Goblin Tales, Print Edition

A handful of people asked whether they would be able to get a print edition of Goblin Tales [Amazon | B&N]. Had I known at the time how long it would take to get the manuscript properly typeset, to create a full-wrap cover, to get my test proof copy in the mail, to go back and completely redo the typesetting–

Fortunately, I didn’t know! And I’m happy to announce that over the weekend, the USPS delivered the following to my door:

It’s roughly mass market sized (about 2-3 millimeters larger), 132 pages, and is priced at $7.99 through Lulu.

Interesting note: with most commercial publishers, the actual printing/paper doesn’t make up a significant portion of a book’s cost, due in part to the large print runs. But that’s not the case with a print-on-demand service. Despite the higher cover price, I end up making significantly less on the print edition: about $.50 vs. $2 for the e-book.

On the other hand, I admit to being a bit old-school, and I like having a book I can add to my ego shelf

I also just really like the look of the typeset page.

I’m working on enabling the download feature at Lulu, which would let people purchase a PDF file. That should eventually be available for $2.99, but I don’t know when Lulu will update the product page with the download info.

Lulu also has the PDF file for sale, which can be downloaded for $2.99.

I’m still waiting for Kobo to add the e-book to their site, and I’m continuing to talk to Wizard’s Tower about distribution. But for those who wanted a printed version of the book, it’s all yours. There’s even a coupon code: enter SPRINGREAD at checkout and you should get 20% off if you order by March 31.

My thanks to typesetting guru barbarienne, and everyone else who helped out with suggestions and feedback.

If anyone has questions about the process, I’m happy to share.

Alex

March 29th, 2011 at 10:55 am

Thanks, Jim! That’s great to know I can now go and buy a paperback version while I wait for Kobo to list you. I’ll probably still buy the ebook version as well so I can have it on my iPad!

How have you found working over at Lulu, as I stopped using them due to it being slow, cumbersome, unintuitive, annoying, and then, never quite what I hoped for.

Jim C. Hines

March 29th, 2011 at 3:12 pm

Hm … for the most part, I’ve been satisfied with Lulu. The second proof copy took a while to ship, which was annoying, but it got to me eventually. And I can’t expect PoD to ship as quick as a book from Amazon.

My one frustration was that the font didn’t quite render properly in my initial file, and I still don’t know why. I fell back on Times New Roman for the interior, and everything came out beautifully. Guess I’ll just stick with TNR for future books. A little boring, but definitely readable.

It’s definitely not an easy process, but I’m pretty comfortable making Word and Acrobat do what I want them to do, which helped.
- Alex
  
  March 30th, 2011 at 5:10 pm
  
  My thanks for the feedback on Lulu, Jim, I appreciate it. I went back and checked my files and it was 2 years ago I dealt with them last, so maybe they’ve made a few more improvement since then, as I have now had feed back from a couple of others too saying they’ve gotten better. I might take another look at them.

Kerry (aka Trouble)

March 29th, 2011 at 11:20 am

Order placed - Thank You! Well, _I_ thank you, even if my poor TBR pile doesn’t

Jim C. Hines

March 29th, 2011 at 3:09 pm

Your TBR pile can just deal with it!

And thank you
- Kerry (aka Trouble)
  
  March 30th, 2011 at 8:37 pm
  
  Email tonight says it was shipped - already !
- Kerry (aka Trouble)
  
  April 2nd, 2011 at 5:29 pm
  
  And, it arrived today. Put it on TOP of the TBR pile. *crash*
  - Jim C. Hines
    
    April 3rd, 2011 at 2:11 pm
    
    Yay! Enjoy!

Anita K.

March 29th, 2011 at 4:16 pm

Pretty! I was hoping for this. I am off to recommend that my library purchase it now. And also another copy of “Goblin Quest” which someone seems to have abscounded with.

Jim C. Hines

March 29th, 2011 at 4:18 pm

Huh. I don’t know how libraries evaluate and purchase self-published books, or whether they’d be able to order from Lulu. Though it would be quite nifty to have the book end up in a library!
- Anita K.
  
  March 29th, 2011 at 4:27 pm
  
  I will let you know. I’m fairly certain they’ve ordered other “self published” books upon patron request (possibly mine) and they are pretty responsive to requests for specific titles.
  
  They might at least get the e-book and I’ll let you know if I notice that as well.