Expediting Orders
Information about expediting orders
How Our Expedite Service Can Help Meet Your Deadline
NOTE: There is no expedite service during our holiday rush period from November 15 - December 31.
Expediting. What Is It?
For those in a hurry, we offer an expedite service for orders that fall under certain categories. There are some restrictions as outlined below.
This Is Not A Guarantee, Have A Backup Plan
Things go wrong with print on demand manufacturing. Sometimes books just won't print. Sometimes machinery breaks. Sometimes a giant snow storm shuts down airports and brings shipping to a halt. Things happen. Have a plan for what to do if you do not receive your products in time.
If you have no Plan B, our expedite service is not for you.
We promise to do our very best to get your order delivered in time. Sometimes, due to various reasons, we are not able to meet the deadline. (about 1 out of 20 expedites do not meet deadlines.)
Please review the FAQ’s and Tips below for some important information about expediting your order.
What Can Be Expedited?
To expedite your order, the following requirements must be met:
- Delivery address must be to a Domestic US Address
- Order must be placed prior to 3pm EST to meet specified deadlines
- Order quantity must be less than 10 copies
- All Imagewrap Softcover products can be expedited
- Most Hardcover products can be expedited, with a few restrictions
Most Softcover products (with either Silk 120 or Premium 150 paper) smaller than or equal to the 9x7 Landscape and 8.5x11 portrait can ship the next business day if ordered by 3PM EST.
Most Hardcover products (with Silk 120, Premium 150, or Lustre 200 paper) can ship in two business days if ordered by 3PM EST.
Please Note: Die-Cut Hardcovers, Wire-O’s, Text-Only books and a few Imagewrap Hardcovers (7x5, 6x9) are not eligible for our expedite service.
A Few More FAQs
Expedited orders go through an alternate manufacturing process. This inherently makes it more costly and more risky for us.
We charge an additional 25% of your order total, including shipping.
As with any publishing company manufacturing precedes shipping on all orders.
Expediting an order speeds up ONLY the order's manufacturing time. Choose a shipping method that meets your deadline combined with the manufacturing time. USPS Priority Mail does not guarantee delivery, so for time sensitive orders we suggest using FedEx as your carrier.
For orders with extreme time-sensitive deadlines, FedEx Overnight Priority guarantees shipping by 11:30am EST after the production times.
A common approach is to expedite an order with FedEx 2 Day shipping for a good combination of speed and cost.
We will refund the expedite fee and ONLY the expedite fee if it doesn't arrive in time.
You will not be able to cancel the order, as it has already gone through the production process. If this makes you uncomfortable, we suggest you consider alternate solutions.
If expediting your order is a necessity, follow the steps below to ensure your order is ready!
Review Your Project's Cropping
If the project has vital content that is subject to being trimmed during production you will be contacted. This greatly slows down the process, so please review all crop-guides before placing an expedited order.
Also check out our page on Cropping And Bleed.
Seriously, have a backup plan!
We’re serious. If you have to expedite your order, make sure you have a “Just In Case” plan of action for… you know, just in case.
Choose an appropriate shipping method
When you need to meet a deadline, please make sure you select the shipping method to best accomplish that task. If you expedite your order, but have USPS Media Mail Parcel as your shipping method, your book will be printed fast, but delivered slow. And we mean slow, as USPS Media Mail Parcel takes 2-3 weeks on average.
Review our Shipping Options page for more information on the available shipping methods.
If you have made it this far, you are clearly committed!
To proceed with an expedite, simply add the desired books to your cart. After selecting your shipping method, you will see an order comment box. Include a note saying something like “I would like this order expedited if possible, I approve of the additional fees associated with this.”
Once the order has been reviewed and moved into production we will contact you confirming the ship date!
Feel free to send us an email or hop on Live Chat once you've placed the order with your comments to confirm that we received your note and that the order will be expedited.
One word, HURRY!
If you have already placed the order and decide you need to expedite after it's been moved into production, then Contact Us immediately to see if expediting your order is still possible. Usually this will not be an option, because our printing process depends on moving books quickly onto the production floor.
As with all bulk orders, you will first be asked if you want a proof copy sent ahead of your large order. Additional information can be found on our Bulk Orders page.
NOTE: If a proof is waived, we will not be able to print re-orders due to concerns with the uploaded file or pictures (ex: a spelling mistake, content trimmed or folded that's under the crop-guides, poor picture quality, blurry or pixelated images due to low dpi, 3-piece spine, spine-text not aligned properly, unsatisfactory pdf results due to software - see our PDF Specs page, which is why a proof is so highly recommended.
We can expedite up to 10 books at a time, but feel free to Contact Us if you have other questions.
For non-commercial services with the same quality, visit our Presto Photo Expediting Orders page!