Has anyone here ever self-published a hardback? Where did you get it printed? Does anyone have any links for resources for publishing hardbacks?

I love Createspace's service for paperbacks, but I have an excessively long novel in the works that might be too cumbersome for paperback. I've considered doing hardcover, even if it's just a special edition, but I'm not sure where I can get that printed. Lulu.com has a full service of options, but the price is excruciating.

I haven't published (hardback or not ), but I thought I'd put in my two cents.

I think that if a book is rather long, it should probably be in hardback. I have the complete Narnia collection in one paperback book. It's very good for showing one's love of reading and/or hiding one's face behind while reading, but it is heavy and shows wear easily. I like it, but it is cumbersome to read easily.

I like hardbacks, but I tend to be more careful with them. Which is good most of the time.

I haven't looked into this too much, yet. The only place I know right off besides Lulu is Lightning Source. But they intimidate me. And I think set up a kind of expensive, plus you probably need to have purchased your own ISBN number, and those are expensive. If I discover anything else, I'll post here. I'd like to do hardcover sometime.

By the way, what trim size do you plan to use for you book? The second book in my trilogy is quite long too. I used 5.5" x 8.5" trim size for my pirate books, but for my trilogy I went with 6"x9". That cut down on the page count a bit. I still think I'm going to end up with 500-600 pages in this second book though...

Good thoughts, Ellyness!

I haven't checked out Lightning Source at all yet, so I shall have to investigate. Thanks, Molly!

At current, I use 6x9" for all of my books, actually. When is your second book coming out? I shall be interested to know what you think of a paperback that size from CreateSpace, since that's the service we both use. If the paperback is of durable quality then hardback won't be a necessity for me... I'm just a bit worried about the spine on a paperback book that long. But I could be overthinking it.

Thanks so much for the input!

The book should be ready within the next couple months. Actually, one of my pirate books in 466 pages and that one seems just fine as far as durability. With this new one, I'll see what difference a 100 or so more pages makes and post my findings here. I don't know if you have any of Bryan Davis' books, but they are massive. And they are paperback. If CreateSpace books hold up like that, I would think paperback would be fine. I guess we'll see.

*patiently awaits the result* My book won't be done before then, so I have time... Thanks again for sharing the information!

Well, here's the verdict. After all the editing and formatting, my newest book is 502 pages, which makes the spine about 1.25" wide. The binding seems pretty strong. I'm happy with how it feels. I have handled it quite a bit going through it page by page looking for formatting problems, etc., and I have noticed it is starting to show a little bit of a crease in the middle of the spine. It's not horrible, but I suppose with a lot more handling it could get worse. It doesn't feel like it's going to break or anything, but it's not exactly eye pleasing.

I have spent quite a bit of time looking through different printers who offer hardback books, but, unfortunately, I didn't find a single one that had hardbacks available for under $30 a book, and most places you had to order at least 50 copies or more.

So, I'm not sure we have many options beyond what we're already doing unless someone comes up with a good place for hardbacks.

Thanks so much for reporting back, Molly! Yes, I think the crease is pretty normal for long paperbacks.

I looked into Lulu a bit, who does hardback, and the prices seemed similar to what you mentioned. Granted, the mainstream world has MSRP's of $20-30 on their hardbacks, but it's still not very convenient for self-publishers.

That being said, some of my readers were quite delighted with the prospect of a hardback "collector's edition" of my trilogy (all three books packaged as one), even if it would be $30, so it's still a potential.

Well, it's print on demand, so you don't have to have inventory. Which means, if people are interested, I'd say go for it.

I definitely think that's an idea. Go ahead and publish in paperbacks, but offer a hard copy edition as well for those who are willing to pay more. If you offer it only in hardcover then you'd have a problem with price, but if you offer a choice then everyone can be happy.

Ja, that's my thought, Katie. It's not worth the extra set-up and design cost to do hardbacks for the individual installments, but I think the hardback would be worth it. Partially because I want a hardback copy for my own personal keepsake. I definitely agree about giving people choices!

I agree, especially since we have a family library. If we really like a book, we will go searching for it in hardback because hardbacks last and undergo multiple readers so much better.

Some people will want hardback, so I'd say offer both.