What is a Book Print Run (Short Run, Long Run, Print on Demand)?

First, let's talk print runs. Long run printing is essentially anything over 500 copies and it's done offset. It prints from plates because they literally set up plates to print your book. It's more consistent, but it's way too expensive to do for a small number of books. But the more you print, the cheaper it gets because you've spread out the cost of the setup across more copies of the book. A short run is something under 500 copies. It's done digitally. This is one of the great options of our day because it allows you to personalize books if you want to do that. Of course, it also allows us to have print on demand, which is a beautiful thing that allows us to print essentially one copy at a time so as the book sells, it can be printed and shipped out. The big thing with print on demand or short run, is that there's no make ready step of setting up the plates. So there's no cost difference between printing one copy or printing a thousand. When it's digital. The beauty of that is that you don't have to do anything after the file is set up. They are printing and distributing the book to retailers for you.