each purchase comes with the ability to download free resources, which will enable you to impress God’s word into the minds and hearts of the children you love.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

         <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Book printers\u2026   I automatically roll my eyes and start shaking my head when I say those words. It is the most frustrating aspect to publishing your books.   I\u2019ve had a lot of experience with printers in general. I\u2019ve … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"kt_blocks_editor_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[24,15,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-educational","category-self-publishing","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.jameswritinganddesign.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Oct.25-2018-L.A.James-The-World-of-Online-Book-Printers-pt.jpg?fit=1200%2C600&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5khoZ-er","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jameswritinganddesign.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jameswritinganddesign.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jameswritinganddesign.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jameswritinganddesign.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jameswritinganddesign.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.jameswritinganddesign.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":940,"href":"https:\/\/www.jameswritinganddesign.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895\/revisions\/940"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jameswritinganddesign.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jameswritinganddesign.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jameswritinganddesign.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jameswritinganddesign.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}