Publish your book using Print on Demand (POD) for free

Whilst many self-published writers choose to publish their book as an ebook on Amazon’s Kindle store,  Smashwords or Apple’s iBookstore  there is still nothing quite like holding a copy of your printed book in your hands.

Publishing to print also gives you considerable freedom over how your books are formatted. You have control of font type and size, tables and images as well as other formatting features that do not work with ebooks.

Publishing printed copies of your book provides additional sales opportunities including:

• Selling your book at your training or public speaking events.
• Raising your profile, and increasing sales, by donating your book to a prize draw or other charity raising event.
• Making your book available to buy in high street stores, your local shop or tourist gift shops.
• Giving away copies at events or delivered with magazines; use the opportunity to promote your other books.

There are some excellent POD services that enable you to publish your work as a printed book for free. Many offer a range of options including book size, paper colour and binding options. Most also offer distribution through their own retail sites and, through extended distribution, large book retailers.

The process is simple:

• Format your book to the correct page size.
• Create a front and back cover (there are free online cover creators available with some POD companies).
• Upload your documents.
• Preview. Order and check a proof copy.
• Make changes if necessary.
• Publish.

Two popular POD services are Amazon’s CreateSpace and Lulu. Have at look at both of these sites, compare the services offered, decide on the best approach for you, and print that book.

For further information on self-publishing have a look at Publish it! - How to self-publishyour book for free using Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), CreateSpace andSmashwords.

Happy writing.