Nov 24 2008
POD - the catch?
The great upside of POD publishing is that it’s no longer necessary to order a run of several hundred books which may not sell. Instead, you need only order a handful of sample copies to use in marketing and promotions. You can then print further copies when you receive orders, and in many cases you can even ask the POD press to send the book straight to your customer.
However, the downside is that using a POD press is still self-publishing. You will still get little or no help with marketing your book. True, POD publishers have websites where they list their range of books - but if you look at their advertising, they spend their promotional dollars on promoting their services to writers, not readers. Selling your work will still be up to you! A typical POD publisher will regard a book as a bestseller if it sells in the hundreds, not the millions!
And, of course, you still have the matter of editing to consider. Even the owner of Lulu.com - which, by the way, is one of the most reputable POD and ebook publisher - says that he makes a large proportion of his profit from “publishing bad books” (read this article from Publishers Weekly). Be sure yours isn’t among them!
