Direct & Pricing

Direct turns a finished book into a real product readers can buy — a print-on-demand book or a digital eBook. You choose the format, upload your files, set your price, and go live.

Before you begin

Have your print-ready interior PDF and cover PDF ready (export them from Studio). If you wrote in Studio, you can sign in and import the book to auto-fill most fields. Unsure which format pays best? Run the calculator first.

Step 1 — Choose what you're publishing

On /direct.html, pick a product type:

• 📚 Print Book — novels, non-fiction, memoir, children's, workbooks. All trim sizes.
• 🦸 Comic Book — the industry 6.625″ × 10.25″ format on premium paper.
• 📱 eBook — a digital edition built from your Studio manuscript; read in-app, nothing to print or ship.

If you started earlier, click Resume Draft to pick up where you left off.

Step 2 — Book details

Enter the title, author name, optional subtitle, publisher (defaults to "Triumvirate Direct"), description, genre, and an ISBN if you have one.

Step 3 — Print specs & cover

Choose your trim size, binding (Perfect Bound, Hardcover, Saddle Stitch, Coil, or Linen Wrap), print quality (Standard or Premium), interior color (Black & White or Full Color), paper stock, and cover finish (Matte or Glossy). Enter your page count (8–800) — this sets the cover dimensions and spine width.

If you pick Linen Wrap, you'll also choose a linen color and a foil-stamp color, and you can add spine foil text (title and author). Then upload your cover PDF in the drop zone — the required dimensions update live as you change page count and trim size.

Step 4 — Upload your interior

Drop in your interior PDF. It should be PDF/X-1a or X-3, 300 DPI, with all fonts embedded, an inside margin of at least 0.75″, and no crop marks — exactly what Studio's Print PDF export produces.

Step 5 — Pricing & sales channels

1. Click Get Live Pricing → to fetch the real print cost from the printer.
2. Enter your retail price. The royalty box shows what you keep: retail price − print cost − the 5% platform fee (a small payment-processor fee also applies per order).
3. Optionally turn on the Free Shipping toggle — readers then see $0.00 shipping, so price your book to absorb postage (roughly $4–$8 for a US paperback).
4. Triumvirate Direct is always enabled. Other retailers (Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo, B&N, Ingram) show as "coming soon" and will need an ISBN per book.

Step 6 — Preview, confirm & submit

1. Check the cover preview and interior preview, and download the print-ready proof files (the exact bytes sent to the printer — print at 100%, no scaling).
2. Review the pre-flight checklist, tick "I confirm everything looks correct," and Submit. Your book is created and goes live; print-on-demand handles each order.

Publishing an eBook

For an eBook, import your Studio book, confirm or replace the cover image, set the eBook price (your royalty is the list price minus the 5% fee and the per-order processor fee — no print or shipping), then click Publish eBook.

The print-cost calculator

Open the calculator (/calculator.html) any time to test pricing before you publish — "know your costs before you write a word."

1. On the left, set the same options as Direct (trim, binding, color, paper, page count) plus a print quantity (1 / 100 / 500 / 1,000 — bulk runs get 5–15% off).
2. Drag the Target Royalty slider (10%–70%) to the cut you want to keep.
3. On the right, the estimate updates live: print cost per book, a suggested retail price that hits your target after costs and the 5% fee, and your royalty per sale with a color-coded margin bar.
4. The breakdown table itemises every cost, and a chart shows your royalty at ten price points. When you're happy, click Start Your Book → to go to Direct.