Printing Research

There are many options for printing your own publications, whether it be in-house or through an external service. For my graphic novel, I have decided to use an external site to professionally print and publish it. This is beneficial to my practice as it means that I can spend more time on producing the illustrations and do not have to schedule a long amount of time for in-house production, also meaning that I do not have to rely on my less than ideal bookmaking skills.


Blurb is a self-publishing service where you can upload a formatted PDF of your book or use one of the pre-made templates to design a range of books or magazines for your needs. The site also has an option to make and sell your book through Blurb, Amazon, Ingram, or the Apple iBooks Store. It also offers a variety of free tools such as Bookwright and Adobe Lightroom to get started designing your book without having to pay upfront.

Volume printing options include print on demand, offset printing for 750+ copies, bespoke enhancements such as custom sizes, embossing and foil stamping, and warehouse storage. The site also has a pricing calculator that helps you figure out the dimensions and specifications of the book that you want. These options are what make Blurb one of the most diverse self-publishing services on the internet.


PrintNinja is an online printing service that specialises in graphic novel printing, but also offers other services such as children's book, magazines and custom games. The site boasts premium graphic novel printing at affordable prices and has a full breakdown of the features that you can expect from your custom novel.

This seems promising and it would make sense to use a service that specialises in graphic novels, however their offset printing production is based in China, with a United States customer service team. This could make cooperation difficult and printing times long, added to the fact that a more localised site would be more convenient for self-publishing on a deadline.


IngramSpark is a service that only offers graphic novels but boasts a larger range of features and options to choose from. You can choose to produce a print novel or an e-book version of your novel, which then connects to 70+ online retailers around the world. For their offset printing, IngramSpark has the most advanced print technology to create bookstore quality products with fast shipping and global distribution.

The site also has a range of tools, how-to videos and experts for help in setting up and choosing the best option for your graphic novel. Although, these tools are mainly calculators used to assist in dimension specifics and there are no programs so that you can visualise or make last-minute changes to your book, like the service that Blurb offers. This along with a seemingly shallow list of self-publishing options makes the site not worth using when there are better services out there.


After conducting research into these external printing sites, I have decided that Blurb is the best choice for me as it caters to my specific practice and needs as a self-publishing site. I will be sending the finished pages to Blurb to be professionally printed as a graphic novel and expect to recieve my printed novel quickly and efficiently. This research has also helped me to recognise that this service is the best place for me as an illustrator to use to self-publish future graphic novel publications.