Print Nation Book Unboxing: Is Digital Publishing Worth It?

About this video

Dale profiles Print Nation, a digital publishing/printing company, and unboxes books it printed. He stresses this is not a sponsored video: Print Nation volunteered time and resources for an ongoing book marketing case study on his channel in which books by over 17 indie authors were submitted to local Little Free Library locations, and the company provided duplicate copies, copies of his own books, and planned to send each participating author a copy. He explains digital publishing (printing from electronic files, suited to small orders) versus offset printing (higher upfront cost, typically pallet-scale orders) and print on demand (one at a time). In an interview segment, the company’s CEO explains their pricing and terms in general terms: a 32-page softcover children’s book runs in the $4 range per book, and a 6x9 hardcover novel of roughly 150-200 pages runs about $8-$9 per book, with embellishments costing more; the minimum is generally 25 hardcover books, with some flexibility on softcovers, and they are not a true one-at-a-time printer. He advises allowing about three weeks for production plus a few days shipping, with wiggle room. Features the CEO highlights include foil (including on dust jackets), dust jackets, soft-touch laminate, and even cutouts on dust jackets. Dale then unboxes six boxes of books over two weeks, repeatedly praising the color saturation, matte finishes, clean cuts and tight binding, and noting a fresh-ink quality to the pages, including gold foiling done on his own titles. Comparing his own book head-to-head, he judges the Print Nation hardcover to have much better color saturation and a tighter binding than the KDP version, while acknowledging Print Nation had an unfair advantage because he had asked for gold foil as a demonstration.

Key takeaways

• The creator discloses this is not sponsored: Print Nation volunteered books and resources for his Little Free Library case study involving over 17 indie authors’ books.
• Digital publishing is presented as a middle path: smaller, more affordable runs than offset printing, but not true one-at-a-time print on demand.
• Per the CEO in the video, indicative pricing is around $4 per 32-page softcover children’s book and $8-$9 per 6x9 hardcover novel of 150-200 pages, with a general minimum of 25 hardcover books.
• Authors are advised to allow about three weeks for production plus shipping time, rather than ordering close to an event date.
• In the creator’s side-by-side judgment, Print Nation copies showed stronger color saturation and tighter binding than his KDP hardcover, plus options KDP does not offer such as foil and soft-touch laminate.

Episode details: published October 19, 2024 · 21:36 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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