Getting a book published has become increasingly difficult in the last decade as major publishing houses have merged and cut back on acquisitions. While it's still possible to get an outside publisher for your book, many authors choose to self-publish their work. There is a lot of confusion over the best and cheapest way to get your first book published. Authors often spend a lot of money on an offset print run with shipping and warehousing, or they go to a Print-on-Demand vanity publisher, not knowing a better way. There are other options.
Print-On-Demand
Print-on-Demand, or POD, is usually presented to authors as an option through a POD vanity press. These companies offer publishing packages for your book and seem like a good deal at first, but their prices are often inflated over what the author could get if they priced services individually with independent contractors for editing, cover design and layout. (You will save a lot of money if you learn properly format your book yourself.) In addition to this, the cost per book forces the author to inflate her book price. For example, with a paperback novel, the retail price in a bookstore is $14. With a POD vanity press, an author usually has to price her book at $21.95 in order to turn a profit.
CreateSpace
CreateSpace is a much cheaper POD alternative. You can list your book with them for free and earn commission on sales, or you can order books up front to sell yourself. The per-book rate is much less than with a POD vanity press. You'll also be able to distribute your book easily and automatically through Amazon.com. With CreateSpace, you are in charge of getting your editing, cover design and interior layout elsewhere, whether you do it yourself or hire an outside vendor. CreateSpace provides templates for this purpose.
Lightning Source
Lightning Source (LSI) is another low cost option for printing your books using POD. Lightning Source works with publishers only, but don't let that deter you. Buying your own ISBN numbers through Bowker and setting up your business according to the laws of your area will enable you to work with LSI. With this option, you'll also be responsible for taking care of cover design, editing and layout. LSI provides their publishers with templates with which to work. LSI costs $117 per book in set-up fees and a proof copy. Their cost per book, like CreateSpace, is low enough that you can price your book competitively. LSI also offers many distribution options in the US, UK and Canada, making it an attractive option.
ebooks
Another cheap publishing option is ebook. You can publish your book on Smashwords.com, Scribd.com and the Amazon Kindle. You'll need to follow the guidelines and formatting instructions that each site gives, but publishing through any of these options is free. You can also publish your ebook as an encrypted PDF and sell it from your own website using a site like e-junkie.com for your shopping cart interface.
