Making your book

We do not provide ISBNs, but they can be easily purchased online. They are not required, and many of our customers choose not to get an ISBN for their books.

An ISBN may be a useful or necessary feature for larger book orders that will have wide distribution. If you decide to get an ISBN, it should be added to your book design files before submitting your order to us.

[ new title - Overview of a book order ?? How do I make a book ?? Getting started ?? ]Making a book can be a fairly involved process, often taking weeks, months or even years from conception to completion. Wherever you are on your bookmaking journey, Edition One is happy to answer questions, offer technical guidance, and send complimentary swatch samples of paper and materials. Below are the basic stages a book project goes through on its way to being printed.Pre-layoutThis is the research stage, where you can explore our offerings and decide on your book format, page dimensions, and any finishing options you may be interested in. You can get a general idea of your order cost by using our price calculator to test different book specifications and options. Contact us to request complimentary samples of paper stock and cover materials. LayoutThen, you or your designer will lay out your book according to your intention and aesthetic. It's important to review the file preparation page on our site to make sure the layout follows best practices for image resolution, margins, bleed, color profiles and other technical concerns. When the layout is complete, export print-ready PDFs in accordance with the file requirements listed on our site.Placing your order and uploading filesOnce you have PDFs, you can go to our site and fill out an order form. Fill out the form to the best of your ability. If you have questions, you can leave notes in the comments field. Nothing is set in stone, we can modify your order details later. Once the order form is submitted successfully, you'll receive an email with file upload instructions. After you upload your files, we'll review everything and let you know if edits are necessary. When the files are good to go, we'll email you an invoice.Payment and proofOnce we receive payment, we'll move your project into the proofing stage. When you place the order, you'll have the option to select a hard (printed) proof or a soft (PDF) proof. If you selected a hard proof, we'll print the proof within a few business days and ship it to you. Soft proofs will be emailed, typically within a few hours. Approval and productionThe proof is your chance to review everything one last time before we produce the full order. You can make any final revisions and supply new files to us, if needed. Once you approve the proof for production, we'll get started on making your books. Turnaround time is 2 to 5 weeks, depending on the type of book, order quantity and our current production schedule. DeliveryWe'll let you know when your books are ready and ship them to you, or if you're local, you can pick them up.