| p>It seems as if almost everyone wants to write | | | | choosing a POD, consider the following:o Is |
| a book at some time in their life, but getting it | | | | personalized attention or economy more |
| published is getting hard and harder. Those | | | | important? If price is the bottom line, you might |
| authors who do manage to find an agent-and | | | | want to go with one of the larger PODs, where |
| then a publishing house-are in for a rude | | | | you fill in a form, follow instructions, hand over |
| awakening. As soon as they adjust to the fact | | | | your money and get your books. If, on the other |
| that they have just handed over all editorial | | | | hand, you want to be able to talk about the book |
| control, they find that over-worked editors have | | | | that you care so much about and control how the |
| limited time to actually edit. Worse, the average | | | | book is actually published, a small POD like |
| publicity push these days lasts two months at | | | | Incubation Press might make more sense.o Make |
| most and consists of little more than sending out | | | | sure you understand the deal. Some PODs will |
| a news release to various media market. Imagine | | | | print your book, but retain the rights. You want to |
| walking into a bank and saying, "I want a loan for | | | | retain 100 percent of your book's rights.o |
| this great new product that I'm going to promote | | | | Understand the difference between POD and a |
| for eight weeks and then put on the shelf." You'd | | | | vanity or subsidy press. With a subsidy press, you |
| get laughed right out the door. | | | | subsidize the full cost to publish your book, but |
| These days, the publishers' buzz word is platform, | | | | the press actually owns the book. So you wind up |
| which means that writers have to bring to the | | | | settling for a royalty for each book sold (i.e.: a |
| table an audience they've built up through giving | | | | percentage of the profit). Vanity presses generally |
| speeches, conducting workshops, writing articles | | | | charge a single, supposedly all inclusive price |
| or columns, or having a visible web presence. In | | | | (usually in the thousands), but often the editing is |
| short, in addition to doing the writing, editing and | | | | sketchy and the promised promotion and |
| marketing, today's authors now have to sell their | | | | distribution negligible.o What are you getting for |
| books as well. All this in exchange for a pitifully | | | | the money? Print and paper quality varies hugely. |
| small advance and the prospect of equally small | | | | In addition to ordering a proof to make sure that |
| royalties should their book make back its advance | | | | your books meet your expectations, educate |
| (most never do). That explains why I often wind | | | | yourself about paper options. |
| up recommending self-publishing to the writers I | | | | Text stock (the paper used for your book's inside |
| coach. If they're going to do all the work anyway, | | | | pages) typically comes in weights of 50-pound |
| why not reap all the profits? | | | | (also called 20-pound publishing bond) and |
| Not surprisingly, self-publishing (also known as | | | | 60-pound (also called 24-pound publishing bond). |
| print-on-demand or POD) has become one of the | | | | The larger the number, the heavier and less |
| hottest trends and fastest-growing segments of | | | | see-through the paper. Papers also come in |
| the publishing industry. According to Publishers | | | | different textures-smooth, vellum (which has a |
| Weekly, "POD titles have contributed to a 28% | | | | cottony feel), linen (which resembles linen cloth), |
| increase in the number of books published | | | | etc... and with different levels of shine (matte, |
| between 2000 and 2004 (from 140,000 to | | | | gloss, glossy photo paper, etc...) |
| 180,000 titles)." Still, publishing one's own work can | | | | Similarly, cover stock comes in different weights |
| be a daunting proposition, with thousands of | | | | (70-pound, 80-pound, 100-pound-each heavier than |
| dollars required to print and store a minimum | | | | the corresponding paper weights), different |
| number of books (usually a thousand or more). | | | | finishes (matte, vellum, linen, glossy, metallic) and |
| Of course, not everyone who writes feels need | | | | different colors. |
| to publish professionally. With print on demand | | | | How's that for confusing? The whole paper/cover |
| publishing, individuals who want to chronicle their | | | | business gets a lot clearer when you can see and |
| life stories, share their family recipes or create an | | | | feel your options, so ask to see samples or at |
| anthology of their personal poetry can publish just | | | | the very least head to a good paper supply store |
| enough copies for friends and family. | | | | to check out the differences for yourself. |
| All PODs, however, are not created equal. When | | | | Then, happy self-publishing! |