I'm currently an unpublished author but my mum is now eighty, and I was desperate to share with her what I'd wtitten. She's a huge technophobe however. In the nineties when we bought our first microwave, she tried to make us run for cover when the microwave started bleeping. "It's going to explode!" she hollered. We pointed out the noise meant the food had finished cooking. She's been suspicious of the microwave ever since. I knew an e-version of my story was therefore out of the question. I asked on writing forums about what the solution might be and one voice shouted "Try Dox." I had a flick through their site and decided to give them a go.
This wasn't the first book I'd printed, as I'd used Blurb to turn family war time memories into books. Those books were purely for the family to keep, and i'd never printed a novel before. I found the selection of choices on Dox good. I chose a paperback but you could also have a hardback book. You could choose the thickness of your paper, orientation and whether to laminate the cover or not. I chose to have just two copies printed. One for me and one for mum. Sure it cost more than it would to buy a book from a shop but what a unique gift to give someone. There are no ISBN's involved. I used a photo of my brothers for the cover as it fitted my story very well. The online cover designer was relatively easy to use. You don't even need to add a cover photo. Please also note that the two day service does not mean you'll receive the book in two days but I was still happy with how quickly it arrived.
I try to be as zero waste as possible, so I was overjoyed that the book was wrapped in compostable packaging, which was the perfect size for the items enclosed. There was even a free sweet included. I was really pleased with the book quality and it felt so amazing to hold a physical copy of my book in my hands. It somehow made my story feel more real.
I was extremely happy with the service and would definitely use them again.