The ink is finally dry on your last chapter. Now it’s time for the easy part: publishing your first novel. At Publishing Xpress, our goal is to make novel printing, fiction printing, and paperback book printing as uncomplicated as possible—while giving you an array of custom printing options at low prices with minimal order quantities. Our online calculators can give you an instant quote on your printing project:

Printing Quote

You may be asking yourself, “Should I self-publish my novel?” Absolutely. We understand the time investment you’ve made to create your work. We are a respected online printer—a company with experience dedicated to professional quality. Our client service representatives are here to help walk you through the novel printing and paperback book self-publishing process.

While self-publishing your novel can seem like a scary venture, take comfort in the fact that many famous authors have self-published their novels. For instance, check out this list of 10 best selling self-published authors.

Novel Printing Services

Below are just a few of your novel printing and paperback book printing choices to ensure that your novel is printed just the way you envision. (Don’t worry, we offer step-by-step instructions on placing your order!)

  • Color (or black and white)
  • Finished size — standard sizes are 5½ x 8½, 6 x 9, 8½ x 11, and 9 x 12, but we can print any size up to 9 x 12.
  • Lamination of covers, with gloss, soft touch, leather, and linen lamination available
  • Many different paper stocks for the cover and inside pages
  • Four different binding styles

Tips for Your Paperback Book and Novel Printing

While we offer four different binding styles (perfect bound, plastic coil, saddle stitch, and wire-o), most novels and paperback books use perfect binding, so that’s what we’ll discuss here. As you prepare for novel printing, keep these points in mind:

Edit Your Book

Don’t start novel printing until you’ve had it edited. You’ve probably spent weeks, months, or even years writing your book, so you’re really close to the contents. That closeness makes it difficult to see typographical or grammatical errors. Rather than reading it a second or third or fourth time yourself, it’s better to have fresh eyes edit your book.

If you have the budget, it’s best to hire a professional editor for the job. But there’s also value in having friends or relatives review the book. Just make sure you’re comfortable receiving criticism or critiques from those friends and relatives. You don’t want to ruin personal relationships because you didn’t like someone’s comments on your book.

Make Sure the Novel Printing Layout Looks Professional

If you want your book to be taken seriously, it needs to look professional. Before laying out the book for printing, get some novels whose designs you like. Flip through them, noting what you like about each one. How is each chapter handled? What fonts are used? How large are the fonts? Are paragraphs indented or left justified?

How large are margins at the top, bottom, outside edge, and bound edge of the pages? How are page numbers handled? Something as simple as having odd page numbers on the right hand pages and even page numbers on the left hand pages will show if you are a professional author. In this age of self publishing, we’ve seen and read lots of books where the layout does not look professional. This actually makes the book more difficult to read.

Get a Professional Cover Design

You also need a professional cover design. We’ve all heard the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” but everyone judges a book by its cover! If you’re not happy with the designs you’re coming up with yourself, consider letting Publishing Xpress design your over.

For only $100, our designers will get basic information and graphic preferences from you. They will then design a professional cover and send it to you for review.  You get two free rounds of changes with your $100 fee. If you need need changes after two round, additional rounds of changes are only $25. It’s an inexpensive way to get a professionally designed cover.

Select Your Paper Options

Decide on paper choices for the inside pages and the cover of your book. We offer 80# and 100# cover stock for the covers. For the inside pages, our papers range from 60# uncoated text to 100# gloss or matte text. We recommend that you request our free sample packet. You’ll get a sample of our four binding styles. Plus, the plastic coil book has samples of all of our papers in it. Most people find it very helpful when making choices for their book.

Consider Lamination for Your Novel Printing

We highly recommend having the cover of your book laminated. Our gloss lamination will really make the colors on the cover pop, while the soft-touch lamination has a very velvety feel. The plastic coil book in our free sample packet has a sample of gloss and soft-touch lamination.

Order a Hard Copy Press Proof for Your Novel Printing

Nervous about how your finished book will look? If you have time, order a hard copy press proof. We’ll print and bind the book based on the specifications for your order, so you’ll see exactly how the final books will look. You’re also likely to notice things in the hard copy press proof that you didn’t notice in the digital file.

Better to find the issues on the hard copy press proof so you can make the corrections before the books go to print. The cost is reasonable too — we charge $60 for a proof that ships via UPS ground service and $100 for a proof that ships via UPS overnight service.

Ask Questions!

When you place your order, you’ll be assigned to your own client service rep. Don’t be bashful about asking for their opinion about your book. Ask them if they notice anything that they think should be changed. Ask what they think about your paper selections. Ask them if the quality of any graphics is good enough.

Get a Quote Today on Fiction Book Printing!

Online novel printing is simple with Publishing Xpress. Contact us now — we’d be happy to provide a custom quote for your multi-page novel, paperback book, or short story. Or take a minute to review our other book printing ideas. Feel free to call us at 1-877-977-3779, email us at help@publishingxpress.com, or chat with us online (our chat screen is in the lower right hand corner of your screen).

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