(This is the first in an anticipated series of things I discovered were possible when self-publishing through lulu.com. Other online, on-demand printers probably offer the same or similar capabilities - have a look.)
As I mentioned in my previous post, my original intent with the online printer was just to print up ten copies of a physical book as gifts for the people who were particularly crucial in making the book happen. What became almost immediately apparent to me was that I could do very small runs to fill specific needs.
In the first instance, I was able to print ten copies in advance of my first big order and distribute them to some people to get advance reviews (and an extra round of proofreading).
After that I created a small special edition of ten copies. I added "Special Edition" to the cover art and added a paragraph to the title page indicating that this edition was specifically for special people. When I received the books I hand-numbered them and wrote personal messages on the title page, then delivered them to those people.
When I made my first proper order of printed books, I added "This is the first edition of This Place Is Awesome, limited to 100 copies. This is number ____ of 100" to the title page, and hand numbered them when they arrived. When those 100 copies sold out (in two weeks!) I revised that page to say that it was the second edition (this time 120 copies) and numbered them again.
With lulu.com, creating variations and limited editions is as easy as submitting a new set of artwork.
You have to be careful not to confuse matters if you have an ISBN number. Markedly different editions require a new ISBN, as I discovered when I wanted to revise my original book to fix a few typos and make a few minor additions.
The significance of this is hard to overstate. Until very recently, any order of less than 1000 books was a huge waste of money. Now I'm able to print comparatively tiny runs to accommodate special requests or needs.
And then there's the possibilities this opens up in terms of distribution. But that's another post...
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