For publishers leaving slow, generic print partners

Bring your backlist
with you in five minutes.

Move your book printing — and the metadata workflow that goes with it — to a UK printer built for indie publishers. Real prices, named contacts, modern tools. No more six-week waits, no more BiblioCloud subscription, no more guessing where your job is.

4.9★Google rating
132Verified reviews
30+Years in production
UK onlyNo outsourcing, ever
your hub · 5 min ago
Backlist imported

17 titles. Priceable. Ready to reprint.

The Tamar Killer
£1.94/copy
Devon Mysteries Vol 2
£2.10/copy
Cornish Coast Walks
£3.42/copy
+ 14 more titles
priced
Total backlist priced for 250-copy reprint · £8,420
Three risk-free ways to start

Switching shouldn't be a leap of faith.

Each of these is on us. No commitment, no contract, no signup. Pick whichever feels easiest — they all end with you having a real, side-by-side answer to "is Imprint actually better for my next reprint?"

01

Send us your last invoice.

Forward your most recent print invoice from your current printer. Within 24 hours we'll spec-match every line item in our system and send you a side-by-side comparison: same book, same quantity, our price.

What you get back: a one-page PDF showing each title, the spec we'd quote against, our price per copy, and the total. Your data, our pricing. No sales call required.
Send your invoice →
02

Try us with one title at our cost.

Pick the book you reprint most often. We'll print 100 copies at our cost and ship them to you. Compare them side-by-side with your last run. If we're not at least equal in quality, no further commitment — keep the books, walk away.

How it works: 15-minute call to confirm the spec, you upload the files (or we accept your existing PDFs), 5 working days to print and dispatch. Up to 100 copies of one title, one prospect per publisher, paperback or hardback.
Book the test print →
03

We'll help get your files out.

Most printers charge to release your files when you leave — and they don't make it easy. We'll write the request letter on your behalf, follow it up if needed, and cover any extraction fees up to a sensible cap. Your files arrive, we put them safely in your file vault.

What we cover: the standard release fees most printers charge (up to £200/title is on us). What you get: your masters, version-controlled, in your Imprint vault, accessible any time.
Talk through file release →
What life looks like six months in

A printer that becomes part of your operations.

Most publishers think of their printer as a vendor — submit the job, wait for the books, repeat. We're built differently. The longer you're with us, the more your titles, files, specs, distribution metadata and reorder history compound into something you'd struggle to leave.

ISBN auto-lookup

Type an ISBN. Title, author, publisher, page count and cover auto-fill from the book trade's metadata sources. New title setup in seconds, not minutes.

✓ Live now

Bulk backlist import

Paste a list of ISBNs (with optional spec hints — binding, paper, page count). Watch your entire backlist materialise in the Hub with covers, page counts and spec data ready for instant pricing.

Coming Q2 2026

ONIX 3.0 — free

Generate compliant ONIX records direct from your print spec. Send to Ingram, Gardners, NBN, your distributor of choice. Cancel your metadata SaaS subscription — we throw it in with the print job.

Coming Q2 2026 Read the ONIX deep dive →

Master file vault

Every cover and interior PDF you upload, version-controlled, kept forever. If your laptop dies, your masters are still here. Download any version, any time. Your CYA backup for the most valuable assets you have.

✓ Live now

Instant reprint pricing

Every title in your Hub shows live reprint price bands at 50, 100, 250, 500 and 1,000 copies. Click the band, place the order — same spec, same files, no quoting back-and-forth.

✓ Live now

Real-time production

See exactly where every order is — files received, pre-press checks, printing, binding, dispatch — with the named team member responsible at each stage. No more "where is my order?" emails.

✓ Live now

Reorder reminders

Per-title thresholds — we'll email you when it's been long enough since the last print run that you'll likely want to reprint. Combined with stock-tracking, never run out unexpectedly again.

✓ Live now

Stock-on-hand tracking

Tell us your starting stock. We use your dispatch history and your sales velocity to predict when you'll run out — and quote your next reprint before you've even noticed.

Coming Q3 2026

Your named book specialist

One human contact who knows your titles, your preferences, your last run. Replies the same day. Picks up the phone. Stays on your account. Not a ticket queue.

✓ Live now
An honest comparison

What you get with us. What you get with the typical large book printer.

Big printers do some things well — large-run economics, distribution scale, established trade relationships. We do other things well. Here's where the differences actually show up in your day-to-day publishing operation.

What matters to your monthly workflow
Imprint Digital
Typical large book printer
Minimum print run
10 copies
250–500 copies typical
Quote turnaround
Instant — calculator on every page
Days, sales-rep mediated
Short-run turnaround
5 working days, guaranteed
3–4 weeks for short runs
Named contact per account
Yes — same person, every job
Account manager rotates
In-browser file preflight
Free, interactive, instant feedback
Submit, get rejected, fix, resubmit
Per-title spec memory
Yes — versioned, one-click reprint
Re-supply every reprint
Master file vault
Yes — versioned, downloadable
Files release on request, often paid
ONIX metadata generation
Free with every print job (Q2 2026)
Not offered — you use a separate SaaS
In-house production
100% Devon, no outsourcing
Multi-plant network, some outsourced
Risk-reversal on first job
100 copies of one title, on us
Standard pricing from day one
Best for
Indie publishers printing 50–1,000 copies
Trade publishers printing 5,000+ copies

If you're printing 5,000+ copies per run regularly, the big printers' large-run economics will probably beat us. If you're printing 50–1,000 copies once a month, it's not close.

How switching actually works

Four steps. About a week, end to end.

No long contracts, no migration consultants, no waiting for sales sign-off. We do the legwork; you confirm at each step.

01

15-minute call

Tell us about your titles, your typical run sizes, your distribution channels. We'll explain how each of the three risk-free moves works for your situation.

Day 1 · 15 min
02

Send your title list

An ISBN list, a spreadsheet, or your last invoice. We'll spec everything in our system for you and send back a backlist quote document within 24 hours.

Day 1–2 · 24h turnaround
03

First job, our cost

Pick your most-reprinted title. We'll print 100 copies and ship to you to compare. You hold the books in your hands within a week of saying yes.

Day 3–7 · 5 working days
04

You decide

If the books are good, your account is already set up — place your next paid reprint at the prices you've already seen. If not, no further commitment, keep the test copies.

Day 7+ · No pressure
4.9
★★★★★
132 verified Google reviews · see all on Google →
30+ years Producing books in Devon since the late 1990s. The team you'll talk to has been here for years, not weeks.
240+ indie titles in 2025 Independent and small publishers are our core customer — not a sideline. Your scale is exactly the scale we're built for.
Trading parent: Imprint Academic Ltd Our sister business is itself a UK publisher. We understand publishing from the inside — not just the printing.
Common questions

What people actually ask before switching.

How long does the switch actually take?

A first test print run takes about a week from the initial call. Migrating an entire backlist depends on size — for a 30-title catalogue, with our help, you'd be fully set up within 5-10 working days. For larger backlists, we'll spec everything in batches so you can start placing orders before the full migration is complete. You don't have to move everything at once.

What happens to the files at my current printer?

Your content stays yours — copyright in the manuscript and cover never transferred to the printer. Getting the production files physically back is usually possible but not always automatic: some printers release on request, most charge a release fee, a few drag their feet. We'll write the request letter on your behalf, follow it up if needed, and cover the release fee up to £200/title. Once we have them, your masters live in your Imprint file vault — version-controlled and downloadable any time.

Can I keep using my current printer for some titles?

Of course — there's no exclusivity clause and no contract. Some publishers run hybrid arrangements (us for short runs and reprints, big printer for occasional 5,000-copy releases) for years. We'd rather earn each book on its merits than lock you in.

What if I'm in the middle of an active print run elsewhere?

No problem. Finish that run with your current printer; switching only applies to future jobs. We can spec your in-flight title in our system today so you have a quote ready for the next reprint when you need it.

Will the print quality match what I'm used to?

That's exactly what the "100 copies on us" offer is designed to test. You receive the books, hold them next to your last run from your current printer, decide for yourself. We're confident enough in the comparison to underwrite it.

How does the ONIX metadata generation work?

Once you have a title in your Hub with files and spec confirmed, you fill in the distribution metadata fields once (publication date, retail price, subject codes, blurb). Click "Export ONIX" and you get a compliant ONIX 3.0 XML file ready to send to Ingram, Gardners, or any other distributor. Free with every print job — no separate subscription, no per-record fee. (This feature ships in Q2 2026; existing customers get it automatically when it goes live.) Full ONIX deep dive →

Are there any contracts or commitments?

No. Each job is a job. We earn the next one by doing this one well. The closest thing to a commitment is our annual rate-lock option — if you commit to a minimum number of reprints in the year, we lock in today's pricing for 12 months. Optional, not required.

Who at Imprint will I actually be dealing with?

A named book specialist on every account — same person for every job, picks up the phone, replies the same day. We're a small enough team that this is genuinely how it works, not a marketing line. Get on a 15-minute call and you'll meet whoever you'd be working with directly.

Stop chasing your printer. Let your printer chase your reprints.

The first move is yours. Pick whichever feels easiest — invoice match, test print, or file extraction help. Or just book a call and we'll talk through the right starting point for your situation.