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Print-on-demand on Quilltips

Print-on-demand lets you sell a paperback from your book page without stocking inventory. When a reader buys, Quilltips prints and ships the copy through Lulu. This guide covers format choices, print-ready PDFs, validation, pricing, and postage. Print books are available on any plan once Shop is enabled. For the rest of Shop — e-books, signed copies, and author-shipped print — see Selling through Quilltips Shop.

Who prints and ships

On a print product, choose Quilltips prints & ships. You upload interior and cover PDFs once. Quilltips submits a print job to Lulu after the reader pays — you do not pack, buy postage, or manage stock. Delivery inside the US typically takes 1–2 weeks.

If you would rather mail copies yourself (from your own inventory or a local printer), choose I'll ship copies myself instead. That path uses estimated USPS postage at checkout and is covered in the Shop guide.

Print-on-demand is standard-quality paperback only. Hardcover, coil, and premium print are not available. Print-on-demand is also not offered as a pre-order on upcoming books.

Choose a format

Four settings define the Lulu paperback. They must match the PDFs you upload.

  • Trim size — 6×9 is the default novel size. Compact options include pocket (4.25×6.875), 5×8, and 5.5×8.5. Larger options include 7×10, 8×10, 8.5×8.5 square, and 8.5×11.
  • Interior — Black & white is best for text-heavy books and costs much less. Full color is for illustrations or photos and can be several times more expensive at higher page counts.
  • Paper — White is the standard uncoated stock. Cream is the warmer novel paper. Paper is selectable for black & white interiors only; full-color interiors print on coated white.
  • Cover finish — Matte is soft and non-reflective. Gloss is shinier and can make cover art pop.

Print-ready PDFs

Upload two files: an interior PDF (the book pages) and a cover PDF (a single spread sized to Lulu's cover template for your trim, page count, and finish). The interior must match the trim you selected. The cover is a wrap — back, spine, and front — with bleed. Export with fonts embedded. After the interior page count is set, download a cover template from the print product page.

For trim matching, bleed, spine width, DIY tools (Atticus, Reedsy), hiring a formatter, and free estimators from KDP or Ingram, see Print-ready PDFs for Quilltips Shop. Quilltips can adapt several common KDP/Ingram mismatches; crop marks, password protection, and unembedded fonts still need a re-export from your layout tool.

Paperback interiors print on both sides of each sheet, so Lulu needs an even page count. Quilltips checks common issues (page size, page count) before sending the file to Lulu, adds Lulu's 0.125" bleed when the file is trim-sized, and adds a blank last page when the count is odd. You'll see a summary after you validate.

Validate with Lulu

After the files are uploaded, use Validate with Lulu. Lulu confirms the PDFs match the format you selected. Fix any reported issues, then save. You cannot activate a print-on-demand product until both files validate.

Price vs postage

Your retail price is what the reader pays for the book. It needs to cover printing, processing fees (Lulu, Quilltips, and Stripe), and your margin. Readers pay Lulu's quoted postage for their address separately at checkout — that postage is not added to your payout.

Quilltips takes a platform fee on the book price — 15% on the free plan, or 10% with Plus — plus Stripe's processing fee. Printing is deducted from the sale before the rest is transferred to your connected Stripe account.

Test a cost quote

Use Test cost quote on the print product page after you have a page count (usually auto-detected during validation). The quote shows printing, processing fees, your retail price, and an estimate of what should hit your account. Raise the price or switch to black & white if the estimate is negative.

Postage is not part of that floor — it is quoted for the reader at checkout. When you are ready, set the product to active so it appears on the book page.