Digital self-publishing with whitefox

Digital self-publishing with whitefox

✓ Complete creative control
✓ 100% rights retained
✓ 3–6-month turnaround times
✓ Access to the UK’s best publishing experts
✓ Project management by whitefox

eBooks and audiobooks are growing significantly in popularity, and digital self-publishing is the easiest, most cost-effective way to make your book available, avoiding the headache of warehousing and order management. And if you want readers to have the option of buying physical copies too, print-on-demand (POD) is a hassle-free solution.

Digital books require and deserve the same level of quality and care as printed ones, to ensure that your book is first-rate and has benefited from editorial input, a professional cover design and, for audiobooks, access to production teams and trained voiceover artists.

whitefox only works with the very best, and we will guide you through the entire process, overseeing the conversion of your manuscript into a suitable digital format. We have the technical know-how to set you up on distribution platforms such as Amazon KDP and Audible, among others, so that your book is readily available to purchase and can be enjoyed by readers and listeners around the world.

eBook conversion, ISBN set-up & metadata

eBooks can be a great way of reaching an entirely new group of readers. We’ll help you convert your book into a multi-version reflowable eBook with its own ISBN, ready to be uploaded to any popular eReader. whitefox will also help you list the book in terms of its metadata, making sure it is discoverable and appears in all the relevant online spaces. The creation of an intricate, far-reaching framework of metadata will ensure that your book stands out against the competition and is visible to your target audience across all available platforms.

Print-on-demand account set-up

Print-on-demand (or POD) is a method of digital book printing that allows you to print books as and when they are needed. You can print just one book or thousands on demand, instead of printing large volumes in a single run. This digital alternative has made it possible for authors to self-publish their books without the large up-front cost and inventory requirements. whitefox will help you set up your POD account so that readers can purchase physical copies of your book in a suitable format.

Benefits of POD:

Up-front costs: With print-on-demand, there are minimal set-up fees required to get your book printed, beyond the printing costs. With offset printing, the set-up cost varies by printer. Offset printing is a commercial printing technique that produces consistent and high-quality printed materials, including books. As a general rule, this technique is used for production runs of at least 500 copies, if not 1,000 copies or more. But there is an economy of scale with a full print run, i.e. the higher the print run, the lower the unit cost per book. With print-on-demand, the cost of printing is directly deducted from each book that is sold.

Storage: If you use offset, you will need to be able to store all the books you have printed in a climate-controlled environment. This is where our warehousing and distribution option comes into play. With print-on-demand, there is no need to warehouse any books.

Some downsides of POD to consider:

Book size options: With print-on-demand, there are specific sizes available and you must choose from one of those options. Most notable is the lack of landscape formats.

Paper stock choices: White or creme – that’s it. Offset printers have a wide variety of paper choices, but print-on-demand choices just have the two.

Binding: Some POD suppliers only offer paperback (perfect binding). Others have more options, such as hardback with a dust jacket, case wrap and saddle stitching, but your choices are generally limited.

Printing in colour: If you choose POD and you want one page in colour, you will be charged as if every page were in colour. With offset, you can print black-and-white pages and colour pages separately, and then have the colour pages inserted before the books are bound. Some POD suppliers offer different qualities of colour printing, but full-colour illustrations should ideally be offset-printed.

Cost per book: The per-book cost can be higher using print-on-demand compared to printing large quantities through an offset printer.

Audiobook production & conversion

Audiobooks offer a completely new and emotive experience for your audience, transporting them into the world you have created or immersing them in the topic you have explored. whitefox partners with a high-calibre studio to create and produce incredible audiobook versions of your books.

You will have the opportunity to hire a professional actor to read the material and bring your book to life for listeners. After the recording and editing process, your audiobook will be given a unique ISBN and whitefox will help you set up a distribution account under your name so that all royalties and monthly statements flow directly to you.

Creating an audiobook involves a whole host of elements that need to be taken into account, including editors to ensure that the text-to-audio translation is clear, consistent and free of ambiguity for listeners. whitefox will ensure the entire process runs smoothly.