gewusst wie
Häufig gestellte Fragen
Dieser Teil unserer Webseite ist leider noch nicht ins Deutsche übersetzt worden. Wir bitten dies zu entschuldigen.
- What forms of payment does Feedfabrik accept?
At the moment we use PayPal as payment partner. However, you do not need a PayPal account but you can also pay by credit card without registering with PayPal.
- What is PayPal?
PayPal is an online payment provider owned by eBay. Have a look at the PayPal website to learn more.
- How do I use PayPal to pay for an order?
At the checkout we will guide you to the PayPal website. PayPal will ask you if you already have a PayPal account or not. If not, you do not need to create one but you can simply pay with your credit card. If you do have a PayPal account, you can login to pay with your bank account, PayPal credit or credit card. After PayPal collected your payment, you will automatically be directed back to our website.
- How do I sign up for PayPal?
It is not necessary to sign up with PayPal in order to use it for payment. However, if you like, you can sign up during the check out process.
- What if I'm having problems using PayPal?
PayPal has a very good customer support site and you can contact them directly. If you're totally stuck or you feel that PayPal took your money but you're not sure we received your order, please get in touch with the Feedfabrik support.
- I've noticed that all prices are in Euros. What does that mean?
Euros are the common currency of many European countries. You can easily convert that to US Dollars or any other currency with a currency converter, e.g. OANDA.
- What happens after I placed an order?
First, we will confirm by email that we received your order with an order-entry receipt. Once we received payment confirmation from our payment provider and after checking and accepting your order, we'll send you an order confirmation by email. After that, you get further emails whenever the production status of your order changes.
- What is a order-entry receipt?
This email tells you that we received your order and now wait for payment confirmation from our payment provider before we can take any further action. Typically, we receive this payment confirmation in short time.
- What is a order confirmation?
Once we've received the payment confirmation from our payment provider, we check if your order can be produced. Once we've accepted your order for production, you'll get an order confirmation message.
- What is a shipping confirmation?
Once we've shipped your order you will receive a notification by email.
- Can I change my order?
Unfortunately, no. You cannot change your order once you've purchased it. Our process is highly automated, and once you order, your book immediately queues up at our printers. And, at that point, you cannot change your copy, your images, your shipping address, your binding or paper choice, etc. Your book could literally start printing as soon as its transmitted to the printers.
- Can I cancel my order?
Unfortunately, no. Once you've placed the order we prepare everything for printing your custom book just for you. Even if we stop this process in the middle (which is not so easy) we still would have the full cost. That's why we cannot offer cancellations.
- Can I change the shipping address after I've placed my order?
Unfortunately, no. Our automated production takes the address you've entered upon order and prepares the invoice and packaging right away. It is not possible to change that once production has started.
- Which countries do you deliver products to?
We ship to all European Union countries plus Australia, United States, and Canada. If you would like to ship somewhere else, please get in touch with us before ordering and we can check if that's possible.
- How long does the production of my order take?
Book production takes approximately 5 to 6 business days after confirmation of your order for softbound books. Hard cover books take a bit longer. Poster production also takes around 5 to 6 business days.
- How long does the delivery of my order take?
This very much depends on the country the product is delivered to. We ship from Germany and within Germany shipping normally takes only 1-2 days. Inside the European Union it can take up to a week. Outside the European Union customers have reported shipping times from as few as 5 days to as many as 14 days.
- How much will it cost to ship my order?
Shipping cost is primarily based on weight and destination. It can be as low as Euro 4.95 but of course that goes up with larger orders or for overseas countries. The exact cost will be shown to you once you've entered your shipping address on the order screen. For non-European Union orders all local duties, customs, and taxes that apply must be paid by the recipient upon delivery.
- My order hasn’t arrived yet. How do I check my order status?
We send you an email whenever the production status of your order changes. For books, that typically means you get a message when we receive the order, a second message when we accept and confirm your order, a third message when the order entered the print queue, a fourth message when the actual printing has started, a fifth message when printing is finished and start packaging and a sixth and last message once we've shipped your order. That way, you should know exactly where you stand with your order.
- What if I am not happy with the printed product I receive? Can I return it?
Unfortunately, no. We print the products according to your custom specifications with your personal content. That means, we cannot take it back. You can find the details in our terms of use.
- But what about electronic products, can I return these?
Unfortunately, no. That doesn't make any sense. You could easily copy it and then return it, we wouldn't know and nobody would pay. However, all the products have a preview. Don't buy if you don't like the preview.
- What is Feedfabrik?
Feedfabrik is a print-on-demand services that takes your content on your behalf, typesets it into print products and prints them as single copies just for you. We offer high quality books with professional layouts and high quality print, just like published books. We also print high quality posters. Feedfabrik does not offer any download software as we believe this is too difficult to install for many users and just a source of frustration. Our software works online pushes your order straight into our printshop. There is no minimum order - you can get a single copy if you like.
- What is print-on-demand?
Print-on-demand means we print the products only once you've placed your order, i.e. on your demand. This is different from the traditional book printing business, where printers would do large print runs and then store the books in an inventory, hoping to sell them one day. Obviously, that wouldn't be possible for personal books where you might want to order just a single copy.
- Where are you located?
The Feedfabrik headquarters are located in Hamburg, Germany.
- Where is my book printed?
We print your books in Germany - employing best German craftsmanship.
- How do I contact Feedfabrik?
The best way to contact us is via our support team. For a general discussion of features, you can also go to our feedback forum.
- What exactly are you doing to protect my account information?
We never share your account information with anyone. We don't store it so it cannot be stolen from us either. Actually, if you use our WordPress plugin, we don't even see your account information, so that's the safest way. Any purchase you make is protected under our privacy policy and terms and conditions.
- What happens if my content is in violation of Feedfabrik's terms of use?
In case we determine that you violate our terms, we will stop production right away and destroy the product. There is no refund for you. If the content is illegal, we will have to report your order to the authorities. That means, if you plan to print illegal stuff, go somewhere else.
- Which content sources do you support?
Currently, we support blogger.com / blogspot.com, WordPress.com, self-hosted WordPress blogs and Vox. However, the Vox platform has been shutdown in 2010, so that's not available anymore. We are working on tumblr and TypePad right now.
- How do I load my content into your printing application?
Go to bookfabrik, select your content source and - if required - enter the your platform credentials. The click the green button. If you have a self-hosted WordPress blog, you can use our special plugin for direct, secure access.
- Where can I download the WordPress plugin?
Inside your WordPress admin interface go to the plugin section and search for "feedfabrik". Alternatively, you can download the plugin at wordpress.org.
- I have more than one blog on my platform. How can I choose which one to print?
Once you've connected our application with the platform, we will find out which blogs you own. After first connection, we will typeset your first blog automatically. Once ready, you'll see a preview of the book, but also a list of your other blogs. If you like, you can then click on any other blog to have that processed.
- Can I combine various blogs to create one book of them all, one book to bind them?
Sorry, not at the moment. If this is a feature you'd like to have please leave us a message.
- How can I switch sources and create a blogbook from a different blog platform?
If you would like to change to another blog platform, you have to go back to the "connect" screen.
- Are there any restrictions regarding the content of my book, such as nudity or any other content which may be considered offensive or even illegal?
We do not print any illegal content. We also don't allow certain other content. You can find the details in our terms of use.
- Can I print other people's stuff?
You need to have the permission to process and print content that you don't own or where you don't have the copyright. It is your responsibility to make sure that your action is legal. You can find the details in our terms of use.
- How long will it take to create my book?
Fetching your data and generating a layout of your book usually takes around 30 seconds but can vary, depending on how much text and how many images your blog has.
- How can I influence the layout of my book?
You can refine the layout of your book by changing the design configurations. You can make changes to the design by using the icons on the to the left of your open book on the design desk. Once you have changed design-configurations the book needs to be regenerated. This is done by clicking the "regenerate" button on the lower left of the screen.
- How do I change the cover of my book?
Please use the cover menu on the left to see the available designs. Then click the design of your choice. Finally, you need to regenerate the book.
- Can I upload my own cover design?
No, that's not possible right now. If this is a feature you'd like to have please leave us a message.
- My blog is in reverse chronological order (newest entries first). Is the book the same?
By default, the book is resorted to chronological order (oldest entries first). However, you can use the order menu and change the order back to reverse chronological order if you like.
- Do I always have to print my whole blog?
No, you can select the entries by setting a start and an end date. Only entries between these two dates will be included in the book. Use the date range menu for this setting.
- When I see my first book, it always shows only the current year. Can I change that?
Absolutely. Use the date range menu to set the start and end date or click "all" to have your full blog processed.
- How do I change the type of font used in my book?
Currently, we only offer only one type of font. If this is a feature you'd like to have please leave us a message.
- What does the "Your Configuration has changed" message mean?
Whenever you change a layout or design option for your book, you need to regenerate the preview. The reason for this is that we use a professional typesetting engine that doesn't work like simple text editors (like, e.g., Microsoft Word) where any change is visible right away.
- Can I save my book-design and return later to continue my work?
Unfortunately, that's not possible right now. If this is a feature you'd like to have please leave us a message.
- How do I edit the text of my book on the design desk?
The design desk allows you to select contents from your blog and design for it a book layout, but not to edit any of the content directly. After all, your blog platform is the place where the blog content itself lives and resides. To avoid any duplicates and version issues it is best to make any edits and corrections at the source itself and then re-generate the book by changing one of the configuration settings and pressing the "re-generate book" in the bottom left corner of the design desk.
- Do you optimize photos automatically?
Yes, your photos are automatically processed. Small photos and graphics are left small (like, e.g. smilies in the text) and large photos are scaled down to fit on the page.
- What is the best resolution for the images in my book?
The larger the images the better the printing. If you have only small images in your blog, the resulting print will not look super crisp. To avoid this, either use large images or at least put a link from any image to a high-resolution version of the same picture. That way, we can retrieve the high-resolution one and use that for print.
- Will the printed images look exactly like those on my screen?
Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that the images of your book will match escatly those of your computer screen or even your home printer. To get them to match would require a sophisticated calibration of your screen relative to a printing norm, which is to all intents and purposes unfeasible. The best way to check that your book is the way you'd like it to be is to order a printed copy.
- Can I “fix” images on the design desk?
The design desk not a photo-editing tool. The way to change the immages is to edit them with appropriate tools (e.g. Adobe'S Photoshop etc.), place the edited picture in your blog, the primary source of your content, and then import them automatically from your blog when creating your book.
- What do I need to know about color spaces of the pictures in my book?
Nothing really, we take care of all that. In the background RGB pictures are converted first to sRGB and then to CMYK. If you're a professional graphics artist or photographer, you can try to put all your images into the CMYK space yourself, but normally there is no need to worry about this.
- Why don't I see a book on my design desk but a blank white space instead?
The book preview makes use of Adobe Flash. If you don't have Flash installed on your computer, you cannot see the preview on the design desk and get an error. Luckily, these days almost all computers have Flash installed - well, unless you own an Apple iPad in which case you're stuck because Apple doesn't like Flash. All other users can download and install the latest version of Flash for free directly from the Adobe website.
- I have Flash installed but still don't see the preview book
Sometimes (typically on slower computers) the preview book fails to load. Please use your browsers refresh/reload button to reload the current page. The book should then be displayed.
- What browsers does Bookfabrik support?
We support all major browsers that our members use, e.g.: Internet Explorer 7 and newer, Firefox 3 and newer, Chrome 8 and newer, Opera and Safari. Safari on iPad unfortunately is not supported, because Apple does not allow Flash to run on the iPad. If you experience any functional or layout issues while using one of the above browsers with our site, please let us know.
- What is a Print Proof, how does it differ from an electronic book?
The print proof PDF file is a file that shows your book just like we send it to the printer. It is perfect to make sure that everything looks like you expect. The printed book will look the same. The print proof file has crop marks around the content which are used to cut the printed pages out of the larger print sheet. You won't see these in the printed book. Also, the print proof is on a larger sheet than the finished book, as the book content is only inside the crop marks. The electronic book version of the PDF has the inner page already cut out of the crop marks. Essentially, it looks more like a "normal" PDF file you would expect. For sharing and safe-keeping, this is much nicer.
- What is a PDF anyway?
PDF is a file format, just like .doc (for Microsoft Word) or .ppt (for Microsoft Powerpoint). It is an acronym for Portable Document Format, which has been developed by Adobe and can be viewed in Adobe Reader. Luckily, these days almost all computers have Adobe Reader installed. If not, you can download and install the latest version of Adobe Reader for free directly from the Adobe website. The advantage of PDF is that your document will look exactly the same on whatever computer your view it. That sounds simple but it is not - simply open a Microsoft Word document on two different computers and you'll see that they with all likelihood look slightly different.
- What quality of books can I expect at Feedfabrik?
We love books. That means we are really putting a lot of effort into producing very nice books. The books are professionally printed and look like books you'd find on the shelves of your bookshop. In fact, your book is manufactured side by side to books for large publishing houses. Your book is printed on machines are latest technology high-end digital printers which consistently produce crisp black-and-white text pages and vibrant colour images. The binding is state of the art of professional binding using high-end techniques that give a sturdy and durable book. We've written about this on our blog.
- What kind of prints can I get of my book?
We offer you a range of choices to choose from. You can select the paper type, the binding and if you prefer black/white or colour.
- What kind of formats can I chose from?
Right now there is only one format: A5. This is an international paper size standard set in ISO 216. It should be familiar to most people, but is not so common in the US.
- What are the metric measurements for the A5 book size?
A5 is 148 mm wide and 210 mm high. That's essentially have the size of A4.
- What are the imperial measurements for the book sizes?
A5 is 5.83 inches wide and 8.27 inches high. That's roughly have the size of the Letter format (which is 8.5 x 11 inches).
- What kind of paper types are on offer?
We offer three types of paper: plain white paper, plain creme paper and photo quality paper. For black and white printing, we recommend the plain white or creme paper. Especially the creme paper will give your book a very professional look. For colour images we recommend the plain white or photo paper. Colour will be more vibrant on the photo paper and the paper is also much thicker. However, the plain white paper also gives great results with colour images.
- What kind of bindings can I chose from?
We offer hardcover and softcover books. Covers are always printing in full colour, even if you choose black and white printing for the inside of the book. The softcover is laminated to make it more durable. The hardcover is quite strong and bound by hand by our bookbinder. The surface is smooth with a matte finish and nice to touch. There are no flaps.
- Can I print my book with colour pictures in black and white?
The interior pages of a black and white book are produced using half-tone printing (as seen in black and white newspaper images) and are printed on off-white text paper. There is no need for you to convert your pictures into black and white. We do it for you. The cover is always printed in full colour.
- Is my printed book acid free?
Yes, all our books are printed on acid free paper and thus very durable.
- How much will my book cost? Is there a calculator somewhere?
The cost of your book depends on the number of pages you print, the binding, the colour option and the paper type. Therefore, each price needs to be calculated individually for your book and your choice of features. We found that it is easiest to always show the current price next to the book inside our application. That way, you always know exactly what you're going to pay for what you just have on the screen. We don't have a general calculator as we find it rather confusing.
- Ok, there is no general calculator, but where do prices start?
Prices start below 10 Euro for small books in black and white, plain white paper and soft binding.
- Are taxes included in your prices?
Yes, our prices include 7% VAT which we have to charge throughout Europe. We do not charge taxes for shipments outside of the European Union but you migh incurr extra customs charges upon delivery.
- Is there a minimum order?
No. We can print single copies of your book.
- Is there a volume discount?
Yes, we do offer volume discounts. If you order two rather than copy of a book, for example, the second will be slightly cheaper. The discounts on offer are shown once you've created your book. Go and check it out.
- How do you set your global prices?
Prices are the same for all countries. The only difference is in shipping cost. You'll see the shipping cost for your country at the check out.
- I've noticed that all prices are in Euros. What does that mean?
Euros are the common currency of many European countries. You can easily convert that to US Dollars or any other currency with a currency converter, e.g. OANDA.
- Can I get a PDF copy of my book?
Absolutely. You can buy a "normal" PDF of your book. Essentially, it looks like the print proof PDF (that is free) but without the crop-marks.
- Can I get an ebook version of my book?
Right now that's not possible. If this is a feature you'd like to have please leave us a message.
- Can I sell the book, which I have designed and printed at Feedfabrik?
Provided you own the copyright of all the content, you can certainly sell your book. In fact, you can do with it whatever you please.
- Can you help me selling my book?
We don't offer such a service right now but might do so in the future. If this is a feature you'd like to have please leave us a message.
- Do I need an ISBN number if I want to sell my book?
Not necessarily. The ISBN number is a unique book-ID which enables publishers, booksellers and libraries to identify your title. It is only required if you want to sell your title through the book stores or online via retailer like Amazon.
- The book appears to have a barcode on its cover. Is this an ISBN?
It very much looks like an ISBN, but no, this code is used for production only.
- What is an ISBN Number?
An ISBN number is a 13-digit key and a unique identfier of a published book. An ISBN number is required if you want to market your book via the sales and distribution channels of the book publishing industry. ISBN numbers are generally issued to authors by their publishers who in turn get them from their respective national ISBN-Agency. We're not a publishing house and thus do not issue or sell ISBN numbers. If this is a feature you'd like to have please leave us a message.
- If I sell my book, who is the publisher?
It is your book and you are the publisher. We're only the typesetter and printer.
- How do I get a copyright for my book?
If the content of your book was created by you, you as the author automatically hold the copyright of the book. The copyright stays where it is when you use our layout and printing services.
- Do I keep the full rights of my content?
Of course you do. If it is your content, it remains your content. Think of us as your local copy shop. They don't acquire any rights in your stuff if you run it over their machines either.
- Is Feedfabrik a publisher?
No. We merely provide a layout- and printing service to you. You can find the details in our terms of use.
