Q&A: Where can I have advance reading copies of my book printed?

QUESTION: I know it’s important to send advance copies of my book to the media and book reviewers. But when I printed the first offset run of 1000 finished books, I received just one galley, which I had to return to the printer.

If I send finished books to reviewers, I’m afraid they won’t read it because they’ll assume the book was already released. But my printer wants astronomical prices to print 200 galleys.

ANSWER: Print your review copies using a “digital” or “Print on Demand” company, and this should keep your costs reasonably low — under $3 a copy for an average trade paperback.

Your review copies should be “ARCs”, which look like your finished book but have a band across the front cover saying, “Advance Reading Copy – Not for Sale.”

Sometimes authors or publishers take a shortcut here, and just ink-stamp a regular book with the words “Advance Reading Copy.” Perhaps this works sometimes, but I would not take a chance on it because some reviewers may think it’s unprofessional.

So, where can you have your ARCs printed promptly without expensive setup fees? Many authors and publishers use Lulu.com. You can just upload your file there and order prints.

Here’s one more option for getting ARCs when you’re in a big hurry: Have them done at a Kinko’s. The advantage is the turnaround time is usually 24 hours. However, you have to find a Kinko’s that has a “perfect binding” machine, and only the biggest stores have them. And it’s expensive getting this job done at Kinko’s — they charge around $15 to $20 for each trade-sized paperback of about 200 pages.

With all these suggestions, I’m assuming you have access to the electronic file of your cover, and have the technical knowhow to add the band saying “Advance Reading Copy.” But if you don’t, you could go with a plain white cover made in Microsoft Word giving your title and other bibliographic info.

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Steve Weber is author of Plug Your Book! Online Book Marketing for Authors

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