To claim POD = Vanity publishing shows a complete and utter lack of understanding of the value of POD. Sure, if you're buying one book at a time, the book will be expensive. But far cheaper than if you ordered one book from an offset printer. Suppose you're a small press that does print runs of 500 copies per book. The offset press still can't beat the POD price. You have to be printing about 1000 copies before it becomes cheaper to go offset. True, they aren't printed untiol they're bought, but they're bought by you, and then sold by you. And to maximize profit, you must buy as cheaply as possible. Unless you want 1000 copies or more, POD is your best buy. Just make sure you get one with the most up-to-date technology so the quality will be there.

There is one area where POD works big-time - Production of a textbook for a niche market too small to interest textbook publishers. My book with iUniverse on research methods cost me $400 and made me about $9000 (close to 3,000 copies) in 4 years. I have now produced a second edition.

To do this, you need: 1. A known market 2. A strong means of informing your market of the book's availability.

I have not seen any serious delivery problems emerge. Quality is a bit week, but textbook readers don't seem to mind if the content is there.

it seems that POD has different meanings. My publisher is a POD publisher, but I didn't have to spend a dime. I didn't see any problem with it. I am not sure how much POD authors make but whatever I make just cost me a couple of months of writing

To the guy that was looking for a POD publisher try Publishamerica.com

I've recently gone the POD route. I was well aware of the negative aspects of this type of publishing prior to plunking down my money. I'm with iUniverse, and I've yet to experience some of the claims made in the article. For instance:
One Author copy: I took advantage of a monthly promotion and received 35 copies, with no shipping fee.
You pay extra even if you provide your own cover art: Not true.
The printed books are poor quality: The paper should be white instead of the way-off white they use, but the cover, binding and layout are very good.
It can take a long time to get copies shipped to consumers: Based on reports from people who've purchased the book from the website, it takes one week for their copy to arrive. That's the good news. The bad news, is the almost $8.00 shipping fee. That's way too high. And the book itself is priced at $16.95 for a large format paperback. That too is high. I'd prefer a less expensive, standard sized paperback option. The trade paperback size significantly reduces the number of printed pages. It makes my 85,000 word manuscript look almost like a short story.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents.

I followed a web page by Jeffrey Yamaguchi to get here because he made no distinction between POD publishing and subsidy publishing. The fact is, nearly every academic press and every major trade publish some portion of their lists using POD, and these books have no problem getting into bookstores. The reason? The publishers offer the trade discount, accept returns, and promote the books.

I've been a trade author since 1997 and make a good living at it, but I started publishing my own books through Print on Demand a couple years ago. I simply got sick of the lousy contract terms and relationships the trades offer work-a-day authors. I went direct with Lightning Source, the same Print on Demand provider used by most of the academic presses and the big subsidy presses. My first year I netted around $15K, this year it's around $30K. I offer a short-discount, so I don't get into stores.

I felt so strongly about the whole thing that I wrote a book on the subject (what else would an author do), but around half of it is online on my website, included a detailed case study of Lightning Source Print-on-Demand worked out for my first book; costs sales, etc.

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

I'm not suggesting that it will work for anybody, you have to be able to promote your books, or you'll never sell any. The value of being on bookstore shelves is highly overrated. Almost two thirds of my sales came through Ingram distribution, customers special ordering my books through their local store after my website or word-of-mouth got them interested.

Morris

I am wondering... has anyone used lulu.com? If so, what do you think of it?

Yes, what has anyone heard about lulu.com

I haven't used Lulu but I heard they are quick and their books look decent. I think they go through Lightning Soource, though I am not sure about that. Ive been using a small printer but going to try Lightning Source.
http://www.MSPmedia.net

A few years ago I wrote a 180-page technical manual and decided to self publish. Being clueless I started in the yellow pages and got prices varying by 400% from lowest to highest. Eventually I found a local printer with a web press and had about 2500 copies printed for about $2 each in a perfect binding, with a color cover. Everyone thought I was nuts when the truck pulled up with a couple of pallets of books, but we sold them in a bit over a year for $15, with a wholesale discount. Over the next 8 years we did four more printings and the printing cost and sales price went up a bit each time. After selling over 10,000 copies a company wanted to license the right to print it themselves and pay us a royalty and we were only selling a few hundred a year so I licensed the rights away.

So perhaps this would be an option today - find a printer who does catalogs, phone books, etc on a web press and see if they will work with you. It worked out fine for me.

Coming *really* late to the discussion here, but I just discovered NoMediaKings through today's (11/25/05) writeup in BoingBoing.net.

Jeffrey Yamaguchi is not alone in claiming that the money authors spend to buy copies of their own book disappears into the void. But he's overlooking a basic economic fact: most of that money returns to the author (minus the POD printer's cut) along with the quarterly royalty check.

I am a full-time published freelance writer who gave up trying to interest publishers in my novel MSS and will be going the POD route. I've read just about everything on the subject that's out there, pro and con, and I haven't seen anyone -- critics, supporters, and people considering their options -- point out the above. But I think it's a critically important part of the argument in favor of POD.

My $0.02 (after printing costs),

Paul
http://patriot.net/~plagasse/

Edited by author 11-28-2005 11:34 AM
To respond to Jeffrey Yamaguchi and Trula, I work for Lulu.com, a print-on-demand provider, but I wasn't hired until after publishing a book with them and feeling VERY satisfied with the results. Regarding Yamaguchi's umbrella-ed slander against every POD provider, he is mistaken on several points when it comes to Lulu. He may be right about iUniverse, but publishing with Lulu is free. So no $99+ start-up cost. If creators want marketing, design, or editing aid, they do have to buy it, but many authors happily write their own press releases and edit/design their book themselves to avoid extra cost. Perhaps it makes more sense to feel slighted when $99+ gets you no help with marketing or design, but with Lulu, publishing is free, so the people providing these extra services must be paid somehow. Creators also have the option of buying an ISBN. Yes, we do go through Lightning Source, which feeds books to databases like Ingram and Baker & Taylor, and then those databases sell books to retailers like Amazon, B & N, etc. But many creators sell loads of copies through our online store, and feel no need for an ISBN.

Our products are not crap. They are beautiful, professional products with color covers and your choice of binding. We offer hardback and paperback printing of books of various sizes, in addition to CDs and calendars. Our printed images look crisp and impressive.

Lulu was founded by Bob Young, a co-founder and former CEO of Red Hat (ever heard of Open Source?). Bob founded Lulu after having so many extra copies of a book he self-published that he actually built a desk and chair out of them. From what I've heard, this sort of ludicrious surplus is common with most users of vanity presses. With Lulu, buying 500 copies of your own book might be more expensive, but why do you personally need 500 copies? Our buyers browse Lulu.com and order books directly. Printing the book takes 3 days, shipping it takes around a week (and much faster if you want to pay a couple more bucks), and the packaging is VERY safe. Also, until the end of the holidays, we offer free domestic and international shipping for orders between $25-$100 (ground home delivery/supersaver shipping). Feel free to email me directly if you have further questions (lmoseley@lulu.com). Again, our website is www.Lulu.com. Take the Publishing Flash Tour and realize how easy it is.

Just briefly -- I published my non-fiction work with Page Free Publishing. The quality of the book was fine, and the cost was very reasonable. They were a little beyond deadline on the final product, and I've heard the same about them elsewhere.

Their pricing is outstanding. Overall I was very pleased.

While I found Yamaguchi's article to be informative, I don't think it presents both sides equally. Like anything, there's the positive and negative aspects. 1st Books, Xilibris, iUniverse etc. have had lots of negative press, but that isn't the reputation of ALL PODs! I've had great service from Infinity Publishin (bbotw.com) who DOES offer returns on books
and store discounts, to take care of the major probs with POD...so it really depends on how you shop around...I also came across Lulu, which looks fantastic, but I found their website a bit cluttered, but I'll check it out again when I'm ready...


Basically, I feel if you're serious about your craft, have promotional venues in mind and are computer savvy, POD is a GREAT way to go..vanity publishing is often MUCH more expensive & risky
and traditional publishing, with it's loooong, communicative process, is purely for the ego--why? Because so many feel that's the ONLY way to validate yourself as an author. I disagree. I published my book when I just turned 25 and sold 1500+ within a few months--and I really didn't have the means (or time) to go all out with promotion! For myself, my validation comes from people telling me how awesome my book is--how it came to exist really doesn't matter, as long as it's my best work, I'm communicating & others appreciate it.

So, shop around, be cautious and realistic and "your way" will make itself very clear to you! Good luck :)

"I am wondering... has anyone used lulu.com? If so, what do you think of it?"

I published my novel through Lulu.com and I was immensely satisfied with them. The forums and FAQs were helpful with any problems I had while putting the book together and their service is very prompt. When I published my novel, I ordered a proof and it was delivered within a week. I've heard bad things about POD products, that they look unprofessional and sloppy, but I didn't have that problem at all. My book looks very professional.

I purchased an ISBN for $100, but if I chose not to, I wouldn't have spent a dime and could have just as easily sold it through their website.

The biggest problem I have with potentially publishing my book is the environmental aspects. I recently saw a program on forestry for Woodpulp in Tasmania that was horrifying...

Until the 19th century 85% of paper was made without Woodpulp. Flax, hemp and rice have been used since the dawn of time... There is no reason why we should be publishing with woodpulp and yet trying to find a publisher that doesn't is next to impossible today...