This Week in Self-Publishing: I Got My Print Proof From IngramSpark
I love it so much. ❤
Money earned (total): $7,012.34
Money spent (total): $1,773.62
Money earned (this week): $0
Money spent (this week): $12.22
As you can see from that oh-so-carefully-arranged image, I got my print proof from IngramSpark this week.
I don’t actually have the print proof with me right now. I reviewed it, and then paid $12.22 to FedEx it to my designer Veronica Ewing so she could review it too.
Because, although the print proof is pretty close to perfect, it is not quite perfect. We’re still going to make a few tiny changes—and believe me, I thought about ignoring those changes, because they are very tiny and because it will cost me $25 to submit file revisions to IngramSpark, but then I thought: look, my name’s going on this. Veronica’s name is going on this. It’s worth $25 to fix a few things and make the book as good as it can be.
So here’s what you need to know about IngramSpark:
The print proof looks and feels great. The matte cover is almost velvety; it’s got a really nice feel. I went with the creme paper option (better for literary fiction than copy-paper-white) and although the text itself has a little reflection coming off it if you hold it to the light at a certain angle, that is the only real criticism I have. It looks like a book. A totally-worth-$19.99 book. A just-as-good-as-any-other book.
This is probably also because I’m working with a really good designer. ❤
I will say that it took IngramSpark nearly a week to get me the print proof, even though I paid extra for overnight printing—which is to say, they printed it overnight, shipped it immediately, and it still took five business days (plus a weekend) to reach me.
So if you’re thinking about using IngramSpark, I’d say do it! I am very pleased with the results.
I have heard that a few people have already received their copies of Biographies from Amazon, which was not how I had hoped that would go—I thought Amazon would do a pre-order and you’d get it in May—but if the paperback’s out of the bag, as it were, there’s not much I can do about that. (Remember my This Week in Self-Publishing column On Release: you can’t control what happens to the stuff you release into the world.)
Just be aware that any copies you buy before May 23 may have a few tiny errors in them. Consider them the Collector’s Edition. ❤
If you want to pre-order The Biographies of Ordinary People, here is a link where you can do that. If you want to sign up for my TinyLetter, here’s where you get on board.
