Announcement by Ingrams no more stocking POD books
Below is an email posted at the PA site
www.publishamerica.com/cg...e/6156.htm
How can this event be used to show PublishAmerica is posting false statements on their web site.
Begin Post:
Here's something from Dan Poynter I think you should be aware of:
INGRAM DISCONTINUES STOCKING PRINT-ON-DEMAND BOOKS
"Print-on-Demand" (POD) book publishing has grown impressively in recent years. Once a technology most often associated with vanity presses or
obscure academic material with limited public appeal, POD has more recently gained growing confidence from mainstream publishers and bookstores.
Previously, the leading wholesale distributor of POD books, the Ingram Book Company (IBC) typically kept one or two copies of each title on hand, permitting rapid fulfillment of orders from retailers.
But according to breaking reports from publishers, IBC will no longer warehouse even one or two copies of most POD books.
The new IBC policy appears to impact even POD books with steady public demand and those that are fully returnable. In other words, in most cases Ingram will no longer warehouse POD books at all, even when several are sold every month and/or the publisher agrees in advance to buy back any unsold
inventory.
As a result, when booksellers want to order POD books, they will see no stock on hand and will need to backorder. The problem with this scenario is that many retailers are reluctant to backorder, since backorders traditionally take weeks or months to fill. While some argue that Ingram's POD printer, LightningSource, Inc. (LSI) has proven its ability to deliver
backordered books in days, many booksellers still require at least a bare minimum of stock before they report ready availability to consumers.
Leading online booksellers are already starting to list longer shipping times for some POD books, up to 10 days or more in some cases. Some dotcom retailers, such as BarnesandNoble.com may not show some POD books available
at all, when Ingram has literally zero copies on hand.
As a result, pundits quip that LSI's slogan "The Power of One" may need to change to "The Power of None."
For POD books with moderate public demand (even as few as 5-10 orders per month) the abrupt IBC policy change almost certainly means fewer sales.
In theory, the idea of printing books only after they are ordered by consumers remains an exciting concept; however, in real life it is slower and less efficient to print books that sell steadily, month after month, one at a time.
Moreover, publishers who offer books on a returnable basis (normally required for stocking by major bookstores) agree in advance to buy back unsold inventory, and question why IBC will not maintain dependable inventories, when the publisher assumes all the risk.
Some publishing industry observers speculate that the policy change by Ingram comes in response to a flood of marginal POD books from vanity presses in recent years; many of these releases sell few (if any) copies after publication. Tens of thousands of vanity press titles, multiplied even by one or two copies each, could be responsible for a huge accumulation
of books with dismal sales records in IBC warehouses.
However, the new IBC policy fails to make distinctions between POD books with proven public appeal and those that are returnable, versus the glut of non-returnable vanity press material that may be clogging Ingram warehouses.
It also seems unlikely to clear out any accumulation of marginal books, since most of them are non-returnable. Meanwhile it may hurt better POD books that are returnable and/or sell regularly, leaving their authors and publishers to scramble for better distribution options on short notice.
Ingram is trying to educate the stores according to David Prentice at LSI.
Some observers find this development an example of "punishing the innocent" while "protecting the guilty," and likely to reduce the revenues of Ingram itself, along with its better POD publishers.
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Dee