We know you need some idea what a complete book project is going to cost before you decide to proceed. Call Jim Weems at 800 368-6196. In one phone call, you will be given enough cost information to establish your budget.

In the mean time, here's some basic usefull information on book production.

STEP ONE:
Establish a budget.

What's it going to cost? Self publishing isn't cheap. What you're actually doing is manufacturing a very special and customized product which you intend to sell for a substantial profit. Like any manufacturing project it costs money.

There are two major production costs. The first is what we at Ad Graphics produce, the full color cover design and camera ready masters of the text pages. The other major cost is the actual printing of the book.

We try to put a flat rate fee on the covers we produce because we know you have to know the cost ahead of time. There are things that can increase the cost, such as redesign, additional proofs, etc. These are explained in detail as we begin the creative process.

We charge a flat per page fee for producing the inside masters. The page count starts from the first printed page to the last printed page. We also must charge for editing the text after we've produced the masters. Make sure the text you send us is PERFECTLY edited and you'll save lots of money.

Printing a book is a very specialized skill. Several years ago we chose a printer who was willing to learn and adapt to the uniqueness of the professional speaker industry. While we handle all the technical details, we also put you in direct contact with our printer so you can get direct and often instant answers for the many questions you may have.

STEP TWO:
Producing the text for your book.

I hope you're typing your text on a computer. If not, get one! The money you'll save in typesetting alone will pay for one. We've established a process for producing the camera ready masters at a very low per page cost. A big part of our process begins at your computer.

Use a word processing program to produce your text such as Microsoft Word. What you'll eventually send by email is the file that has your PERFECTLY edited text. Text that has been spell checked, grammar checked, in other words, ready to go to press. You will also need to send us a full PRINTOUT of the book. We use this printout to be sure nothing was lost or altered on the file you emailed us.

There are a lot of different word processing programs out there. So far, we've been able to work with everything that's been sent to us. We sometimes encounter problems that are simply solved by you saving the text file in a special way. Call us for help.

STEP THREE:
The cover design.

While you're doing the final editing on the text, we can be working on the cover design. We specialize in full color covers. We design the front, spine, and back cover. We also create the barcode from the ISBN number that you provide.

What we provide as a final product will be the press ready digital files that are required to print the cover.

STEP FOUR:
Producing the inside masters.

Producing master pages of a book is truly a refined science. Once we have your PERFECTLY edited files, the process of flowing the text begins. During the process, we'll produce a few sample pages. We will email a PDF sample for approval. Once approved, we'll finish the book. Did you notice the emphasis on PERFECTLY edited? One of the factors that will affect the final cost of your book is editing AFTER we've produced the masters. (Editing should be done before the text is sent to us.)

STEP FIVE:
The printing process.

Our job is generally complete once we send all the master files to press.

During the printing process the printer will produce a prepress digital copy of the book. This is your last chance for finding any horrible errors that must be changed. In reality, the main purpose of this proof is to be sure that all is well and ready to go to press. Check every page for spots, smudges, etc. The printer wants you to be happy with your print job so be sure to check everything closely.

STEP SIX:
Savor the experience.

There's nothing like the proud feeling you have when you hold your first printed book in your hand. The excitement starts building when you receive the first proofs of the cover. It keeps on building as you see the first PDFs of the inside page samples. The day you actually send the finals to the printer will be the start of the longest couple of weeks you'll ever have. The anticipation will almost be unbearable. . . You are now part of a select group of professionals. You are a published author. Now reap the rewards.