Private Self Pubbing

Check with your local printing services.

A local print shop should be able to handle this for you, but if you'd prefer to use an online facility you can do this at Lulu.com. There's a free option there which allows you to only pay for the books you buy.

CreateSpace is also free. If you do no marketing, chances are it will be practically invisible, but you would be able to order volumes whenever you needed them.

If you just want something for yourself, you could also look at services like Snapfish that do photo books. Some of their options might make a better "coffee table book" sort of thing.

Online, I would say lulu is your best bet, although I haven't looked at the site in a while, so I'm not sure if what I'm saying is still accurate. They do hardback (createspace doesn't). And createspace automatically uploads you to Amazon, which you don't want. I believe that lulu won't make you available anywhere (except possibly the lulu site, which is essentially the same thing) unless you take extra steps.

A while back Lulu did have it set to where you could order it just for yourself. I did that when I was proofing a copy of my manuscript. So you might check there. It worked out fairly nicely then, though it was a bit more expensive than Createspace.

valeriec80 said:

... And createspace automatically uploads you to Amazon, which you don't want.

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CreateSpace does not automatically upload to Amazon. You have a number of distribution options under Channels, and Amazon is one of them. You choose the channels you want to use. If you don't choose any channels, the work is available to you only as author copies.

Al Stevens said:

CreateSpace does not automatically upload to Amazon. You have a number of distribution options under Channels, and Amazon is one of them. You choose the channels you want to use. If you don't choose any channels, the work is available to you only as author copies.

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You can also leave the title in the review stage indefinitely at CreateSpace and purchase all the proof copies you want. The book will never be "live" so cannot be purchased by anyone else.

merrihiatt said:

You can also leave the title in the review stage indefinitely at CreateSpace and purchase all the proof copies you want. The book will never be "live" so cannot be purchased by anyone else.

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You can and I did just that to have some gifts for relatives, but you should know that Create Space places the word "proof" in large letters on the last page of all such copies.

I went with ordering multiple proof copies mostly to save money, thinking that I would have to pay the full Amazon price when and if I finally approved the proof and that my friends and relatives would not care about the "proof" designation either way. It turns out, however, that you can buy approved final copies of your book from Create Space for about the same price as a proof copy. And, as others have said, you can control the distribution so that it is essentially invisible. It's probably a better way to go for a coffee table book version.

Thanks for mentioning that, Sherrie. Wouldn't want anyone to be surprised to see that last page, which is fairly easy to remove, by the way, if you so desire.

I've helped people with formatting-to-print with similar books and used Fine Images out of Gainesville, FL. Excellent quality -- covers and paper better than Createspace and price about the same (B/W interior, color cover). Mike asks for a minimum order of 25 books and doesn't charge for shipping. You don't have to have an ISBN (altho he can sell one to you if you want -- $55, last I remember). So you can do a book that's just for you and your family. He does offer formatting, but I've found most poets want to do their own.