Authors report that printers like KDP and Ingram have varied quality off the press. Pages are a different color, and they don’t handle as well for readers.
KDP, the Amazon printing on demand service, welcomes us to one of the hidden joys of using the fastest printer. You can expect that kind of KDP book to be in mailboxes whenever the order starts and ends at Amazon. The better-printed Ingram paperback is the one that will be delivered through Bookshop and direct to bookstores who buy copies for their shelves. Sometimes, rarely, the Ingram book will be sold if the KDP presses are too busy on ordering day.
It helps a little to remember that these books have a limited life and utility that’s a lot shorter than we expect. So long as the book doesn’t come apart as you read it, that’s acceptable. Honestly, I bought a book in January from a couple of creativity coaches which came unglued from chapter to chapter. They gave me a replacement copy gratis. There are also reports of smudged ink, as well as trims so bad that the pages are crooked.
I’ve purchased printing since 1993. Printers have good days and bad days. You’ll never experience unglued pages while reading an e-book, and it will handle great with no smudges. That’s total control of the manufacturing process, defined. Plus, nobody can resell your e-book and cut you out of the loop. I love reading both ebook and paperbacks, but the ebook always arrives fastest and most legible.
The Draft2Digital service that distributes your ebooks is worth the one-time work and its 10 percent hit on the royalties. Maybe you enjoy setting up accounts at Kobo for overseas and library sales, Apple Books (a bag of hurt unless you’re a great rule-follower) and Barnes & Noble (seen any Nook readers in the wild lately? Me either.)
Just remember that the book you write feels like your life, but it’s just a book to readers. They might come away with some deeper knowledge while enjoying it. We release the outcome, eh? Plus, we try not to get upset when we see our precious paperbacks being resold as used on Amazon, where we’re no longer in the revenue experience, so to speak.
But we love publishing, don’t we? Or is it the creating of the story? I get confused late at night.
