The first step is to talk about your book. Do you want to make a coffee table book with your photographs, a collection of stories you tell your kids, a memoir, an anthology of your articles, a bound version of your thesis, a collection of letters for a wedding or funeral, an Ebook of something only available in print? I will be releasing examples of those over the next few months.

The second step is to gather your material. If you have a pile of notebooks in a milk crate, newspaper clippings in a cardboard box, sketchbooks filled with poems and drawings, 3.5” floppy disks, dead hard drives, pdf’s, Word docs, and/or audio/video files, I can turn them into a book.

Book sizes range from 4.25” x 6.87” to 11.68” x 8.27” and can be printed in perfect-bound paperback, CaseWrap hardcover, or spiral bound.

Prices range from $6.46 per book for one 4.25” x 6.87”, 100-page, perfect-bound, black and white paperback on 60# uncoated white or cream stock with a matte or glossy cover finish to $46.62 for one 11.68” x 8.27”, premium color, CaseWrap hardcover, on 80# coated white stock with a matte or glossy cover finish. These are the printer’s prices, and I do not mark up their costs. They offer volume discounts starting at 25 books. If you don’t need any help formatting your book to their templates, feel free to use them and sell your book on their site. You keep all the profits that way. If you want a book from a different printer, we can figure that out.

After an initial free consultation, I charge $40 an hour. Tasks are clearly explained and executed. As soon as you sign off, we will move forward to the next steps. Once your book is designed, printing prices depend on the type of book.

Book sizes range from 4.25” x 6.87” to 11.68” x 8.27” and can be printed in perfect-bound paperback, CaseWrap hardcover, or spiral-bound.

Prices range from $6.46 per book for one 4.25” x 6.87”, 100-page, perfect-bound, black and white paperback on 60# uncoated white or cream stock with a matte or glossy cover finish to $46.62 for one 11.68” x 8.27”, premium color, CaseWrap hardcover, on 80# coated white stock with a matte or glossy cover finish. These are the printer’s prices, and I do not mark up their costs. They offer volume discounts starting at 25 books. If you don’t need any help formatting your book to their templates, feel free to use them and sell your book on their site. You keep all the profits that way. If you want a book from a different printer, we can figure that out.

I can do it myself or walk you through the process of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) scanning documents into text.

I can assess the quality of the images you want to reproduce and chart out a way to print them to their full potential. Images like thumbnails, screenshots, and faded photos are often unusable. I use Photoshop, Illustrator, and, when needed, my network of graphics experts who can perform miracles.

The copyright process is usually simple, but gets complicated when interviews and previously published work is used. I will walk you through the process or take care of it myself. I have templates for non-exclusive licensing agreements and consent forms. If you are not going to sell your book, you don’t need to bother with copyrights or ISBNs (International Standard Book Number). I buy ISBNs in bulk, and they are cheaper than when you buy them on your own. The same goes for barcodes. You will need a different ISBN and barcode for each version of your book (hardcover, paperback, foreign language editions).

Yes. I work with a global network of professional translators who can turn your copy around quickly and accurately. International copyrights and marketing in foreign countries are trickier than US copyrights and require more effort, but nothing is impossible.

Yes, in fact, I always print one copy and review it for typos, graphical integrity, print quality, and other potentially embarrassing mistakes.

Yes, but my garage is not suited to store hundreds of copies of your books and artwork. I can also not guarantee they will be shipped immediately. For print-on-demand, I can help you set up a page on thebookpatch.com’s bookstore.

Yes. I am currently publishing an anthology of my articles from newspapers and magazines. That process serves as a template for journalists who want a bound or digitized collection of their work. Because my articles were “works for hire,” I can not reprint them without permission from the publisher. I created non-exclusive licensing templates seeking permission to reprint my articles and await responses. Most publishers are happy for their writers to include material from their publications, and you won’t be required to pay anything.

            Obtaining consent is usually made easier when books support a cause that is dear to the author and publisher. $5 from every copy of my “work-for-hire” anthology, Botanical Apartheid: How Drug Wars Affect Culture, Politics and the Environment, will be donated to the Abolitionist Law Center, a 501(c)3 that sues malicious actors who profit from the prison industrial complex. Some publishers will even match donations generated from the sale of your books. $1 from every copy of my mom’s book, An Ordinary Life: Its Bits and Pieces, is donated to Concord Prison Outreach, where she taught sustainable gardening techniques to incarcerated men, and Waltham Fields Community Farms, a non-profit community garden and social support network. Educational discounts and sponsorship of fundraising events also motivate publishers to grant you the rights to reprint their material.

Once we have your formatted book, I like to print one copy and make sure it reflects the quality we are striving for. I use thebookpatch.com because they have no minimum orders, their prices are reasonable, the quality is good, they print in the USA, and are Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) certified. They have excellent customer service and technical support. We can revise, edit, and reformat until you are proud of your book, but editing and reformatting will be charged at $40 per hour. Do your best to send a perfect document, but I know that the best ideas often happen right after hitting “send.” The first revision is free.

I am happy to sell your print or ebook on my website, but I only promote books that support philanthropic organizations, charities and causes that I care about. In order to be listed on my site, a minimum of $1 per book sold must be donated to the charity of your choice. I take care of the donations and match them. A tally of the money raised for your cause will be updated each quarter when I send your royalties. Please take a look at the We Support page to learn more.

I will keep your book, author page, and events updated on my site and send you 50 percent of eBook sales and 50 percent of profits from print book sales.