You know I love sharing information with you, right? Seriously: writing for all of you is one of the highlights of my day. I especially like passing on helpful info for my fellow writers and creatives.

Most of you know this by now, but for those who are unfamiliar with this site, I’m a self-published author. I have self-published 48 of my books and 4 books for my mother, June Parris. I used Xlibris’s services in the beginning, then I looked into another publisher who ended up going out of business (whomp whomp…). I finally came across Create Space (currently known as KDP) from Amazon, and I haven’t looked back. However, I like having options. Without options, life can be pretty boring, don’t you agree? So, I decided to look into 48 Hour Books, just to see what they have to offer.

If you’ve ever picked up a copy of Writer’s Digest Magazine, you’ve probably seen an ad or two for 48 Hour Books towards the back of the issue. I’ve seen them multiple times, and I finally decided to send away for a free book which offers samples of their printing services. Below is a picture of the book that arrived in the mail.

The book above is literally filled with samples of the types of covers and paper you can choose from, which includes raised gold-foil print, like the words “48 Hour Book” on the cover above. The chapters inside begin with sample of the covers they offer. Towards the back are the printed picture samples, which include color, black & white, sepia, etc. There are different page styles and fonts to choose from as well.

Now you’re probably wondering about the big question: how much does all of this cost? I went through the checklist to get a quote on a pretty basic book printing, just to get an idea of what I would be up against. Printing 20 copies of a book with perfect binding, with 200 pages and a size of 5.5inches by 8.5 inches, without a color interior, would cost roughly $10.65 USD per book. With the standard 2 day shipping (hence the name 48 Hour Books), I would be looking at an estimate of $213 USD. I added a screen shot of my estimate below.

This quote was for BOOK PRINTING. SELF PUBLISHING is a different service. 48 Hour Books offers a self-publishing service, which includes book editing, cover design, ebook conversion and ISBN’s and barcodes. As far as the prices for ISBN numbers, there is a range of prices. A single ISBN and barcode is $125. A set of 10 knocks the price down to $45, or $450 for all 10, and so on.

As always, before you use a service, I recommend doing your homework. Some of you may want to use this service and some of you may want to stick with whichever service you’re currently using. It’s entirely up to you. But it’s good to have options. If you’d like to check out the website for 48 Hour Books, you can find it here.

Keep writing, everyone.