I think one has to be careful to distinguish between Publish-on-Demand and Print-On-Demand - unhappily they both have the same acronym. With print-on-demand the author becomes the publisher, hold all rights, sets prices, discounts, etc. Basically you just pay for a printing service. There's a set-up charge to create a digital form of your book, and then after that you pay for printing, with the cost going down somewhat as the number of books go up. You may also have to pay an archiving charge.

Of course, its then up to you what to do with the books. You are publisher now. You have to do the marketing. Everyone in the industry is going to assume you vanity published and they won't like it. Bookstores aren't going to be interested, etc., etc. It will be a tough uphill slug, but people have done it.

However, print-on-demand is very new. Right now it's tough to find anyone offering the service. But it is coming. I've got a copy of a book beside me printed on the new Xerox DocuTech Book Factory and it's of amazingly good quality. The trouble is, we're in a chicken and egg situation. There's not enough demand for a lot of over-the-counter print-on-demand bureaus yet. But it will come. Then the advantage of Print-o-d over Publishing-o-d should come to the fore. Publishers-o-d make their money off the author's set up costs. Printers will have to make it off printing services. And they won't last very long with 3 month turnarounds.
Of course, you'll still be on your own.
But you'll still be on your own.

Thanks Jeffrey, for your posts and your website with your "rant". I'm a poet (and have had success getting things published in journals), but have no books out yet. Friends and family have encouraged me, even pushed me, for years, to self-publish. I've been leery of that route. I know how the literary world sees vanity publishing, and I think POD falls into the same category. I do think it may work for some people, but yes, I should have a box of books at the ready to take to readings and be ready to give away in exchange for reviews, agreed. And the POD people I've seen on-line don't offer this. They don't even come close. What you and others have had to say has convinced me that my initial gut reaction to the idea was right: either wait, and keep doing what I've been doing, accumulate enough publishing credits to submit a manuscript to a publisher... OR go to a printer and do it myself.

I only wish those people out there who think that self-publishing is the answer would look a little more closely into it. I know people who've done it, and it can wreck your credentials as a writer. And nothing's worse to see than someone's book that's been slapped together in a form that's ugly, full of typos, or otherwise clearly not high-quality (and I've seen plenty of these, both from POD publishers and also the DIY people who don't have enough pride in their work to put out anything more than a stapled and photocopied thing that smacks of desperation).

Thanks for letting me spout off--

I am having a problem with 1stBooks, which suggested that my ms. would be published in January 2002, which has a contractual obligation to publish it in April 2002, and which now, May 29, is still not getting the job done, despite the fact that the editing that is left is extremely minor. Has anyone had similar problems with them?

I am a first-time novelist interested in self-publishing with a POD company. To date, I have done preliminary investigations into IUniverse, Xlibris, 1st Books, and several others. Although each company offers the same basic services, there are some significant variables. Could someone recommend which company you think is best, considering such variables as options, cost, quality, marketing, etc.? I would be very grateful for any insights you might share with me.

Yours—

Steven Griffel / sjgbooks@aol.com

hi..at 1stbooks.com after 8 months neither of my two books was finished...lots of promises, no action...many many editing mistakes on their part...I asked for a refund in late June and am still waiting for it...at iUniverse my simpler book was done in excellent quality within 2 months...Quick Topic daily digest <qtopic+11-k6XM65N7mWwTd@quicktopic.com> wrote:
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Teoti.com - And you thought you were going outside today -http://www.teoti.com

 Iuniverse offers copyediting services and gives the impression that if you pay the $949 you'll get it. I called them and inquired if they would provide spelling ,grammar and sentence structure corrections. The woman assured me that, that would be no problem. I thought it sounded wonderful and submitted my novel. Then came the surprise the review from a reviewer who apppeared to have not even read my work. Basically I lost the most points on the very subject I submitted the work for, "editing".The reviewer trashed my character for dating a man who committed a murder early in the first chapter. The reviewer clearly only skimmed through the story. The woman never dated the murderer, in fact she never met the man. I was then lowered to writers club. Sure they would refund me $600 and release my unedited work out into the world and pocket the $349. My other option was cancel and be refunded $749 and they would keep the $200 for the reviewer.The very reviewer who seemed to have not read my work. Scam? No, but a very crafty set-up to confuse a writer trying to break into the market. Beware of copy-editing because if you need too much of it, you won't get it!It cost me but I learned a great lesson.

 Iuniverse offers copyediting services and gives the impression that if you pay the $949 you'll get it. I called them and inquired if they would provide spelling ,grammar and sentence structure corrections. The woman assured me that, that would be no problem. I thought it sounded wonderful and submitted my novel. Then came the surprise the review from a reviewer who appeared to have not even read my work. Basically I lost the most points on the very subject I submitted the work for, "editing".The reviewer trashed my character for dating a man who committed a murder early in the first chapter. The reviewer clearly only skimmed through the story. The woman never dated the murderer, in fact she never met the man. I was then lowered to writers club. Sure they would refund me $600 and release my unedited work out into the world and pocket the $349. My other option was cancel and be refunded $749 and they would keep the $200 for the reviewer.The very reviewer who seemed to have not read my work. Scam? No, but a very crafty set-up to confuse a writer trying to break into the market. Beware of copy-editing because if you need too much of it, you won't get it!It cost me but I learned a great lesson.

Your critique of POD is right on target. If you look at the pricing structures at iUniverse.com, where I experimented with a book of poetry, you'll find that nobody--not distributors, not wholesalers, certainly not bookstores, will accept those terms. So unless you want to sell your books garage-sale style and hope that you are the next William Blake (that is, to be appreciated well after you are dead), forget it. I thought that I could sell the book via e-mail marketing, but you need something more saleable than a book of poetry to do that. (Big Surprise). Still, I dream.

hi...did you have problems with 1stBooks in particular? If so, what?

Edited by author 01-16-2003 11:54 AM
POD- now that's a topic. I have to agree with one thing stated here: POD is not for run of the mill authors. What it is good for is indie-publishing houses who wish to cut down on prices in the short run for a start-up company and then ordering xamount of books for distro themselves. I say this as a working memeber of a literary indie publishing house ( http://www.sixgallerypress.com ), that compared to some vanity publishing houses we went through (3 grand for 2,000 copies of a book, with a cover we didin't decide on and poor poor poor quality printing, and a general "cheap indie" look to it), POD was a very good option. At lightning source (a POD who works only through publishing houses, not individual authors) we were able to cut costs down nearly to minimal by building our own .pdf files to send to them. They then used these .pdf files to build some pretty nice looking books, very professional and etc. We would then order a print run of xamount of copies and build cheap promo galleys for sending out to reveiwers and book stores at office max (roughly 1$ a copy, not a bad price) so that it would get out there before the book is out. We would then sell and distro the books ourselves to the major retailers. By having the stores order in bulk in advanced (bulk copies = less money per book to spend) we were able to make a decent profit margin (30% per book for us, 10% for the authors going through us) per each book sold, as well as offer returns.

This on the other hand would be a bad idea for a single author to do. The route is cheap (in the short run), but extrememly pricey in the long run. That, and most POD printers that accept single author sales will take away almost ANY publishing rights the author has for the book for at least two years (including translation, electronic and etc rights). The main problem with an indie publishing house going through these channels is the nasty sting of the stigma attached to POD publishing. If your an honest press (as we are) that never ever charges a writer for publishing (and pays him an advance, albiet very small), and gives him roaylties, people will not see this. They will see it only as a vanity press. Which is very very very insulting.

Edited by author 01-31-2003 01:22 AM
I have published 3 books through iUniverse and have had no problems of any kind and I've been pleased with them. However, following in the footsteps of other POD publishers they have recently changed their fee structure with add ons that were originally included in the publishing plans at one time. Now the add ons cost extra. I'm afraid that iUniverse is getting focused more on the money than the writer. mailto:scott@scottfaithfull.net

Hi, I'm thinking of using POD to publish a book (unorthodox theological view and thus not high market demand) and wonder if anyone knows if there exists out in cyberspace an article or chart that actually recommends or warns about specific POD companies? I know of only one, and I question the criteria of the site's author for choices of good-better-best companies.

Thanks...

I highly recommend iUniverse. I strongly recommend against using 1stBooks Library. Rae Andre
QuickTopic daily digest <qtopic+11-k6XM65N7mWwTd@quicktopic.com> wrote:
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Bernie: Here are two good pages that I've found in my search. Please advise if you find more.


http://www.writing.com/main/showcase.php?t=pod.

http://www.hipiers.com/publishing.html#publishers

Going to a printer and doing a print run of 1,000 books is the worst possible advice you can give a self-published author.
Then what? Where are you going to warehouse 1,000 books? Remember books react badly to humidity, so the garage is out of the question. How are you going to move them? How much does it cost to ship each order?
Most POD companies offer many retail and wholesale distribution channels leaving you free of that hassle.
If you have ever had to create a website with a shopping cart, you will understand

You say that not accepting returns keeps books from getting on bookstore shelves, but this is not true. Many authors can work around this system by buying books at a discount and re-selling them to the bookstore with an agreement to accept the returns themselves. Note to authors: Bookstores CANNOT return signed copies.
Many POD companies not only work with self-published authors, but act as a printer and distributor for hundreds of traditional publishers. This tells me all I need to know about their quality. I ordered Newt Gingrich's new book through the retail site Booksurge, who is a POD and was very impressed with the quality of the book.

Self-publishing is not just an alternative to traditional publishing anymore. Many authors like Warren Adler, who wrote War of the Roses, have bought back their rights and self-published. For them it is a business decision. With the current technology in digital printing,
print on demand books are on most occasions printed on higher quality paper than traditionally published books.
Just go to the bookstore and look around. The mass-market paperbacks are printed on paper so porous that it could be used as a paper towel. I am not trying to be derogatory, just trying to prove the point that just because you had one bad experience, does not
mean that all POD companies are bad. Print on demand helps reduce storage and obsolescence costs for customers.
In the next few years, the digital revolution will arrive and just as we retired the VCR for the DVD player, POD will be the number one source of printing.