I disagree with some of the comments about the above. Work submitted to them remains your copywrite. Yes you pay to receive a copy of your work published in a book. You are allowed to approach local libraries and ask them to order the book for others and for you to read as each book has ISBN. Read their site they contribute to charities. We have to promote ourselves I am afraid nothing is easy. Kind Regards.
Thanks, Jeff!
Yes that checks out. It's a lot better deal than the one that I was offered: "Special discount" package for £499*, WITHOUT actually printing ANY books or letting me know what royalties they'd be paying me on books that they sold with a "print on demand" system. As other people have pointed out on this forum, once they've got your money, why should they waste their time and energy promoting your book? It's up to you to make sure that it sells... and makes more money for them.
At least this United Press prints 50 copies of your book for £199. But that the minimum fee, and applies to "a book of 16 pages plus 4 page high-quality marble cover in one colour". I assume that that's without colour illustrations on the inside. 16 [A5] pages isn't very much: It's suitable for a couple of short stories or a collection of poems. And they don't specify - on that opening info page - if that's the price for hardback or paperback. I would hope that the "4 page high-quality marble cover" includes the printing of back cover blurb and title page + copyright + author information, but they might (aside from front cover?) just be blank, marbled pages.
Their fee does include editing and proofreading, so I would also hope that further batches of 50 books would be cheaper, since these services would have already been paid for in the first 50-book order.
These are all [just some of the] factors to take into consideration when you deal with a self-publishing agency. Don't forget: Find out just what you get from them for your money BEFORE your money gets to them.
* Just a few days ago (and weeks after they hadn)
I think it's a plug for this organisation: http://www.unitedpress.co.uk/
Is this an advertisement via the back door? It's very odd, as it doesn't refer to any past post. No-one has mention the press named above.