POD Publishing gets a bad rap!

One of my NF books is going through a POD publisher. I decided to do this for the experience, to see what it's all about, etc.

One thing I have experienced a lot of is criticism of POD publishing. I actually was refused a review of my book when the person learned it was being published by a POD publisher. (This person has also written against POD publishing.)

My hubby asked why I wanted to do this and I said, "For the experience." His reply was: "This experience is costing you money." He also said that if I have to pay to get published, then they're not a real publisher. (Well, technically, they're not a "publisher" but they ARE in charge of turning my manuscript into a book!)

This reputation has seeped into the pre-ordering details and sales availability of the books published by POD publishers. I've heard of many occasions in which a POD author could not get their book into a bookstore, like Borders. I'm told it can be special ordered, but I can't even special order a book the POD publisher I'm going with has published.

Still, the discrimination is still there. Looks like this kind of publishing is in the mirority and is being treated as such.

I can understand reviewers balking at titles from the 'take all comers' sort of publishers -- if not POD per. se. The books I have bought from this sort of outfit have been: 4=awful, 1=quite good but needed copy-editing. I guess you need to play up angles that show it is a quality book?

As for not getting them into stores, that's simply because most POD vanity outfits don't take returns -- almost no bookstore accepts anything but a 'sale or return' deal. You could buy copyus and offer them to local stores on that basis, but in that case you may as well go for a cheaper print-run based supplier I suppose....

I think part of the problem with POD is also their business model (vs. just the technology... digital printing and POD have been used by major houses as well) and the cost factor. Why pay someone hundreds and maybe even thousands -- then more for the POD printing with no distribution (at least not in-store) when you can do the same thing yourself for $$ cheaper. POD's cost is prohibitive and only makes sense for very small runs (less than 500).

POD does attract writers who lack the business know-how of self-publishing. Most writers are just writers -- they are not business savvy. And POD/vanity fills that need for them to get something personal published.

I didn't decide to go with POD to get a book published for personal reasons. I just wanted to try it, you know? The company I'm going with charged less than $300 and they've got a lot of authors who have gone on to other successes.

I was in a position to send this book to a traditional press, but decided not to. Certain reasons played a role in my making this decision.

The co-owner is a writer's advocate and she's written about how to get your POD book into a bookstore. I know another POD author and she's offered some tips on that, too.

I have had some favorable pre-publication reviews of this book, so I'm guessing (hoping) it's not of poor quality. At least my other ones won't go through the same company.

Still, this isn't enough to break down the bad reputation that POD publishing gets. Which means you really, REALLY need to put in some legwork to promote/sell your book if you do go through a POD.

Let us know how it works out for you, especially on marketing and distribution which usually is a problem against POD (many bookstores don't want to carry POD books).

I think if done well, POD is a very viable solution. However, there's still a lot of bad stigma about POD/vanity (the lack of quality control and legit reviews) that authors need to overcome.

I'd be very interested in hearing your experience!

Thank you, maestro. I will share that experience. Er, when I have some to share! :grin

Seems to me that this conversation is confusing vanity publishing business models with print-on-demand manufacturing models. It's apples and oranges.

Print On Demand (POD) is a way of manufacturing a book, not a business model. The actual quality of the book is dependent not only on the print quality, but the expertise of the binder. Doesn't have to be POD to look like trash. And let's not forget the cover art and editing when the quality of the book is figured.

Whether it's manufactured by POD, offset press, or copied by monks, if you pay to have the book printed, it's vanity publishing.

As for the return policy, I really don't know how that's connected with POD alone when it seems that that is a product of the publisher's business model. My publisher, Archebooks Publishing, has a detailed return policy for all its books, whether POD or offset--and Barnes and Noble stores are one of their biggest distribution links, as well as amazon.com and B&N online.

Bob/bfdc

Yes, indeed. But it may be a confusion that is beyond unconfusing. there are still probalems with both POD and vanity that are confounded further by adding them together. i.e. POD is more expensive + vanity is harder to distribute = POD/vanity outfits are generally a disaster waiting to happen to the budding writer.

bfdc said:

if you pay to have the book printed, it's vanity publishing.

Click to expand...

Not exactly. Keep in mind the self-publisher.

Hmmm. Vanity publishing encompassing self-publishing, I think.

Maybe this will help:

sfwa.org/beware/subsidypublishers.html

sfwa.org/beware/printondemand.html

There's still a great deal of confusion about using Print on Demand to self publish (become a publisher) and paying somebody a fee to act as a publisher for you. It turns out that the majority of POD books that actually get into circulation in the US and UK are printed by Lightning Source, because of their distribution tie-in with Ingram and the fact that both Amazon and B&N will order books direct from them, and even on a short discount. This make it a genuine business model for small publishers and self-publishers with niche titles they that can sell a couple thousand copies a year. When I decided to investigate POD instead of sticking with McGraw-Hill, I bought and ISBN block ($225) and set up as a publisher with Lightning Source. The economics are explained in an excerpt at:

http://www.fonerbooks.com/pod.htm

On books with a cover price of $14.95, I end up netting over $7.50. Compare that with working as a trade author and maybe netting a dollar if you got a good contract. It's not a perfect system, I find it works best when combined with Internet marketing, but there's almost no upfront cost, and your books will usually be available for special order through and bricks-and-mortar store, plus reasonable shipping times online. Oddly enough, I'm writing this at a moment when one of my titles (the one about print-on-demand is on special order at Amazon, but that's a temporary glitch, and it's 2-3 days on BN.com as usual. The other issue is quality of photographs, but if you stick to text and line drawings, it's surprisingly good. I've sold over 5,000 POD books by this point and I've only had one customer complaint about quality.

Morris

POD

POD--of the variety where you pay a set-up fee for the publication of your book--is indeed vanity publishing, but it is, for many of us, a less expensive alternative to self-publishing. When you can't afford the expensive risk of self-publishing, you can get your book out there through POD.

If you choose a reasonable POD, you pay only a small set-up charge. You don't have to obtain your own ISBN, you don't have to distribute your books yourself, you don't have to collect sales and taxes, you don't have to ship. A lot easier than self-publishing! You don't have complete ownership, but you get better royalties than you do through traditional publishing. (Of course, you sell fewer copies because you don't have a publisher with a vested interest marketing your book; so you make less overall.) But if your work isn't being picked up by a self publisher, and you know you have an audience for it, vanity POD may work for you.

I published my novel, Conviction: A Sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, through a vanity POD earlier this year. When I get my next royalty check, due any day now, I will have already made back my up-front cost plus an additional $100, and I will continue to receive a 50 percent royalty on net receipts as the book continues to sell. For me, this has been a good investment, and I'm glad I did it. However, my book is published under an imprint that has published a lot of very poor books--because almost anyone can get published by a vanity POD (in some cases--anyone; with the press I chose, there is some selection--so only "virtually anyone").

No, people won't generally review vanity POD books, and I can understand that. Most of those books are...well...crap. Reviewers don't want to waste their time on a gamble. And bricks and mortar stores won't carry them because there are no returns. Again, understandable. If you choose to publish via a vanity POD, then expect that your book will only be available through online retailers.

I am a little perturbed that Amazon.com suddenly says my book is out of stock and that there will be an additional $1.99 charge to order it. POD books should never go out of stock--they're print on demand after all! I've never seen this message before. I hope, as a previous poster said, that this is just a glitch.

Re: POD

But if your work isn't being picked up by a self publisher

I meant to say TRADITIONAL PUBLISHER there.

The Amazon issue has been resolved for me.

I am satisfied with my POD experience so far, but I suppose if I had not made a profit and were not still selling, I might not be!