Book publishing FAQ

One of the first things we get asked by writers is, how do I copyright my work? Thanks to the Copyright Act of 1976, your work is automatically copyrighted once it is “fixed in a tangible medium.” A fixed tangible medium includes a printed manuscript, a document saved to your computer, a published book, or a website. (Note that a story told verbally is not copyrighted unless it is transcribed or recorded.) The 1976 act actually went into effect on January 1, 1978, so works created prior to 1978 operate under different copyright protection rules. Do you need to register your work with the Copyright Office? No, but registration increases your rights in several ways. For instance, registration is required before a copyright infringement suit can be filed by the creator of a work, and registration increases the possibility for enhanced statutory damages. If you want to go further to protect your copyright, register your work with the United States Copyright Office. There is a small fee. Learn more about copyrighting your writing in our blog post.

When you publish with Infusionmedia, you retain all rights to your work.

How does it help you as an author?

Your “rights” refer to the copyright to your creative work—your writing or perhaps your artwork. You can keep your rights or sell, assign, or license any of the rights by contract. When you retain your rights in a book publishing contract, that means you have the ability to do the following:

  • The right to make copies of your work,
  • The right to sell or otherwise distribute copies of your work to the public,
  • The right to create adaptations or new works based on your copyrighted work (derivative works), and
  • The right to perform your work (such as for stage plays) or to display your work in public (such as art or photography books).

Having the rights to your work is powerful and financially to your advantage. That’s why we don’t take them away from you.

This depends on the amount of work needed. Most book projects take between two and six months to complete, including printing. Longer or more complicated books take more time; shorter or less complicated books take less time.

We estimate that printing requires 30 to 40 business days to deliver from the time the completed book files go to press. Sometimes the printing process goes more quickly, particularly for print-on-demand books, which may only take two to three weeks to deliver.

Yes, we have done publishing work for companies, nonprofits, marketing agencies, indie publishers, and major publishers. We have the flexibility to offer a complete publishing experience or one or more of its parts, such as editing, typesetting, design, printing, or ebook development. This allows us to work on books for other companies and publishers, which we do regularly, as well as our own books.

Offset Printing

Offset printing is generally less expensive per book than POD. It requires a larger print run to make it economically feasible to print offset—we recommend a minimum of 1,000 books—which means a higher upfront investment. (Most printers have a minimum print run on offset, often 500 copies.) The more books you print, however, the less it costs per book. The printing quality is better than POD because of the higher resolution of the ink printing, though most people are unable to tell the difference, especially on text and line art. You can also customize your book, though it comes with higher cost. You will need to be able to store your books in a climate-controlled, pest-free area.

Print-on-Demand Printing

The big advantage of POD is that you can print a small number of books at one time—as few as one copy (though we don’t recommend it because the shipping cost will likely be higher than the printing cost). You don’t need to worry about storing books since you can print as many, or as few, as you need at a time. POD books are printed on high-end toner printers, and because they offer the convenience of very low print runs, they tend to cost more per book than offset. For good-looking color images, it costs even more. But you don’t have to print a large number of books to begin with (and store them), so your initial investment is often lower than offset. Another advantage is that, unlike offset, you can make additions and changes to your book at any time (sometimes a small fee is involved) and print a new version.

Yes, we can help you set up your print book or ebook on Amazon.

Yes, your book can be listed in Ingram's digital catalog for an annual fee. We have a publishers account with Ingram, meaning your book can be ordered by over 40,000 online retailers, bookstores, and libraries in the Ingram network, including Amazon. (Amazon is key because the majority of new-book sales in the US originate on Amazon.) While Ingram is a great national distributor, we recommend contacting local independent bookstores directly.

Note: Your book does not have to be listed with Ingram to be on Amazon.

Yes, they have!

We have invested in professional book fonts from companies like Grilli Type, Commercial Type, FutureFonts, TEFF, and KLIM.

All kinds of stuff!

  • Entertainment
  • Selling at speaking engagements (back-of-the-room sales)
  • Teaching and educating others
  • Sharing family biographies and histories
  • Sharing your knowledge on a subject
  • Client and employee education
  • Lead generators/lead magnets
  • Unique gifts
  • Promotion and fundraising

Absolutely! A book is a product that you can sell, and we help you produce the best possible product. You need to have a marketing plan to give your book its best chance for success, and we can guide you on developing that plan.

Of course! You will find most libraries are welcoming to your books, especially when there is a connection between your book and the region or the library's focus. You may need to adjust your cover price to accommodate the library's budget.

Yes. (If you're just starting out and aren't sure what else you need to do as a publisher, we can help.)

Yes, usually 35–45 percent of the cover price. This can sometimes be negotiated.

Yes. The end user or final buyer of a book is charged sales tax unless they are somehow exempt from tax. In most cases, you will need to get a sales tax or business permit. For example, in Nebraska, the Department of Revenue will issue a sales tax permit, and for us to not then charge you sales tax on the production of the book, we need what is called a Form 13 that includes your sales tax number. This can become complicated, and we will talk you through sales tax and when it needs to be applied.

Yes, but at a certain point you should think about dividing up your book. One really large book is expensive to produce, and the price point and size can also be a negative for sales.

We can do pretty much anything.