How Do I Create My Own Printed Book? Order Your Story, Delivered

You create your own printed book in one place: you speak your story aloud, AI assembles the speech into chapters and a finished book, and when the text is ready you order it as a real printed book directly from Vellu — softcover or hardcover, delivered to you. You need no publisher, no layout software and no separate print shop. Softcover starts at €49.95 and hardcover at €69.95, shipped across the EU/EEA, and you always see the price and delivery before you pay.

The moment you hold your own book — the covers, the spine, your name on it — is a different thing from a file on a screen. Many people who began with "I'm no writer" end up standing in the kitchen holding a new hardcover, not quite sure what to say. This guide is about getting your own story to that point: finished, and printed. A printed book is the end of the whole journey; if you want to see how the story comes into being in the first place, by speaking, read our main guide on writing a book about your life.

How do you turn your story into a printed book?

By speaking. You record your memories and thoughts into Vellu, AI transcribes the speech and assembles it into structured chapters, and you edit the text until it reads the way you want. Once the book is finished, printing is one step in the same app: you pick the binding and size, preview the final book, and order it. Vellu sends the files to the printer and the book is delivered to you.

The point is that you never leave Vellu. The content, the layout, the cover and the order all live in one place. You don't need to know how to write, how to typeset, or how to order anything from an outside service.

Softcover or hardcover?

Both are available, and the choice mostly comes down to feeling and purpose. Softcover (from €49.95) is a perfect-bound paperback with a full-colour matte cover — light, affordable and perfectly good when you want several copies to hand out. Hardcover (from €69.95) is a durable casewrap hardback that looks and feels like a gift and survives years of reading. If the book is a milestone present or a shared family keepsake, hardcover is usually the right call.

You choose from two sizes: A5 (the default, a comfortable size for a memoir or story book) or the larger Royal. If your book has images, you can pick a black-and-white or colour interior — colour is offered on the A5 size. The cover is always full colour either way.

What does a printed book cost?

The base price — softcover €49.95, hardcover €69.95 (VAT included) — covers a book of up to 150 pages. Longer books add €1.00 per 10 pages (€3.50 per 10 pages in colour). A colour interior is €25 extra on the A5 size. Standard delivery across the EU/EEA is free; express delivery is €14.95 where it's offered. Ordering several copies earns a discount: 10% off 2–4 copies and 20% off 5 or more, up to 25 copies per order.

Printed books are paid in euros — by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or (in Finland) online bank payment — and they are separate from Vellu's credit system. Credits are spent on making the book in the app (for example transcription, which costs one credit per minute of audio); the printed copy is a one-time euro purchase on top of that. You always see the final total — book, shipping and VAT itemised — before you pay.

Can I design the cover myself?

You can. By default Vellu makes a clean typographic cover with the title and author name clearly set and the spine width computed from your book's page count — so you're not guessing at anything. If you want a cover of your own, the Cover Designer lets you lay out the full wrap yourself: front cover, spine and back cover, with your own text, fonts, colours and images. Guides show the trim and the fold lines, so the result fits the printer's canvas exactly.

Before ordering you press Preview and see the whole book as a print file: the full cover spread and the interior at your chosen size. You don't pay anything to see what the final book will look like. You can include a table of contents and page numbers if you'd like.

How is this different from the old way of printing a book?

Getting your own book into print used to mean one of two things: you found a publisher and hoped your manuscript wasn't rejected — or you did everything yourself. Doing it yourself meant learning layout software, getting an ISBN, finding a print service, ordering proof copies, and adjusting margins, bleed and spine width until the file was finally fit to print. It was a project on top of writing the book.

In Vellu those steps are gone. The layout is built from your chapters automatically, the cover tool computes the spine for you, the preview shows exactly the file that goes to print, and one click sends it into production. You can follow the order in the app — files being prepared, sent to the printer, printing, and shipped with a tracking link — and you get the confirmation and delivery details by email.

Can I print a book I made with AI?

In Vellu you can — but it's worth understanding what that means. Vellu doesn't spin a book out of a prompt at the press of a button. You tell your own story aloud, and AI transcribes, structures and smooths the speech into readable text. The content and the memories are yours; the book is about your life, not something a model invented. That's exactly why the printed book feels like your own — it's your story bound between covers, not machine-made filler.

This is what sets Vellu apart from plain print services, where you upload a manuscript made elsewhere. In Vellu the book is created and printed in the same place — which also means you needn't worry about copyright: when you've told your own life story, the text is your own expression. We go into that in more depth in AI and copyright.

Who is a printed book for?

For anyone to whom a book is a gift or a legacy, not a file. A hardcover life story is a milestone present for a parent or grandparent who already has everything. A shared family keepsake takes its proper form when it's something you can hold and hand to each person. And many people make the book above all for themselves — as proof that their own story was worth telling.

If you'd rather read on a screen or take your book to another print service, the same finished book downloads as an e-book (EPUB, PDF) and a Word file at no extra cost. A printed book is one way to get your story into your hands — often the most moving one.

Try Vellu, tell your story by speaking, and order it as your own printed book delivered to you. We've covered the manuscript-to-finished-book step separately in speak your book into being.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I create my own printed book with Vellu?

You record your story by speaking, AI assembles the speech into a structured book, and once the text is ready you choose the binding and size, preview the final book, and order it in print. Vellu sends the files to the printer and the book is delivered to you. It all happens in the same app, with no publisher or separate print service.

How much does my own printed book cost?

Softcover starts at €49.95 and hardcover at €69.95 (VAT included), and the base price covers a book of up to 150 pages. Longer books add a euro per 10 pages, and a colour interior is €25 extra on the A5 size. Standard delivery across the EU/EEA is free. You always see the final total, including delivery, before you pay.

Is a printed book paid for with credits?

No. Printed books are paid in euros — by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or (in Finland) online bank payment — and are separate from the credit system. Credits are spent on making the book in the app, such as transcription (one credit per minute of audio). The printed copy is a one-time euro purchase on top of that.

Can I order several copies, for example for the whole family?

Yes. A single order can be for several copies, with a quantity discount: 10% off 2–4 copies and 20% off 5 or more, up to 25 copies per order. That's handy for a family reunion or a milestone celebration where the book is given to many people.

Can I see what the book looks like before I pay?

Yes. The Preview button opens the whole book as a print file — the cover spread and the interior at your chosen size — with no payment or order required. You can check the cover, the layout and the page numbers before you confirm.

Can I use my own print service instead of Vellu's?

Yes. The same finished book downloads as an e-book (EPUB and PDF) and as an editable Word file at no extra cost, so you can take it to any print service you like. Vellu's own printing exists so that, if you want, the whole journey from speech to a book in your hands happens in one place.