our products
Our Process

Print to Order

  • With this service the publisher sets the retail price, wholesale discount and return policy.
  • We send the data out to our Distribution partners (including leading distributors such as Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com and others).
  • They capture the demand from booksellers, libraries and consumers and we print to fill the order.
  • We collect the wholesale price, deduct the print cost and pay the publisher the balance.
  • The price for this service is $12.00 a year per title. Just one dollar a month.
  • B&N purchases through Ingram Book Group.
  • As you know Lightning Source titles are listed in the Print-to-Order program - an exclusive service that allows Ingram to display 100 copies on hand at all times. As part of this arrangement, and to avoid book buyers from having to backorder, we at Lightning Source guarantee books ordered by Ingram will be printed and returned to their shipping dock within 8 - 12 hours, generally in time to be included in the book buyer's regular order.

Print to Publisher

  • With this program we fill orders placed by the publisher and ship them in any quantity to any location. That can be one book to a reviewer or 5,000 to a warehouse.
  • As part of that service we offer Offset printing on paperback quantities of over 2,000 or hardback quantities of over 750.
  • Turn around time on digital printing is days, turn around time of offset is about 7-10 days depending on the books specifics.

Offset printing

  • Offset printing isn't a component of Print to Order.
  • We also offer traditional printing services for titles that require large print orders.