Take Control Print-on-Demand Service
Want to print your ebook, but frustrated with the speed of your printer, or wish the result was better formatted for paper and nicely covered and bound? If that's the case for you, you can now purchase most Take Control titles via a print-on-demand service.
We recommend buying the ebook first and then ordering a print-on-demand copy by clicking a print button located on the cover (page 1) of the ebook. That way, you can access the ebook's Check for Updates Web page, which is also available through a button on the cover. The Web page is where you can find any important (or just interesting or fun) minor updates to the ebook's content, and where we offer any free minor new versions of the PDF. It's also where you'll find a discount should we release a new edition of the ebook. If you go this route, be sure to copy the coupon offered on the first Web page after you click the print button. You can paste it later in the cart to save the same amount as the list price of the ebook.
However, you can purchase just the print version, without first buying the ebook.
After we release a new copy of an ebook, it typically takes 1-10 business days before the print-on-demand version is available.
More Info
This print service enables you to avoid using your own paper and ink when printing an ebook. The bound book is far more elegant and easier to use than loose sheets and the overall quality will likely be higher. On the downside, the print service is slightly more expensive because of the costs of binding, providing a cover, and shipping.
Some salient facts:
- Pricing: The print pricing takes into account the cost of the ebook, so if you are buying the print version via the PDF, the price won't include the cover price of the ebook. Expect to pay $10-$15 for the black-and-white version, plus shipping (various shipping options are available). The exact price is based on page count and includes $0.25 that we'll be donating to a worthy charity that's nice to trees.
- Look and feel: The print copies are scaled to a 7" x 9" trim size (18 x 23 cm) to reduce the font size to what's expected in print, have laminated color covers, and use wire-o bindings so they lie flat on your desk (or can be folded back entirely). They're printed double-sided, and are based on a slightly different PDF file in order to make the appearance more sensible for print and to ensure the highest possible graphics quality. See below for pictures.
- Color or black and white? As the pictures below show, you can choose a black-and-white version that looks very good (and has a color cover), or you can pick the utterly gorgeous color version. The cost of printing in color is about twice as much, though, so we've left the choice up to you.
- Who does the printing? We're using a print-on-demand company called QOOP, so ordering takes place in a different online cart system than we use for our ebooks. Honestly, the ordering process is a little clumsy, but we're working with QOOP to improve it.
Print-on-Demand Pictures
The pictures below should give you a sense of what your printed ebook will look like, both on its own and in comparison to a printout from an inkjet printer.
1: Here's what the loose pages might look like if printed single-sided on a normal inkjet printer. They'd be 8.5" x 11", would have 14 point text, and might suffer from a dying print cartridge.
2: Compare the alternative: here you can see the cover of the print-on-demand version, the interior of the color print-on-demand version, and the equivalent pages printed on a normal inkjet printer.
3: This picture shows the difference between a representative page printed on an inkjet printer and the same page in the print-on-demand color version.
4: Here you can see the front cover (which is always in color) and interior of the color print-on-demand version. Note the binding, smaller size (7" x 9"), and although you can't see it in this picture, nicer paper.
5: Finally, here's the difference between the black-and-white and color interiors in the print-on-demand version. The yellow and blue turn into light grays in the black-and-white version, and the paper used for the black-and-white version isn't as glossy.