May Recommend a new book for POD and self publishers?

james1611 · Jul 20, 2006

There is a very nicely reviewed book available from a former self publisher. This book comes highly recommended by POD-DY MOUTH and by J.C. De La Torres of Luna Brillante Publishing.

I have personally read the book and its full of gold for the would be self publisher or small press published author.

The book is called: POD PEOPLE: Beating the Print on Demand Stigma by Jeremy Robinson.

It's available at Amazon.com and all other online bookstores and available for order in retail bookstore chains.

--James

Lauri B · Jul 20, 2006

Considering that Luna Brillante Publishing just crashed, burned, and went under, I'm not sure that's a terrific endorsement.

james1611 · Jul 20, 2006

Nomad said:
Considering that Luna Brillante Publishing just crashed, burned, and went under, I'm not sure that's a terrific endorsement.

Actually Nomad, If I'm not mistaken their public venture is not taking subs right now, but the De La Torres are still going forward with their own books under Luna Brillante.

At any rate, the book POD PEOPLE is still quite good. Mr. Robinson's sales of his first book which was self published are quite good. The last I heard was 4000 sold state side and published by several foreign language presses overseas, bringing several thousand more. Also the Amazon.com owned Booksurge which normally is a Vanity press--has actually made arrangements with Mr. Robinson to reprint and distribute the same book The Didymus contingency at no cost to him, and at a lower price on Amazon than he was originally selling it through lulu.com for.

POD PEOPLE is based on Mr. Robinson's self publishing experience with his first book The Didymus Contingency. So to have sold very well (for self published) and to have sold foreign language rights and to have had Amazon's vanity press to come ask you to reprint under them at no cost to you as the author, makes his credentials for writing this self publishing guide seem pretty good to me.

I read it when I was thinking of self publishing through lulu.com and I can honestly say it's full of sound wisdom and interesting experience for the would be self pubber or small press author.

--James

James D. Macdonald · Jul 23, 2006

The Didymus Contingency, IIRC, had an absolutely brilliant review in F&SF when they did their "POD People" roundup. (And F&SF has always been more open to self-published and POD than most magazines.)

All that being said, I'm not certain that being picked up by Booksurge is all that much of a success story even if they forwent their usual fee.

Deleted member 42 · Jul 23, 2006

You remember correctly Mr. Macdonald; the review was brilliant.

jcdelatorre · Jul 26, 2006

james1611 said:
Actually Nomad, If I'm not mistaken their public venture is not taking subs right now, but the De La Torres are still going forward with their own books under Luna Brillante.

At any rate, the book POD PEOPLE is still quite good. Mr. Robinson's sales of his first book which was self published are quite good. The last I heard was 4000 sold state side and published by several foreign language presses overseas, bringing several thousand more. Also the Amazon.com owned Booksurge which normally is a Vanity press--has actually made arrangements with Mr. Robinson to reprint and distribute the same book The Didymus contingency at no cost to him, and at a lower price on Amazon than he was originally selling it through lulu.com for.

POD PEOPLE is based on Mr. Robinson's self publishing experience with his first book The Didymus Contingency. So to have sold very well (for self published) and to have sold foreign language rights and to have had Amazon's vanity press to come ask you to reprint under them at no cost to you as the author, makes his credentials for writing this self publishing guide seem pretty good to me.

I read it when I was thinking of self publishing through lulu.com and I can honestly say it's full of sound wisdom and interesting experience for the would be self pubber or small press author.

--James

James is correct...the demise of LBP has been greatly exaggerated....by ME! LBP lives on in the sense that we are still selling books.

The question now is how to we move on in the future. Right now we're leaning toward becoming a true POD publisher (i.e., following in the footsteps of some other publishers like a Llumina Press or Lulu, but with a different model - see my post in in this forum).

Jeremy's book was great and BTW, he has sold over 10,000 copies of Didymus Contingency...a staggering number by POD standards. Didymus for a long time was listed among the Amazon best sellers, Barnes and Noble best sellers and many other lists.

BTW, James, congrats on signing on with Breakneck Books!

james1611 · Jul 27, 2006

jcdelatorre said:
James is correct...the demise of LBP has been greatly exaggerated....by ME! LBP lives on in the sense that we are still selling books.

The question now is how to we move on in the future. Right now we're leaning toward becoming a true POD publisher (i.e., following in the footsteps of some other publishers like a Llumina Press or Lulu, but with a different model - see my post in in this forum).

Jeremy's book was great and BTW, he has sold over 10,000 copies of Didymus Contingency...a staggering number by POD standards. Didymus for a long time was listed among the Amazon best sellers, Barnes and Noble best sellers and many other lists.

BTW, James, congrats on signing on with Breakneck Books!

Thanks Jason,

I actually had been informed by Mr. Robinson that Didymus had sold some 4,000 copies through its distribution with LULU.com and another 3,000 through overseas print runs with the traditionally published foreign translations.
And the book has remained consistently high in its Amazon ranking around 20k-30k, and while many scoff at Amazon ranking--it must be noted that to remain consistently high one must be consistently selling a certain number of books or your rank will steadily fall and bottom out in the high 100k's or millions.
So it's been impressive for me to see a self published lulu.com book do as well as it has. Proving that it's not a dead end street to self publish or print and sell using print-on-demand technology as many small presses do.
You just need a really good book and some legwork.

BTW, I hope LBP can find the resources you are looking for to get up and moving along your intended path as soon as possible.

--James

jcdelatorre · Jul 27, 2006

james1611 said:
Thanks Jason,

I actually had been informed by Mr. Robinson that Didymus had sold some 4,000 copies through its distribution with LULU.com and another 3,000 through overseas print runs with the traditionally published foreign translations.
And the book has remained consistently high in its Amazon ranking around 20k-30k, and while many scoff at Amazon ranking--it must be noted that to remain consistently high one must be consistently selling a certain number of books or your rank will steadily fall and bottom out in the high 100k's or millions.
So it's been impressive for me to see a self published lulu.com book do as well as it has. Proving that it's not a dead end street to self publish or print and sell using print-on-demand technology as many small presses do.
You just need a really good book and some legwork.

BTW, I hope LBP can find the resources you are looking for to get up and moving along your intended path as soon as possible.

--James

I stand corrected, I thought I read somewhere that he had suprassed 10,000. Still, 7,000 for a POD book is pretty damn impressive.

Although you have to remember, this is not the standard. Most POD books are lucky to get into the 300's. Further, I know Jeremy did a lot of leg work in that he did a lot of promotion for his work (book signings, et al).

maestrowork · Jul 27, 2006

Getting a rave review in F&SF helped. The hot religious topic (Jesus seems to be everywhere these days) also helped. A good book would rise above the rest, especially with the author's relentless promotion. Still, it's about quality and if the book is really good, eventually it may find a home at a traditional publisher with wide distribution. Still, most POD books meet certain failure because they lack the quality.

james1611 · Jul 27, 2006

its already traditional in places

maestrowork said:
Getting a rave review in F&SF helped. The hot religious topic (Jesus seems to be everywhere these days) also helped. A good book would rise above the rest, especially with the author's relentless promotion. Still, it's about quality and if the book is really good, eventually it may find a home at a traditional publisher with wide distribution. Still, most POD books meet certain failure because they lack the quality.

As I stated earlier ray, it has made the leap to traditional already via the foreign language houses. My understanding is that this has taken place in several countries already for The Didymus Contingency.

I probably sound like an ad for the book--but I'm really just impressed by how it has faired, being a lulu.com book.
Now, Booksurge has re-published the book--but they have waived the fees and vanity press garbage to just republish it under their label and at a reduced price from its original lulu.com price. I believe that Mr. Robinson had also found several grammatical mistakes that had gotten by his own editing and they have removed all these things and brought the book up in quality--all for free!

I've not heard of that before, but its interesting...I was approached by Booksurge, not realizing what they were. When I found out they were a vanity by Amazon.com I ran like a burn't rabbit (hillbilly twang).

Mr. Robinson's POD PEOPLE was very interesting to me after seeing what his book had done, since it chronicles what he did to accomplish it.

--James

James D. Macdonald · Jul 27, 2006

James D. Macdonald said:
The Didymus Contingency, IIRC, had an absolutely brilliant review in F&SF when they did their "POD People" roundup. (And F&SF has always been more open to self-published and POD than most magazines.)

As it turns out I did not recall correctly. I was thinking of Terrapine; the review is here.

james1611 · Jul 27, 2006

no biggie

James D. Macdonald said:
As it turns out I did not recall correctly. I was thinking of Terrapine; the review is here.

No problem Uncle Jim, we still love ya!

--James

May Recommend a new book for POD and self publishers?

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