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I've landed myself an indie publisher for the U.S. - so my U.S. edition is going to go off with a bang, which is fantastic. But as my publisher doesn't do UK editions yet, I've decided to self publish the UK edition to ensure that the book's published in its original language. (I'm a UK author and the U.S. edition has been edited for a U.S. market).

So I've had the UK manuscript edited for UK English, I've got a fabulous new cover for it, a great book trailer and it's ready to print!

And here's the problem. I was going to print it with CreateSpace, the Amazon affiliated print on demand publisher. But after some investigation into their distribution, it's not looking like a viable option. The CreateSpace distribution channel doesn't appear to include any UK book stores or libraries. Also UK readers will have to pay shipping and wait up to 30 days for their books to arrive! That's just a logistics nightmare for book sales.

I was wondering if anyone here could recommend a publisher in the UK who works in a similar way to CreateSpace, with reasonable Print on Demand prices and that was connected to a distribution channel for libraries and stores in the UK?

Hell one in Europe would do, but preferably a UK one. Any help is much appreciated :)

I've seen Matador highly praised. Look in Writing Magazine for companies? Good Luck!

Congrats on the US deal. Matador are indeed good. You can also look at Lightning Source who do POD and are affiliated to Amazon. But the truth is that none of them will be able to organise distribution in the way you're suggesting, and certainly not to libraries. Ultimately, this is self-publishing and it would be down to you to handle publicity, distribution etc. As long as you have an ISBN no, the book will automatically be available on Amazon. To cut down on order times, you could print a limited stock and set yourself up on Amazon as a seller. Good luck!

The London Press seem to be the cheapest and offer all three mediums. E-book, paperback and hardback. But if you already have a saleable electronic copy why not just sell as an e-book in the UK? There won't be any costs associated other than the cut Amazon takes. I can't remember all the sites that do POD but take a look at the links on my site http://freewriter.e-orbital.com. I think I've put a few on there.

Thanks everyone. The reason I wondered is that CreateSpace distribute to the libraries in the states, and the POD prices are reasonable too. It doesn't look like they do the UK though. Hopefully they'll branch out over here soon, since there doesn't seem to be a UK alternative.

Thanks once again guys, I'll check out the sites you've mentioned and see what I can do with my UK edition :)

I think it's important to understand what they're actually offering when they say "distributes to libraries", though, as, indeed, it is with phrases like "available in bookshops" - doesn't mean that your book will be on bookshop shelves.

If it means that the library wholesalers are able to buy the book from the company you're using to make the book, then that's pretty basic - it's something that Matador and any others are quite capable of doing, if you buy the right package of services from them. It doesn't mean the libraries will buy it, unless you promote it to them.

Thanks Emma, that's good info to have. I did wonder what they were meaning by library distribution. I don't really mind if they're in a library or not, personally I'm quite happy to donate copies to libraries for free, it's a good place for people to enjoy literature.

It's just the UK side I'm interested in at the moment really, since in the US I already have a publisher. The CS price is okay - but with shipping on top it loses all it's appeal, so it's great for the US, low shipping costs there, but pretty bad for the UK.

On distribution at the moment I'm just looking at online sales really - Amazon, Barnes and Noble etc. I've basically given up on the idea of book stores like WH Smiths or Waterstones, apparently to get a book in there you have to be in Richard and Judy's book club or something, which seems a bit insane to me.

My ebooks already out and selling well, so I'm looking at printing a paperback for online sales, that doesn't suck up all the royalties in the UK.

At the moment my best option is £3.60 per book plus shipping from CS and stocking them in the UK to send out myself. Which isn't an awful deal. But I was just wondering if I could ditch that pesky shipping fee somehow by getting them printed in the UK for a similar price.

I'll have a look at Matador, and once again thanks everyone for the great info :)

I've been looking at options for UK publishers. Currently I use Lulu.com (because they have a printer in the UK). I've looked at CreateSpace too. I've seen the blog on printweek, but their costs are enormous (it's virtualy free on Lulu). Has anyone looked into feedaread.com - look s interesting! I really would like to see a sort of compare.com for PoD publishers for UK authors ;) Anyone know of one? I've spoken to a few UK authors and they are all very confused about it all!

I used Pen Press in the UK and I have actually been blogging about my expiernece so feel free to check it out - hopefully it will be helpful! http://theselfpublishingblog.blogspot.com/

I'm curious how you established a US deal. I am very new to the writing world but very keen. Am I wrong to imagine that trying to get published in the US is very risky? Could a US publisher not simply steal your work, publish for their own gain, and if you do not have a lot of money for lawyers fees you're duped without redress?

Hi Claire,