Our in-house designers create original, professional, eye-catching book covers tailored to your vision and audience. Whether you have clear ideas or need guidance, we collaborate closely with authors to deliver a cover that meets the highest standards, is visually striking and reflects your book well, helping it stand out on bookshelves.
Each choice, from the font to the page dimensions, shapes the reader’s experience of your book. Our in-house text designers work with you to craft how the words look on the page to ensure that your book is visually appealing and easy to read, formatted to a professional standard and accurately fits your book’s genre and audience.
Finding and working with an illustrator can be a complicated process for an author to navigate alone. We offer a one-stop shop for authors, connecting you to an artist from our extensive list, managing liaisons and providing assistance. Authors will retain full copyright to the images, allowing you to use them freely in your future work.
Finding the right printer for your project can be challenging for an author alone. We work with a diverse array of trusted UK-based printers, each with its own strengths and specialisms, enabling us to find the ideal printer for your book’s specific needs. We also make books available internationally via print-on-demand technology.
If you have a manuscript and aren’t sure what to do next, we’re here to help. Whether over the phone, email or in person, our experienced team of self-publishing experts can answer your questions and explain how self-publishing with Troubador can help you achieve your goals.
How long does printing my book take?
Printing a book generally takes 3-4 weeks from the moment we send it to the printers, depending on the complexity of your book's specifications. For example, a hardback book generally takes a little longer to print than a paperback. Print timescales can also vary slightly depending on the printers' capacity at one time (the run up to Christmas being a particularly busy time), something we are not able to influence.
What happens if I run out of books?
If you run out of books we have a team on hand who will be able to provide you with a quotation for reprinting (reprinting usually takes around four weeks). If, as part of the reprint, you would like to make amendments to your previously printed title, we advise allowing at least two weeks for this process to be carried out (the timescale is dependent on the number and complexity of changes required). If you are thinking of reprinting your book as stocks are low, please do email us and we will be happy to advise.
How should I supply the images in my book?
All images supplied to us should be as separate jpegs, with a minimum resolution of 300dpi. If you're unsure as to whether your images are suitable, our team will be on-hand to advise, or download our factsheet. Note that images taken from the internet are usually in copyright elsewhere and often therefore unusable without permission from the copyright holder. Images taken from the internet are also invariably at a low resolution (typically only 96dpi), and again are therefore unusable in a printed book (they will print out. of focus).
How will my book be printed?
We offer print-on-demand printing, short run digital printing as well as printing larger quantities lithographically. We strive to print all books in the UK, to minimise road miles. The print route that is best for your book and location will be dependent on your aims for your book and the services that you have chosen; this is something that our Customer Services team will advise you on as part of the initial quotation process.
Will my book be available overseas?
If you have a Troubador ISBN your book will be available for sale in the UK as standard, but if you are interested in making your book available for sale in overseas territories, we do offer an International Distribution Service. Read more about this service on our website.
Can I supply print-ready files?
We are happy to be flexible when it comes to what services our authors require, and recognise that some authors may already have their books designed and ready to print. We are happy to work with such projects, provided that the files meet the printers' specifications required. Note that in supplying prit-ready files, we do no more than check that they will print; the content, layout, image resolution and all formatting is entirely your responsibility. More detailed guidelines on supplying print-ready files can be found here.
