First-time authors often travel the print-on-demand route when deciding how to get their book out into the world. It’s fast. It’s safe. It’s cheap. Sounds like a pretty good deal, right?

Wrong.

Print-on-demand services seem great on the surface. Companies like Ingram Spark allow authors to print books as customers order them. This can seem like the safest option for many authors because no bulk orders are necessary. However, this route smashes an author’s chances of making any profit off of their books.

When I made it to the printing stage of publishing Would You Like a Hug? I was tempted to go with a print-on-demand company. I had no idea if my book would sell many copies, so print-on-demand seemed like the safest option at the time. However, print-on-demand is not worth the sense of security that it provides. Companies like Ingram Spark often charge authors $10-15 per book, which means that authors only make a couple dollars of profit on each book sold. That’s not even enough to cover the costs that go into publishing a book.

So, I took a leap. I had faith in myself and my business, and I took a risk. I found a great printing company overseas, and I paid $4,000 to print 1,000 hardcover copies of my book, which is about four dollars per book. I now have an apartment full of book boxes and some anxiety that I might not sell all of them, but it’s worth it. Ordering a bulk amount allows me to sell my books at a reasonable price and still make enough of a profit to earn back the money that I put into publishing the book.

If you’re considering a print-on-demand company to print your books without risk, please reconsider. Ordering a thousand books at one time might feel daunting, but all of those boxes piled up in your house will be your motivation to keep going.

Now go print! You’ve got this.