Book printing

Well, after a bit of hunting around, the two leading contenders for my needs are Amazon's createspace.com and thebookpatch.com

Both seem to offer me the ability to print a handful (5 or less) physical copies of a book in mass market paperback (mmp) size for around the mmp price. Under $20 per copy, possibly as low as $10 per copy.

That's ridiculously cheap considering some Australian printers (not publishers) charge around a thousand dollars in setup fees with minimum orders of 100 books.

And createspace.com offers the option of a sales outlet (for a fee) should I choose to try and sell my book(s) {Note the optimism!}

So at the moment the plan is to write as much as I can, and if I can get enough words down for several halfway decent books I'll get physical copies printed. Both of the above companies allow me to upload my own cover artwork so I can make the spines match so the books look good next to each other on the shelf.

I doubt I'll apply for ISBN's though. I mean, I can get 10 for under $100 but that's still $100 I could spend on bills or fuel or food.

* Note for any aspiring authors who might read this: I'm looking for a printer who can just provide me with a physical copy of my manuscript in a halfway decent looking book. A publisher is a company that wants to promote and sell your manuscript. A (proper) publisher will pay you and never ask you for money. (And read the fine print! Before signing or agreeing to anything.)