9 Print On Demand Options For Magazines, Chapbooks & Presses + Book Printing Services
a review and comparison list of some awesome print-on-demand platforms for publishers, artists, and poets
Start Locally
Before looking at any of these, it is always recommended to look in your home state, within your city, or nearby places that print magazines and books; most places, however, will require rather hefty minimum order quantities that I’ll share at the very bottom, which can be tough to do, especially if you’re on a tight budget. Usually, those who run a publication cannot afford to do all of the printing, logistics, and distribution themselves, so they resort to print-on-demand (POD) instead, like a lot of self-publishers, and will typically purchase ISBNs for their publisher imprint—be sure to listen to EP#12. I decided not to use any local printers in Nevada. You could probably find more local printers through Yelp’s directory. I’ll share print examples in a separate article soon.
I personally recommend having more than one ordering option available as a backup in the event one is discontinued. I just want to point out that everyone has varied customer service interactions, highly recommend you look at more customer service reviews online and complaints before choosing a POD place.
I found out recently, this year that back in my home state, Minnesota, there’s this cool place called Bookmobile that helps with printing, dropshipping, and distribution, but it’s not POD I believe you need to know the exact number of copies you’ll be printing, having them keep inventory-wise and they have services to facilitate an Amazon or online bookstore site listing. I haven’t tried them myself yet or any dropshipping options, as I have a few remaining questions, but I will share some PoD options I have used below as a publisher and writer myself:
Bookvault
I started using Bookvault in 2024 due to the number of formats offered—looks like they’re going to start up eBooks in the near future.
PROS
They’re based in the UK, but have expanded to printing in the U.S., Australia, and Canada. Because we have quite a few readers based in the UK, it made sense for us to leverage them and to use them as a backup option to cover international orders.
Very low cost, out of the platforms I have seen, a much higher profit margin on average through the Great British Bookshop (GBBS) alone, compared to Blurb Bookstore, if you don’t distribute it further. You get payouts on the 14th.
A wide array of sizing and binding options, and it’s quite easy to use—you can upload a PDF of the interior, and then a separate PDF file for the cover and spine. I will share a video or side-by-side comparison of print quality against Blurb soon.
There’s a fairly low or reasonable one-time listing fee calculated based on the number of pages, your publication’s exterior, color printing, etc., which has, on average for me has been less than $20-25 for each publication.
After the listing fee to the GBBS, or after you’ve passed the setup process and need to make a revision, you can at any time—as of June 2025 still, there are no additional revision fees nor proof copy order requirements, but you should always order a sample of course to verify everything or to catch any grammatical and formatting errors.
Custom sizing options are available beyond the standard ones—just toggle to U.S. measurements
CONS
Shipping can take a bit longer sometimes and varies compared to one of the other U.S.-based options.
It can be tough to price match exactly due to no control over the fluctuating GBP. I find myself using a conversion search from USD to GBP from time to time, outside of their platform, when setting up the price.
Tough to instantly update your price in the GBBS shop, hasn’t been a few days or 24 to 48 hours for me, I usually have to email changes not reflecting, and they help address it.
Starting out, I had to email about payouts not being received or missing a few times, but they have always responded promptly and addressed it every single time. Payouts outside of the U.K. are not yet as consistent, so you have to keep a close eye on your sales reports and dashboard each month.
There is a minimum threshold payout amount.
Sometimes I’ve had to refresh or go back in a couple of times to re-enter data, e.g., category, description, etc., and save it again after a minor change—they are ironing out it.
They have global distribution options with an additional cost, however, those should not be used if you intend to remain the publisher.
Quite a few options are not available for printing within the U.S. at the moment—you will see some greyed out or ineligible for some distribution options outside of the GBBS.
Minimum page count requirements vary for each format, e.g., paperback, I recall in most cases needs to be a minimum of 50+ and saddle-stitch 30+ pages. You don’t see the minimum req. page count until you enter all the details about your publication formatting-wise.
Mixam
PROS
They have options for those located in the U.S., Canada, the UK, Australia, and Germany.
The quality of printing has always been top-notch in my opinion, particularly over saddle-stitched binding compared to Bookvault—it feels more durable.
I liked their paperback photobook option, but probably should’ve chosen a smaller size—was unable to get it close to our series 5.5 x 8.5 for photobook printing.
Easy to upload your files and have them reviewed by the Mixam team—they help aid in adjusting to correct full bleed, or do a basic quality check or screening of your publication, which averages within 3-4 days.
Much faster payouts than Blurb—typically occur in the second week of each following month
CONS
Their POD option, called Print Link, does not support international shipping, but you can create a separate account on the other dedicated country site via the flag toggle to facilitate printing outside the U.S.—I don’t believe you can enable sales that way on the other country sites—just with your U.S. account it appears or it was greyed out in the Mixam U.K. site account. Of course, you could order a large quantity in the U.S. and do the shipping yourself as an alternative, as needed.
Limited gloss paper options in the PrintLink—you can do it with saddle-stitch and hardcover, but regular bound magazines or their other options tied to gloss paper, not part of PrintLink, would need to go through their minimum order, large batch order option.
No ISBN or ore-provided options, you’d have to purchase your own ISBN and add it to your publications, but an ISBN is not required.
Blurb
PROS
Has had the fastest customer support response times
You can have a paperback or a hardcover, a dust jacket publication, plus image-wrapped ones
Print quality over photography is fairly good within their trade books on economy and standard paper—they probably have the best photobook POD printing too. Economy paper is just a tad lighter overall, some say it’s like a washed look, which I agree.
Note: You can see flip-through examples of issues #1-3 and #5 on the economy paper in our Dipity Lit Mag YouTube Shorts section and Facebook; we could not use the economy paper on #4
A traditional 8.5 x 11” gloss magazine option is available
Volume discounts, like most places listed on here, are possible
Distribution through the Ingram network is available over paperback and hardcover tradebooks
You can set up a private purchase link for contributors and those featured at a discounted rate
Pre-provided ISBNs can be used, but if you would like your Publisher Imprint on the ISBN, you must purchase one through, e.g., Bowker—they are not the publisher even if you do end up using the Blurb-provided ISBNs
The UI is not complicated—PDF files are supported
CONS
There are no other smaller sizes besides 8.5 x 11 in for magazines, which is why some resort to another company under their umbrella—MagCloud, which has mixed reviews.
I feel the magazines look too flimsy unless you have a higher page count to make them thicker same applies to trade books that are lower in page count. Trade books have a minimum req. page count of 30, and photobooks and magazines have a minimum page count of 20
Shipping is usually on the higher side, usually $10 for those in Canada or anyone outside the U.S., and slightly lower for those in the U.S—that’s what I noticed between 2022-2024.
Super long payout wait times usually after 30 days or the week of the 4th of each month, some sales may take between 60-90 days.
Pricing tends to be on the higher side overall on all publication types, especially if you wish to distribute a trade book or hardcover book via the Ingram network at a 40% or 50% bookstore discount, so you have to be mindful of your page count
Lower profit margins outside of the Blurb Bookstore—when you do Ingram network distribution, but that’s the case with most PODs.
You must have regular sales activity each year otherwise, they will pull your publication from the Ingram network distribution and global online bookstore locations, and then it goes back to you, making it solely available on their bookstore server. I got a notice about my own publications a few months ago, and all were pulled out (which is why I recommend digitizing your work too).
If you would like to revise your publication as of 6-7-2025 still, you have to delete it, reupload it again, and order a new copy each time to enable selling options—there is no built-in file revision or editing option.
No eBook distribution, just a PDF digital file option at a fixed price of $5
You can’t always choose economy paper, after you upload it, etc., and submit it, especially to the Ingram network—there have been times we we were told that we had to switch some issues to standard paper due to higher ink volume coverage, e.g., certain designs or those with more black ink—so it looked odd when one issue was $58 on standard paper ~178 pages but price cuts do occur overtime in online bookstores
IngramSpark
PROS
Ingram offers global distribution options, which make it the go-to for those who wish to be available for physical bookstore location orders, or even libraries and educational institutions.
Accepts PDF files
Supports eBook creation
CONS
I see time and time again issues reported about customer service online, and not a ton of positive reviews exist. But some do have good experiences with them, and I have purchased publications that used IngramSpark that turned out good
The UI is not as friendly nor easy to get the hang of
There are much higher setup fees and revision fees
No traditional magazine options—just paperback and hardcover standard book paper types—technically, a lot of lit mags have paperback issues, but if you’re looking for a more traditional magazine or zine look. They do have Ultra-Premium Color paper, though, which may be more appropriate for photography.
Lulu.com
Back in 2011, Lulu.com was one of the first places I published a book of my earliest middle school doodles Salty Cartoons, and iDraw under my real name—my grandpa in NY was the only one who bought them. Since then, Lulu.com has evolved and grown—still going strong.
PROS
Fairly quick and easy to use
They have not just magazine POD options—you can do paperback and hardcover books, plus eBooks
Has a B&W option for magazines
CONS
Only 8.5 x 11 in and 8.27 x 11.69 in on 70 GSM paper for magazines
There are no smaller sizes for magazine printing
Magazines must remain on the Lulu.com bookstore—I believe only books are eligible for global distribution
They discontinued saddle-stitched printing
MagCloud
PROS
Diverse size and binding options
You can offer digital version purchases and customize the price, unlike Blurb, which is nice
CONS
I struggled with the margins on their upload system, and find Blurbs UI much easier than MagClouds
I noticed a very high trend of customer service complaints and quality issues, so I never moved forward with them
There are no distribution options—the publications remain in the MagCloud store
Peecho
Back in 2022, I switched from Peecho to Blurb—their website has changed quite a bit. I was disappointed in the quality checks—so it resulted in refunds, based on the upload, the margins looked ok in the flip-through, but it was tough to see in their UI any glaring issues. Also, they were going to continue to print and fulfill the orders after informing me of issues on the first one, and the cost was way too high back then. With our page count at 178 on 115 GSM, it would be about $35.00 including shipping. In my opinion, Blurb and Mixam have better human quality checks, and Bookvault’s UI is slowly improving.
PROS
Akin to Mixam’s PrintLink option, you can get your own branded shop page space to centralize ordering.
They do have fairly good quality printing overall—I think their POD magazine printing is better than Blurb and Lulu.com, but ended up doing trade book and paperback issues instead
A lot more sizing options are available
CONS
Their support is solely based in Europe, if I recall, in the Netherlands, which is difficult for the U.S.-based publishers
Shipping can be much slower through them, typically
For me, it was hard to really tackle and check the margins in their UI back in 2022—Mixam was easier for me, and the Mixam staff does a good job of having your publication undergo a margin warning check before going live; however, they don’t check page order. numbering, etc, that’s on you
Amazon KDP
PROS
Amazon is widely used, and you can have more eyes sometimes there due to the massive amount of browsing traffic, not necessarily, but def larger than some of the other bookstore options above.
It’s fairly easy to set up a B&W text-based book, paperback, and hardcover, and you can centrally make eBook versions
Expanded distribution is an option if you’d like to try to be in more physical locations
You can choose a pre-provided Amazon ISBN, or you can submit one you’ve purchased yourself for your publisher imprint.
CONS
They stopped at some point, permitting new magazine subscriptions, so it’s not friendly in terms of trying to create more traditional magazines.
I tried uploading one of our photography-focused issues, and although I got past the preliminary system checks, it was still not permitted and declined due to margins—I tried three times, so the UI and process are tougher, more so with publications that have images, illustrations, photographs, etc.
Most bookstores will not order books through Amazon and will primarily go through just the Ingram network or solely order publications with expanded and global distribution options
I have seen mixed reviews on Amazon in terms of print quality overall
The Book Patch
PROS
It looks like they just added a saddle-stitch option recently, which is cool. So there are perfect bound, spiral bound, and hardcover-case wrap options too.
They print from the U.S. and do international shipping; however, I see mixed reviews and a pattern of complaints, which is a bit worrisome.
Other Ones
IMPORTANT: The below are NOT necessarily print-on-demand options but do have printing services and support a wide array of projects:
PrintNinja
(Has required minimum ordering quantities). I know quite a few in the community leverage them because the quality is very good
Jukebox Print
Canada-based (but allows for international use and shipping)
Note: I think their book printing is pretty stellar, as good as Mixam’s, Fireball Print, and PrintNinja’s, based on what I saw sample-wise from others—wish they had a POD option though, as it’s very pricy with (required minimum order quantities) e.g., 50 showed nearly $350 on perfect bond excluding shipping. They have a wide array of sizing and interior paper options, too. P.S. I def think their sticker printing quality is wicked awesome.
Smartpress
(Has required minimum ordering quantities), they’re based out of my home state, Minnesota
Doxzoo
(Allows for international use)—saddle-stitch is possible
Fireball Printing
Pennsylvania-based (has required minimum ordering quantities) and only ships within the U.S., but they offer solid-quality printing
Edition One Books
I have heard good things about Edition One Books in terms of quality. You can do softcover, hardcover, and booklet projects through them. Haven’t used them myself, however, it looks like they have a high minimum order total of ~$1000.
In terms of offset printing, I’ve heard about Acutrak, 48 Hour Books, and DiggyPOD, and Book Print Canada but I don’t think I’ll ever use those. I doubt I’ll use MagCloud and The Book Patch just based on the concern over the large number of poor reviews on quality issues and customer service, but that doesn’t mean everyone will have the same experience with those two. In terms of self-publication platforms or POD, I have heard about Amazon’s competitor, Barnes & Noble’s (B&N Press) though again haven’t used that one either.
You really have to try and see what works best for you—which printer(s) you want to stick with long-term, especially for any series, if you cannot do all of the printing and shipping yourself, whether it be due to a lower budget or physical limitations, etc. Handmade chapbooks and zines have a more personal touch, but not everyone is able to facilitate printing themselves, nor the costs associated with doing so on an international scale, etc.
CONCLUSION
I personally like Bookvault, Mixam, and Blurb. We are probably going to use Blurb less going forward, though. I wish Mixam would add a few more paper and sizing options to perfect binding on publications geared towards photography, and paper-based photobooks, but still, the options are great. I only use Amazon at the moment for eBooks and have started using Draft2Digital (D2D) in 2025.
Again, non-PODs that are stellar, I’d say, are Jukebox, Fireball Printing, and PrintNinja—if I had a much larger budget, I wouldn’t mind using some of the minimum ordering quantity ones, especially other options outside of Mixam’s PrintLink. There are also quite a few California-based ones I almost tried too, but can’t recall the names. Each print provider typically has a calculator or quote estimation tool. Most magazines and journals using non-POD options typically do limited short runs of issues until they’re sold out.
If you’re part of the Community of Literary Magazines & Presses (CLMP) membership as a publisher, they have some discounts for Bookmobile and a list of other distribution services and printers, through their member-only Resource Library, probably way more than what I’ve listed here.
QUESTION: Any Others You’re Aware Of That I Didn’t Mention?
The Lit Mag Lab is brought to you by Dipity Lit Mag & dipity.press founded by Vevna Forrow (Jazz Marie Kaur). You can support this series by pledging your support or buying me a coffee or pizza below if you’d like, but not required to by any means. As always, keep writing and reading poetry. Have awesome days ahead!
thanks for a helpful breakdown :) I just discovered Magcloud today, and was studying reviews. This was good to find, thank you for being thorough!