Avid Readers Publishing Group

Yes. I worked with ARPG last month. Fast, individual attention and very reasonable prices.
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http://andiriel.blogspot.com

They seem to sell only through the Barnes and Noble website and many of their books are listed there with just a title and cover, no blurb, page count or other information. That does not strike me as a way to sell a lot of books?

Website here.

Looks like a vanity outfit charging from $199 upwards to then POD your books.

I'm not clear on how you'd earn back that initial outlay other than by selling books for more than the cover price (and even then, you'd have to sell a lot of books).

They do pay royalties, but the amount is determined by the author (not clear how).

Books are listed on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, but no in-store placement and essentially the author will do all the marketing work.

No real reason to go with them that I can see.

MM

My Amazon search brings up three pages of books, and all the ones I looked at had product summaries, including the one Veinglory linked to on Barnes and Noble.

Seems to be straightforward vanity/assisted self-publishing with reasonable up front fees and reasonable book prices. They don't make any outrageous claims that I saw either.

I went to B&N because the publisher bookstore sends customers there. So the might want to update those fields. I would note that to find their book of the month you have to click 4-5 pages deep and then go to barnes and noble (the cover is not linked). And having doen so i still fail to appreciate what the book may be about?

I dount they would accomplish much more than Createspace does for $39? Just my opinion.

ARPG is indeed a POD outfit, not a traditional publisher, and its clients will indeed be doing their own promotion and will not be carried in bookstores--the books will be at Amazon and B&N. My short answer was based on the belief that deborahnk knows the difference between regular and POD (subsidy, "vanity") publishers. The best way to get published is, of course, to get an agent, and for the agent to sell your book to an advance-paying publisher.

Vomaxx said:

My short answer was based on the belief that deborahnk knows the difference between regular and POD (subsidy, "vanity") publishers.

Click to expand...

I don't know if you intended this, but it reads as though you're implying POD and vanity publishing are the same thing. POD is merely a printing method, and used by a lot of non-fee charging publishers. It is the flavour of choice for vanity these days, since it doesn't require the large outlay offset printing does, but it doesn't automatically indicate a vanity publisher.

Yes, I know that POD is a process used by many publishers; but the term "POD Publisher" may, I think, be used to designate subsidy publishers, such as AuthorHouse and Booklocker, whose products are made available via POD, rather than others where the customer is obligated to buy a large number of bound books.

If you are planning to go POD, and also planning to self-publish, and willing to pay an up-front fee, IMHO this is far from the best option. I would suggest looking at Adventine, Createspace and Lulu.