Thursday, September 18, 2008

POD


Print on Demand ~~


Print on Demand is the term for digital printing technology that will bring your complete manuscript to be printed and bound in a mere matter of minutes. A lot of author’s are going this route so they are not stuck with hundreds of books that sit in the garage and they have no way of selling and promoting their work.

What’s the catch? It is this: you are paying to publish your own work. In other words it is self-publishing all of your hard work for a fee. All self-publishing is costly but there are quite a few out there that are reasonable.

POD allows you to print up say, as little as three books, and market them to the right places and see if they are well received.

Self publishing vs. POD
SP - The writer controls all aspects of the publishing process, from cover art to print style to pricing.
POD - You get limited services depending on the package you choose.

SP -You retain all rights with self-publishing, you remain in complete control depending on the package you’ve chosen, and with self-publishing you get all of the proceeds
POD - You get ‘royalties’. They get paid twice, once when you choose a package and have made the final decision, and then they get part of the royalties from your book sales

SP - You retain all rights.
POD - You basically give up those rights when you choose a POD service.

These publishing houses don't provide proofreading, editing, or marketing (although some publishers offer these as add-ons to the basic publishing package, at additional cost mind you). READ THE FINE PRINT!

The POD houses look like vanity publishers to the unknowing writer, and some are. They are there to take your money, make your dreams seem hopeful, and in the end, the vanity publisher wins AGAIN and who gets left behind? You, the hard working author who has waited years upon years to see his/her work in print.

There are a lot of things to consider before shelling out the money for a POD book. Besides being expensive, the quality might not be up to par, your book will not be publicized, they will be frowned upon in professional venues and many book sellers will not be putting YOUR book on their shelf.

So once again I say, DO YOUR HOMEWORK before getting all worked up. Think things through and see if your work wouldn’t be better placed with a real publisher who is ecstatic about what you are offering. Don’t set yourself up for a fall. Be patient with your work and all the success will be worth waiting for.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Then there is not such a benefit choosing POD, or I missed something?
I wouldn't like it to give up all the right of my book.
Although, there are some self-publishing companies that publish books in demand but you keep your rights.
-Susan

Anonymous said...

Glad you touched on this subject. I think you might do it again at a later date.
There are always people trying to make money off someone else's dream.
I think the dangerous thing about sp and pod publishing is that the success stories always seem to hit the front page while the disappointing stories or warnings never seem to get the same coverage.

It's sort of like that pyramid scheme idea that relied on everyone keeping quiet when they discovered how much money they invested and lost.

And of course, you always hear about the guy or gal who made millions-who one the limo or a year's vacation in paradise-never about the poor smuck who lost his shirt dropping money into a bottomless bucket.

Thanks for posting this Joni.

Raven

joni said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
joni said...

There are benefits and there are drawbacks.
Some succeed but some lose the shirts off their backs.
I think the way to publishing is the HARD way, find a publisher who sees your work as something that HE will endorse. Then you're on your way.

But remember, there ARE success stories to POD. It's just finding what works for you.

And I thought this was an important post also.

We have a world of mislead people feeding off of the GET RICH QUICK schemes. They NEED to know there is NO WAY to get rich quick.