Your Process: Roadmap
Self-Publishing: Your Process
Let’s walk through the book manufacturing process a step at a time; from the quote to delivery to the door. This is your roadmap for the steps to make your book a reality.
Get a Quote.
Asia book printing.
Your process starts with a getting a quote for printing books on sheet fed, offset presses. We print books in Asia for self-publishers and authors in the USA and worldwide as well. Self-publishers get the highest quality books, with options that are sometimes hard to find elsewhere, books printing on press (not on-demand,) and at a low unit cost.
Signatures on sheet-fed offset presses.
Star Print Brokers prints in signatures only, and not a page or two at a time as with print on-demand output. Signatures have a numbers of pages that print on the front and back. Each signature folds into a booklet called a signature. The signatures then bind together to form the book block. Most of the time, the signatures are Smyth sewn together. Even with all this, we still try to keep the cost reasonable for books.
USA book printing.
We seldom print books in the USA anymore. The cost is higher than in Asia, therefore printing with our select printers in Asia (never China) can save authors and self-publishers up to 70 percent over USA book printing. Also, USA book delivery is only a little faster than shipping from Asia. If you think you can get book printing in a few days, your are not. They would be digitally output with smeary toner from an output device. Never print a large quantity of books on-demand without getting a comparative quote from Star Print Brokers as part of your process, to print on press.
Professional book design.
Book design by Star Print Brokers designers who have extensive experience in professional book design, typography, and color reproduction. This is a major factor in high-quality books. Nancy Starkman wrote the book, Book Design: Simple & Professional. She can design your book too. Book design since 1999.
Also see Adobe InDesign if you want to do it yourself.
Design, contract & payment.
A book cover and interior can be a design by an author, their graphic artist, or SPB (at an additional cost.)
We work with you, your designer, or hire us for book design. Our goal is to help you to achieve your vision. If you are new to book design, check our Tutorials blog category. Please become especially familiar with our Essential Prepress Guide, as various book printers or POD (Print On-Demand) services have different requirements.
Send the quote + PDFs + payment
Please return the book printing quote with your signature, one-third payment, and print-ready files or PDFs. Once you sign and return the quote, it becomes a contract.
The first one-third payment is due.
Proofs.
We send physical proofs.
You will then receive a set of full-color, digitally output proofs, (toner on paper from an output device). Press proofs (ink on paper printing on a sheet-fed offset press) are available at an additional cost. Usually, digital proofs are acceptable, even for the finest quality process color book printing.
Review the proof set.
The proof is mostly for pagination. We can make corrections, but editing should take place before this proof set is output.
Sign-off on the proof set.
Sign and return the Book Approval Form (click button below) to Star Print Brokers at this time, as part of your process.
The second one-third payment is now due.
Manufacturing.
Book Printing.
Book printing is on commercial offset printing presses, in signatures. We never print on web press, that is, rolls of paper. We print only on sheet-fed offset presses. Special attention is paid to color reproduction, for high-quality “pleasing” color. This is offset book printing at its finest!
Book binding.
The books are then come the binding. Depending on the book’s specifications and the press set-up, soft cover books may bind in-line, on press. Additional or custom options are applying in the bindery, if they are not part of the book manufacturing process when printing on press. This is part of the book manufacturing process
Approve 5 advance copies.
The advance copies are taken from the complete run of all books. The books print first, then bind, and are in put into cartons. The staff will then place the cartons on a pallet with labels and shrink wrapping. The books are now just waiting for your approval. When you approve the 5 advance copies that we send to you, we then release the pallet(s) to ship to you.
The final one-third payment is now due.
Shipping & Delivery.
Ocean shipping.
Shipping takes about two weeks to reach a West Coast port, or four weeks to reach an East Coast port.
We clear customs for you.
SPB handles clearing customs for you at port. The quote is most often DDP which is “delivery duty paid”, with delivery to the door, so no other costs with DDP delivery.
A truck arrives at your door.
The books arrive by truck, delivering to the location you specify. They are in cartons custom made for your particular books. The cartons are on pallet(s). Again, the delivery is to the door. If you wish inside delivery, please discuss if with the delivery company when they call to make an appointment for delivery, and it is an extra cost.
Add your testimonial.
In conclusion, we truly hope that you love your books, our customer service, and the process in its entirety. Please take a moment to send your thoughts, a paragraph or so about your experience, and an image of your book to use with a testimonial.
Start your process today!
More questions about the book manufacturing process? Check out our blog, especially the tutorials category.
