Print-on-Demand

[William Ramsay]

I'm toying wiht the idea of publishing one of my MSS by a POD publisher. Does anyone have any experience or have any comments on that option?

[Rita Gerlach]

Hi Mr. Ramsay,

I published with a POD publisher back in 2001. It was not a pleasant experience with and I was able to get out of my contract. I will say, however, that I did have fun with the book events I generated myself, such as book signings and author talks. The publisher did nothing to market my book.

POD has no bookstore placement. They have high book prices, a lack of quality editing, and low book sales. These publishers sometimes have books up on their website for sale. By the way, Amazon.com is no longer selling pod books.

My advice is to try to find an agent or traditional publisher first. Check the Preditors & Editors website. They list publishers and agents and can tell you if there has been complaints.

Fondly,
Rita Gerlach

Homepage: http://www.freewebs.com/ritagerlach/index.htm

Stepping Stones Magazine for Writers: http://www.freewebs.com/steppingstonesforwriters/index.htm

Favorites
Inspire / The Musings of a Historical Fiction Writer: http://inspire-writer.blogspot.com/

The Dash: http://www.dashpoemmovie.com/

[William Ramsay]

If amazon.com's intention not to carry POD books sticks, that would be serious, because an important rationale behind the use of POD is the growing importance of the amazon.com customer reviews, not only for amazon sales, but also for bookstores. However, I hear that amazon had to back down under pressure from Ingram. Your other points are well-taken too -- but I'm only interested in POD because I've just about exhausted the commerical avenues for this project. So -- we'll see! I see that some POD, for example, do offer reasonable pricing for the books.

[Rita Gerlach]

There are some pod publishers who have a good reputation. One author recently recommended to me Black Lyon Publishers. I don't know anything really about them. But you could check them out. http://www.blacklyonpublishing.com/

I have a list of agents that accept email queries if you would like it. I'll be happy to email it to you.

What kind of book are you submitting?

[William Ramsay]

My "Me and King John" falls into the literary genre, the agent I had told me, but in another aspect it's a saga-historical novel taking place over a thousand years. And besides that, it's kind of funny! So it doesn't fit too well into categories. My agent loved it but couldn't place it. So I'm thinking of alternatives.

I appreciate the steer to Black Lyon.

[William Ramsay]

It turns out that amazon.com indeed threatened to turn off the "Buy Now" buttons of POD publishers that refused to change to using amazon's own printer. One POD I was thinking of using, Booklocker.com, filed an anti-trust suit against them in federal court last Friday. A lawsuit would take forever; maybe, however, the bad publicity will make amazon back down. In the meantime...

[Anne Whitfield]

I think it depends on your meaning of POD, William.

Some small press are POD (actually some of the larger publishers are gearing towards this too, but that's another matter) and do very well.

The likes of the 'bigger' small publishers, like Samhain Publishing and Mundania, etc, are POD, but have excellent editing, cover art and distribution.

If you have exhausted all avenues of being published with the large publishers like Penguin, St Martins, Hodder & Stoughton, Headline, etc. then try those small publishers that strive to have the same goals in publishing.

Have you tried publishers in both the USA and UK?

Here's a list of UK publishers, which might be useful.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_publishers

[William Ramsay]

I've tried the UK (and Ireland). But the small presses might be an idea; thanks for the steer, I'll investigate them.

[ctabuk]

This will teach me to read other posts!! I've just done a page on this subject. Rita, Amazon still do POD, but what they do now is order copies from the publisher and pay roughly 40% less than the retail price meaning less revenue for the Author.

POD seems to be the future 'save trees, save the planet' - Like I say, I've just made a post on this so hopefully the two threads will work together.

[Rita Gerlach]

ctabuk,

I will go over to your post and read what you have to say. I'm a writer that got burned by a pod publisher. Some are good. Some are bad. My advice to every writer considering pod, stay away from Publish America. They are a scam.

[Laurel Lamperd]

Hi William - I publish with Wings ePress, a POD publisher and am happy with them.

You might like to look at the website of

www.hipiers.com/publishing.html

Which is interesting for anyone wanting to POD publish. Most of the publishers' websites are there too. All the best with your writing. Laurel
Laurel Lamperd
Wind from Danyari
To be published October 08
By www.wings-press.com
http://laurel6346.tripod.com

[William Ramsay]

Thanks, Laurel. I've decided to go with booklocker.com. I'll report how it works out. Looking forward to seeing your book in October! (Please send me a reminder.)