Any services to print a single book without an ISBN?

[jonxihama]

Not sure if this is the right sub-forum, but I've recently put a manuscript to bed and I want to print one copy as a keepsake. I'm not talking about self-publishing or distributing in anyway. I want a single hardcover to make a sort of memorial for the story. I know its weird but let me indulge.

Every service I've found requires I provide an ISBN and I don't want to buy one if I don't actually plan on selling this book. Has anyone been able to print a "ghost" book just for themselves? What service did you use?

 

[CMBright]

Not sure if this is the write sub-forum, but I've recently put a manuscript to bed and I want to print one copy as a keepsake. I'm not talking about self-publishing or distributing in anyway. I want a single hardcover to make a sort of memorial for the story. I know its weird but let me indulge.

Every service I've found requires I provide an ISBN and I don't want to buy one if I don't actually plan on selling this book. Has anyone been able to print a "ghost" book just for themselves? What service did you use?

Back a few years to perhaps a decade ago, I had quite a bit of genealogy info in book format. I went down to Kinko's, had it printed and bound. It wasn't hardback, but it was in a bound book format.

 

[jonxihama]

Back a few years to perhaps a decade ago, I had quite a bit of genealogy info in book format. I went down to Kinko's, had it printed and bound. It wasn't hardback, but it was in a bound book format.

Did you show up with a PDF? Word Doc? Rich Text format? I'll see if they have any hardcover options

 

[CMBright]

Did you show up with a PDF? Word Doc? Rich Text format? I'll see if they have any hardcover options

I think I showed up with a thumb drive. Its been quite a while. It was in a format that could be printed by a computer printer. That's all I remember.

 

[Woollybear]

I used Barnes and Noble for a "private usage" project last year. A cookbook of family recipes, with photos, for the kids. We ordered three copies. Very happy with the hard cover result, and each copy only cost about 12 dollars.

It was all from home, and mirrored the KDP/amazon self publishing process.

Looking at it, I do see a barcode on the back, but I did not purchase it. Possibly it was included in the production price, which was slight at most. My recollection is that for three copies and shipping, I paid under 60 dollars.

ETA: Yes, 42 dollars for the three copies, tax, and shipping.Here's the info on the receipt:

NOOK Press POD (Books Physical, NOOK Book)

And from their PDF on how to format:

If your print book is for personal use, you will see a white box on the bottom right-hand corner of your book (cover layout) where a barcode will go. This barcode will appear on your final book but is for internal purposes only.

 

[jonxihama]

I used Barnes and Noble for a "private usage" project last year. A cookbook of family recipes, with photos, for the kids. We ordered three copies. Very happy with the hard cover result, and each copy only cost about 12 dollars.

It was all from home, and mirrored the KDP/amazon self publishing process.

Looking at it, I do see a barcode on the back, but I did not purchase it. Possibly it was included in the production price, which was slight at most. My recollection is that for three copies and shipping, I paid under 60 dollars.

ETA: Yes, 42 dollars for the three copies, tax, and shipping.Here's the info on the receipt:

NOOK Press POD (Books Physical, NOOK Book)

And from their PDF on how to format:

This looks very promising! They even have a section about printing personal books!

 

[Elenitsa]

In my country, one would go directly to a printing house (digital typography) and have it done. For this, one certainly does not need ISBN.

 

[Al X.]

The simplest way, seriously, is to go through KDP, set up a hardcover copy, and just buy it. Yes it gets assigned an ISBN but it's free, plus you and others have the option to buy more copies.

 

[jonxihama]

The simplest way, seriously, is to go through KDP, set up a hardcover copy, and just buy it. Yes it gets assigned an ISBN but it's free, plus you and others have the option to buy more copies.

Will the book show up on public searches? I don't want that. I put the story to bed for a reason...

 

[Al X.]

Will the book show up on public searches? I don't want that. I put the story to bed for a reason...

It will do that yes. But... you can de-publish it at any time.

 

[jonxihama]

I used Barnes and Noble for a "private usage" project last year.

@Woollybear Do you remember how long the review process took? I thought you could just upload a PDF and purchase books immediately. I didn't realize you had to submit a project and have it approved. Does it take days? Weeks? Months???

 

[Woollybear]

It'll take longer than you think ... but the approval was for things like whether your cover is the right dimensions and all that. The spine and everything has to be the right size and dimensions. It's not like they are 'approving' your story.

I did my formatting (of the interior of the cookbook) in Word, I think, and saved as a PDF, then uploaded, but had to go back and forth a bunch of times (like, I uploaded 11 or 12 times to adjust the line spacing and stuff) because there kept being funny mismatches. Keep in mind, I was dealing with photos and special fonts and stuff. A table of contents, etc.

So, let's say you upload a PDF of your book, "they" (I believe 'they' are an automated system) might send it back after a day or two asking you to double check how it looks on their end, because it has to sort of work with their software or whatever. If the spacing or something is not what you expect, you will need to fiddle more with your original files and upload again.

Then the cover is likewise a process, check and double check and so on.

Each iteration takes a day or two? I think?

The printing might take more time than you expect, too. you get queued. I think that was six or eight weeks.

 

[jonxihama]

It'll take longer than you think ...

Very informative, thank you. On their site it says to expect delays for personal projects. I'm in no rush, so I'm willing to wait. I can build the book memorial in the meantime

 

[benbenberi]

A few years ago I had a single copy of a foreign dissertation printed and bound as a book (pb) at Lulu.com. It was very simple -- I just provided the content file, used one of their templates to design the cover & spine (using a pic I provided for cover art), set up a few more specs, and bam! I had a book in the mail a week or so later. No ISBN required -- it's not really a published book, just a step up from printing something at home or at Kinko's. The one caveat is that you have to provide them with a print-ready file -- they're not doing any editing or proofing or reformatting, just printing and binding exactly what you send them. I haven't used them again recently, but based on my previous experience I recommend it highly for a one-off print run.

 

[jonxihama]

A few years ago I had a single copy of a foreign dissertation printed and bound as a book (pb) at Lulu.com.

Ordered in less than an hour! They also won't put a barcode on it!

For anyone curious, Nook Press POD cost about ~$14 per book while Lulu was ~$22.

 

[jonxihama]

The book has arrived! For people curious, it took 10 days for the book to be shipped and another 4 days for it to arrive in my mailbox.