Baked-in book marketing isn’t limited to the catchy hooks you embed in your story. Creative book design draws your readers in, making them want to pick up your book, run their hands over the cover, and show it to their friends. And with the rise of direct sales and crowdfunding campaigns making it easier to justify the cost, more authors are exploring ways to produce special editions that go far beyond the design limitations of a print-on-demand paperback.
As soon as authors consider something out of the ordinary for binding, book format, or geography, they enter the dangerously seductive marketplace of print production: nearly infinite trim sizes, formats, and finishing options such as metallic foil, sprayed edges, physical box sets, ribbon bookmarks, and a slew of drool-worthy cover refinements.
But fancy printing cuts both ways. Your choices can make your story values gorgeously tactile, but they also increase the cost of producing your books and may limit your options for where to print new copies. Choosing the right printer—or mix of printers—is a strategic question for indie authors that comes with many additional elements to consider: profit margin, shipping time, publishing laws, customization your readers expect, and more. For your sanity and sustainability, it’s worthwhile to consider each printer’s strongest offerings and make choices that not only match your price and design requirements but also simplify your workload.
Profit Margin: How Much Should It Cost?
Setting prices for your books is already a decision with plenty of variables for authors to consider, from genre to the length of the story and its placement within a series. But custom print books can vary even more widely, both in production and retail costs. The design elements you choose, the printing company you use, and the shipping and distribution costs of a book can all play a factor in a special edition’s final price.
As with any format, a high cost per book could put you out of business. You don’t want to price-gouge your readers, and you also want to ensure you’re paying yourself fairly so that you can keep on writing and publishing books. While making your decisions, be sure you’re finding a balance between prices that are fair for readers and suppliers and will generate a profit for you.
To help you create a sustainable business, Dawn Fotopulos in Accounting for the Numberphobic recommends a profit margin of 30 percent of the retail price. For example, if your three-hundred-page paperback costs $10 to print and $8 to ship to you, and you price the book at $20, you only have a profit margin of $2, or 10 percent. You would need to price the book at $26 or higher in order to achieve the profit margin Fotopulos recommends.
There are other ways to improve profits beyond increasing prices for readers. You might need to find another printer, find new distribution outlets that don’t require a 55 percent discount, or find creative ways to lower your shipping costs. You may also consider adjusting your formatting to save on printing costs, such as publishing in a larger trim size to reduce the page count or re-formatting the interior with tighter line spacing, smaller margins, or different fonts.
For many printers, printing a greater number of copies in a single run can reduce unit costs, which may seem like an easy solution to raise profits per book without raising prices. However, as with every other pricing decision, printing more books to reduce costs is a balancing act. In Joe Solari’s Enough is Enough, the managing director and co-owner of Author Nation writes that authors should aim for their business to have a margin of 25 percent to 35 percent or more. A larger print run, while great for decreasing the cost of printing per book, may affect the cost to your overall business, particularly if extra books go unsold for some time.
Authors don’t necessarily need to decide a book’s retail price at the start of the production process, but keeping costs—for you and your readers—in mind from the beginning can help with deciding which design elements you’ll want to include in the final version of your book and which printer will be the right fit for your project.
Time To Ship: How Long Will It Take?
Another constraint authors may consider when ordering custom printed books is the production and shipping time. Especially for those running crowdfunding campaigns or attending scheduled events, the time needed to print and ship books from a printer may change which company is right for your book.
With any new printer, it’s recommended that you order proof copies to ensure the quality matches your expectations—but this can serve two purposes. As you place orders for proof copies, keep track of the printer you’ve ordered from; your order date; the shipping time; your book’s page count, in case you reformat or omit a chapter by mistake; and the quality of the final product. To calculate the per-book cost, you can also track the size of the order, printing cost, shipping cost, whether the shipping is trackable, and customs and handling fees. Use this information to compare options when making the final decision as to which printer or printers you’d like to use for your book.
If you’re hoping to shorten your readers’ wait time and lighten your workload, you may also look for companies that offer drop-shipping, which means books ship to readers directly from the printer. Not all printers offer this service, and even if yours does, you won’t be able to drop-ship if you plan to add inserts, customize your packaging, or sign books before shipping them to readers. However, for those authors who simply want to deliver books quickly or who want to avoid the need to store, package, and ship books themselves, drop-shipping may be a feature worth considering.
Publishing Laws: Selling In Europe
For authors who want to sell books in Europe, keep in mind that the EU’s specific requirements for packaging, safety information, the fixed price law for books, imprint requirements, and customs or VAT costs can take time to sort out. Using an EU printer who can drop-ship titles, or one that already has processes in place to comply with EU requirements, may save you time and resources.
For US-based authors, Lulu may be a reliable option, as the company ships to the EU from France and handles general product safety requirements, often abbreviated as GPSR, and VAT for you. Authors who are not EU residents or who don’t want to be the EU representative for their books can also use BookVault’s suggested paid solution for handling VAT and new customs fees. The platform’s users have the option of using a tax calculation tool such as the EAS plug-in or ticking a box to add the new €3 surcharge to your book’s order price for an EU customer.
If you have VAT, IOSS, or OSS numbers for your business, you may want to use printers who will let you take advantage of the price or paperwork savings. Skye MacKinnon’s Self-Publishing in German, 2nd edition compares the pros and cons of print-on-demand providers for the Germany, Austria, and Switzerland markets.
Customized: What’s Right For Your Readers in Every Market
Selecting your own printer and custom print options for your book gives you nearly endless flexibility with your project; your only limitations are the time, money, and resources you choose to spend. You could decide to customize print sizes or choose printers based on the country where you sell more copies, or you may choose to prioritize printers that offer environmentally friendly printing and packing options, such as recycled paper or special inks.
You may also decide to order books from multiple printers to take advantage of different companies’ offers and benefits in different markets. If you do, consider that your files may need adjustment, requiring your time and effort or additional graphic design costs. For example, Germany’s Tolino Media requires file types that can’t be produced with Affinity Designer or Publisher, adding an extra step to the cover production process. Choosing a different paper for the interior may also change the cover file size. Interior files may need to have specific manufacturer’s information, page margins or gutters, or color or grayscale profiles. Adding even a single full-page illustration requires full bleed for all pages in the book, and printers handle full bleed differently.
Your choice of printer may also affect your books’ metadata. In the German language market, Tolino Media automatically submits your titles to the German equivalent of Books In Print, a comprehensive book database. BookVault does a similar book registration process for your books in the UK market, adding information to Nielsen and sending a sample of book information to UK distributor Gardners, who then decide whether to include the title in their catalog and what ordering status to assign to the title for UK bookstores.
Whether you choose to use one printer or multiple, to customize your books to a particular regional market or to stick with standard North American sizes and formats like those used by Amazon and other print-on-demand companies, be sure you’re considering what’s sustainable for your business and making a decision that matches your readers’ demand. As Solari suggests in Enough Is Enough, set clear boundaries and goals for your project before you start; they’ll help ensure you’re as happy about the process as you are the finished product.
Simplicity is Sustainable
Manufacturing is where standardization shines. Although custom printing allows you nearly endless options for personalizing your printed books, if deciding whether to use multiple printers or customize your books to a specific market feels overwhelming, here are a few ways you could simplify your creative work.
- Strategy #1: Use a single printer. Create one set of files per book and format, and use only printing options available via that printer. This is one of the most common options among indie authors exploring custom printing.
- Strategy #2: Keep the trim size and page count the same for all printers. This makes it easier to catch errors like a missing chapter or back matter. If the page count is correct, the file is complete. It also saves you from needing to issue—and potentially purchase—new ISBNs.
- Strategy #3: Limit binding choices. For example, print paperbacks. This makes it easier to use companies that drop-ship to customers worldwide, such as IngramSpark, Amazon KDP, Lulu, and BookVault.
- Strategy #4: Pick one geographic market at a time. Figure out one country at a time, or start local to avoid confusion over international regulations and costs and to ensure your book’s design appeals to that market.
Who Should You Use?
Which printer you choose to use for custom printing depends heavily on your goals for your publishing business. When deciding which printer to use, authors should be sure to look beyond customization options and also consider the cost of a print run, where a company’s books are printed, and whether a printer handles tax information, EU distribution requirements, or distribution. The following list of printers is far from exhaustive, but for authors getting started with custom printing, it may provide a few popular options to compare.
BooksFactory
BooksFactory in Poland can provide highly customized paperbacks and hardcovers in micro print runs, printing as little as one book for a €50 minimum fee. The company’s flat-rate shipping is useful for bulk orders or local events, where you are shipping to a single address. Once you have a free account, their English-language website will let you compare pricing for the options and number of books in their calculator.
Website: https://booksfactory.eu (English-language site)
Upload fee: None
Direct sales option: None
Printing options: Authors must create a free account (by country) to see printing options and generate quotes. BooksFactory offers hardcover, softcover, board books; Wire-O hardcover, softcover, booklet; edge printing for softcover, hardcover, and board books; foiling, cutaways, ribbons, rounded spines, and more. Visit the BooksFactory website to see a complete list.
Templates: The quote calculator generates templates for interior and cover files or overlays a template on the book files you upload.
Minimum order: €50, but accounts can also be approved for up to three free proof copies. You can also request BooksFactory’s sample books.
Discount offers: None
Ships from: EU countries or UK; cost varies by country.
GPSR: Manufacturing safety information is provided at https://booksfactory.eu/information.php.
Legal/tax information: Accepts author VAT information.
Note: BooksFactory is unrelated to BookFactory, which is a printer in Dayton, Ohio, specializing in lab books.
BookVault
BookVault prints special editions in the UK and offers drop-shipping to send paperbacks from the author’s online store directly to readers in the UK, US, Australia, and Canada.
BookVault ships worldwide, but jacketed hardcovers and special editions ship solely from their UK plant. Paperbacks printed in the UK can have the interior cover printed, but BookVault can’t print duplex covers in the US, Australia, or Canada.
Website: https://bookvault.app
Upload fee: Yes
Direct sales options: BookVault Shop (a replacement for The Great British Book Shop), PayHip, WooCommerce, Wix, Shopify, and Kickstarter Bulk Import Tool. TikTok Shop listed as “coming soon.” API is also available.
Printing options: The UK-based BookVault Bespoke offers ribbons, box sets, foiling, sprayed edges, endpages, and headbands and tailbands and can ship worldwide from the UK. Other printing options include wire-bound, paperback, cloth hardback, spiral-bound, saddle-stitched, and hardback.
Templates: Yes. The templates inside the dashboard are recommended. Visit https://bookvault.app/downloading-bookvault-templates.
Minimum order: No
Discount offers: Yes; Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) members can view member offers at https://www.ibpa-online.org/page/Bookvault, and members of the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) can add unlimited free titles with their own ISBN.
Ships from: UK printers offer duplex covers, paperback, jackets for hardcovers; Australia printers offer paperbacks only; Canada offers hardbacks and paperbacks in either 70 gsm cream and 80 gsm bond, no “split color”; uses US currency. The US printer offers everything except duplex paperback print and recycled paper and is FSC-certified. Shipping fees are not included in BookVault’s pricing, though they offer options, depending on the number of books ordered at one time or if you're drop-shipping.
GPSR: An overview of the EU safety regulations and BookVault resources, including required Declaration of Conformity in multiple languages, is available at https://help.bookvault.app/what-is-gpsr-how-will-it-affect-me.
Legal/tax information: Will accept author IOSS information. Recommends EAS plugin (paid subscription) to meet EU requirements and offers a flat fee model for surcharge per EU order. Visit https://bookvault.app/compliance-hub for more information.
CPI
CPI offers short-run and long-run printing, print-on-demand in the UK, Germany, and France; auto stock replenishment in the UK, Germany, and France; zero inventory in the UK and Germany; global print solutions in the UK and Germany; and print and distribution via CPI Gardners (UK), CPI Wiley (UK), CPI Zeitfracht (overnight printing and delivery in the UK and Germany), and Highway (web-based order management system, not available in the Czech Republic).
Website: https://www.cpi-print.com
Upload fee: Setup charge or annual file storage charge for repeat orders
Direct sales option: Only for large-scale publishers
Printing options: Vary by country. In the UK: B-format, A5, Demy, Royal, Crown Quatro, A4, and others at no additional charge. The UK has a request form for print-on-demand and short-run estimates at https://www.cpi-print.co.uk/get-an-estimate and contact info for print runs including 1,500 or more copies. Germany has a book calculator in English showing available print options: https://cpidirect.cpi-print.de/auswahl.php.
The self-publishing guide for the UK provides some additional details. Printing cost is based on the one-time setup charge, production charge (fixed printing cost per copy), delivery charge (based on weight), and an annual file storage charge; alternatively, files can be deleted and the setup charge would be due at the time of reprinting.
Templates: UK file specifications: https://www.cpi-print.co.uk/digital-file-specs
Minimum order: No, but the number of copies in an order affects how the book is printed. Orders of less than fifty copies are printed on demand with sheet feed machines; ultra-short runs begin at fifty copies and include access to more printing options. You can find more information about the printing options available depending on the size of your order through a downloadable brochure on CPI's website.
Discount offers: None known
Ships from: Prints in France, UK, Germany, Spain, and the Czech Republic.
GPSR: Publisher has responsibility and must upload files that are GPSR compliant.
Legal/tax information: None known. The publisher has responsibility for tracking VAT and other tax information.
IngramSpark
IngramSpark is familiar to most indie authors. The company’s worldwide distribution allows your print books to be offered in traditional bookstores and libraries around the globe. They offer a large range of trim sizes and bindings, including book jackets for hardcovers.
Website: https://www.ingramspark.com/book-printing
Upload fee: No upload or revision fees as of February 1, 2026. The market access fee per title for using IngramSpark’s distribution network is 1.875 percent of local list price at time of sale.
Direct sales option: Offers share & sell links for the US and the UK only. Note: Reader information is not shared with the author, and payment is received ninety days after sale.
Printing options: Offers a free downloadable file creation guide, or use the Print and Ship Calculator to see trim sizes and binding options.
Templates: Yes; the Cover Template Calculator will email them to you.
Minimum order: None
Discount offers: ALLi members receive 10 percent off direct publisher orders, fifty-copy minimum. IBPA members also receive occasional quantity discounts via email newsletter.
Ships from: Varies. The Print and Ship Calculator provides cost estimates.
GPSR: Yes. Declaration of Conformity, EU representative, and General Product Safety Risk Assessment can be found at https://www.ingramcontent.com/pod-product-compliance.
Legal/tax information: Accepts author IOSS and EORI numbers when placing orders. How this affects shipping options and fees is explained here. The benefit to authors is that shipping will be streamlined and readers won’t be asked to pay fees at the door, with exact change.
Lulu
Lulu is well-known for high-quality printing and has a large number of integrations for online store options, as well as international shipping options with printing locations in Australia, Canada, France, India, the UK, and the US.
Website: https://www.lulu.com
Upload fee: $4.99 for new titles for global distribution. Purchase of a proof copy is required for new titles and for all revisions for global distribution. No fee or required proof copy for publisher’s direct orders or with Lulu’s API.
Direct sales option: Lulu offers integrations with online store providers, an API, and an online bookstore. Books offered in the bookstore can’t be restricted to specific countries. Authors can create discounts fourteen days in advance for one to thirty days. Lulu will only share customer contact information with the publisher for marketing use if the customer has given permission during the sale. Lulu also offers a Kickstarter order upload tool: https://www.lulu.com/sell/order-import.
Templates: Interior pages templates and cover templates
Minimum order: None
Discount offers: ALLi and IBPA members receive 15 percent off orders direct to publisher. Lulu posts discounts on social media and their current discount code can also be found here.
Ships from: Prints in Australia, Canada, France, India, the UK, and the US.
GPSR: Yes. Manufacturing safety information provided on packing slips. Their EU contact is Easy Access System Europe.
Legal/tax information: Lulu collects US sales tax on sales to most states (see Lulu’s website for exceptions) and collects VAT on all European sales. Author/publishers cannot input their business tax information.
Mixam
Mixam acts like a clearinghouse for multiple printers. In practice, this means many options and a few inconsistencies on the website—for example, multiple categories for finding book printing options. Novel, Paperback Books, and Hardcover Books categories might show different pricing and availability, so it’s worth checking multiple categories.
Website: https://mixam.com
Upload fee: None
Direct sales option: PrintLink widget integrates with Stripe and doesn’t require a website or shop. The author retains customer information. Shopify, Stripe integrations, or API are available at https://mixam.com/documentation/api.
Printing options: Wide range of trim sizes and options. Comic book or graphic novel formats are available. For example, jackets for hardcovers are available, but there is a minimum order value, and they aren’t available in all countries. Photo books and art books are available too. Find comic book and graphic novel tips at https://mixam.com/blog and https://updates.kickstarter.com/how-to-make-a-comic-book-with-kickstarter-and-mixam.
Templates: Yes; visit https://mixam.com/support/filesetup.
Minimum order: None stated.
Discount offers: Mixam’s reward program allows authors to earn points on print orders that can be redeemed for discounts on future orders.
Ships from: Prints in the US, the UK, Ireland, Canada, Japan, Germany, and Australia. US and UK sites offer paid “international shipping with Mixam’s partners,” according to Mixam’s website.
GPSR: No. Mixam considers the author/publisher responsible for EU requirements.
Legal/tax information: In the EU, email Mixam once you have set up your book to qualify for the lower VAT rate for books. In the UK, these items are VAT exempt: hardcover and paperback books, brochures, booklets, magazines, catalogs, comic books, zines, flyers, and folded leaflets. Find out more at https://mixam.co.uk/support/vat.
Tolino Media
Tolino Media is a distributor of ebooks and print books in the German-speaking market, including Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Originally launched as an ebook competitor to Amazon KDP, Tolino Media now also offers printing and distribution options for print books.
Website: https://www.tolino-media.de
Upload fee: Title registration fee is €18.90 per book, which includes registration in the German equivalent of Books in Print (Verzeichnis Lieferbarer Bücher, or VLB), ISBN, and distribution. Uploading a book without distribution is free.
Direct sales option: None
Printing options: Seven trim sizes are offered in softcover and hardcover with cream or white 90 gsm paper.
Templates: Not available. Dimensions are provided in your publisher account dashboard.
Minimum order: None; Tolino Media is a print-on-demand printer.
Discount offers: None known. Tolino Print Media doesn’t appear to offer fee waivers through any author organizations, but their offering for book registration costs much less than registering your books directly with the VLB on your own. Promotion opportunities are available for authors publishing directly with Tolino.
Ships from: Can be ordered by readers from most brick-and-mortar and online bookstores in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
GPSR: Yes. You must format the interior to allow Tolino Media to add required Impressum and manufacturing information.
Legal/tax information: Refer to Skye MacKinnon’s Self-Publishing in German, 2nd edition for more details.
Guangzhou SESE Printing Manufacturer
According to Kickstarter for Authors 2nd Edition, Anthea Sharp reports working with SESE Printing, a company based in China. “Printing in China is usually the cheapest,” Morgana Best writes in Stop Making Others Rich: How Authors Can Make Bank by Selling Direct, but also points out that customs duties “will have to be factored into your costs, as will time if you go the cheaper way of transporting your books from an international printer by ship rather than by air.”
Website: www.seseprinting.com or www.book-printing-factory.com/about-us
Upload fee: None
Direct sales option: None
Printing options: Customized binding, paper, trim size, edge finishes, box sets, board books, and packaging. Standard sizes (portrait or landscape) include 5.5" × 8.5" for novels, 6" × 9" for hardbacks, or 8.5" × 11" for art books and “fully bespoke dimensions,” according to the website.
Templates: Provided upon request. Some templates also available at www.seseprinting.co/download.html.
Minimum order: Standard minimum of three hundred or “microbatch” of fifty. Request a quote for more accurate information.
Discount offers: None
Ships from: Per SESE’s website, they offer a twenty-four-hour response time and door-to-door shipping to addresses in the US, the UK, Australia, and the EU.
GPSR: Yes, EUREPSTAR.
Legal/tax information: The company’s website lists the following certifications: ISO9001, BSCI, Disney Fama, FSC, and Sedex certified. For more information, contact the publisher.
A Final Note
When choosing a printer, there are a host of details to consider beyond which design elements to add to the final product. Your printer’s location; the legal requirements of international markets; your profit margin; the shipping times; the formats, bindings, and special elements a printer offers; your genre’s traditions; and whether the printer or printers of choice can integrate with other services you plan to use all can factor into the decision.
Whatever you choose, be sure your final design takes into account the level of complexity your author business can support and your own mental well-being. Simplicity and consistency in your printing and publishing decisions protects your creative time and energy as an author. And that creativity is essential for creating compelling stories and designing books your readers can’t resist adding to their bookshelves.
