POD Critic Sees Print

Well, despite those of you who disagree with my views on print-on-demand—and you’re entitled to—it looks like I’m steadily emerging as an authority on this side of the industry. Back in early April, I was approached by the editor of Writing Queensland, a monthly publication of the Queensland Writers Centre, said to be “the leading provider of specialized services to the writing community of Queensland.” (The magazine itself reaches some 2,200 writers.) This editor visited the blog and read some of my editorials on print-on-demand, which she says she found to be informative, and she later congratulated me on them. She then fired off an email to me asking whether I’d be interested in whipping up something on POD for one of their upcoming issues, as I was, in her view, “the perfect person for the job”—flattery will get you everywhere.

I happily agreed to this paying gig, and I pretty much told her that I would be “happy to further the cause of POD publishing, as well as aid both self-published authors and aspiring writers by writing an article for [her] magazine.” Long story short, I managed to whip something up, and, after the signing and exchange of contracts, I delivered the piece to them, and it appears as a feature article in their July issue. You can view the cover and my two-page contribution to the magazine by clicking on the following links:

WQ Cover

Page 10

Page 11

We are on the move, folks.
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The Benefits and Pitfalls of Print-On-Demand*

By POD Critic

With all of the technological advancements made in the entertainment industry, it is not surprising that the publishing world has been graced with print-on-demand (POD), a relatively new, albeit imperfect approach to the production of books. Traditionally, the offset press was the sole and primary method of book production, and publishers would place orders with their printer of choice for short run or long run prints of a given title. (Consequently, this is still the preferred printing method for the vast majority of trade publishers in existence today.) Enter POD, a method of book production that allows a given title to be printed one book at a time from a digital file, rather than in multiples of a hundred or a thousand, which involves the expensive requisite warehousing of books.

It is evident that POD technology has leveled the field in book production, but this comes with unfavorable consequences. The average writer now has his or her pick of various subsidy presses that have been scrambling to fill the ever growing need of hungry authors looking to self-publish. What results is a glut of bad books flooding the market; books that are available mainly through online booksellers, such as Amazon.com and BN.com (Barnes & Noble’s official website). Shoddy production values usually accompany POD produced books, and this is often due to limited design and editorial input from employees at these subsidy presses, or the do-it-yourself efforts of self-published authors.

As a printing method, POD technology is being employed, somewhat as an aside, by various university presses and large publishing houses—the latter for backlist titles. The struggling writer, on the other hand, having exhausted all avenues leading to commercial publication—and who lacks the kind of resources these majors are afforded—has no choice, it seems, but to settle for the POD services offered by the subsidy presses; services that, more often than not, amount to inexperienced self-publishing efforts on the part of the author; hence the aforementioned glut.

Trade magazines and journals tend to shun POD books submitted to them for review, and chain bookstores seldom stock them. The stigma that surrounds most POD produced books is ostensibly warranted, especially when one considers the quality of many of these books, with their garish or unimaginative covers, sloppy interior layouts, and substandard writing. I have long said that some measure of regulation needs to be established, else the glut of bad books would continue unimpeded. To this end, I decided to launch a review blog concerned solely with POD produced books, wherein I dissect, via a thorough critique, the books submitted to me by various authors and micropresses. I also dispense—through the occasional editorial—a good deal of advice on writing, the POD industry, and publishing in general. The blog is called POD Critic, and can be accessed at: www.podbookreview.blogspot.com.

It has been my experience that not all POD books are low in quality; in fact, some deserve to be picked up by major publishers effective immediately. That said, going POD does not always guarantee recognition by large publishers. The ratio concerning POD books that eventually find their way into the hands of large trade publishers is quite low (Xlibris once accounted for 20 in 10,000 books) and this further highlights the associated stigma. Bearing this in mind, authors should not venture into the world of POD with the intention of publishing a book solely to gain recognition from large publishers—in the hope of landing a fat contract. The truth is: it doesn’t quite work that way.

Print-on-demand, as a technology, is great for keeping books in print, and large publishers have been wise to this very idea for some time now. But as a service, such as those offered by Xlibris, Lulu, BookSurge, and others, I believe its purpose is best served when the books produced are those of a particular type, such as personal journals that could use a more professional look, or travel and family photo books, cook books, manuals, and the like. When we get down to genre fare, however—sci-fi, literary, thriller, and so forth—that’s when things get a bit dicey.

Almost everyone knows that self-published fiction, despite the quality of the work, usually ends up on the worst-seller lists of this vast book world. Fiction titles produced via POD will stand even less of a chance of making it, so why would one even think to go there? Certainly not for the money, because there’s hardly any of that in print-on-demand, unless you’re a successful small press or major publisher—and even then we’re sometimes talking pennies on the dollar. So is it for the sake of fame? No way. Recognition is the last thing you’ll get going POD. The truth is, many writers go POD simply because they want to see their work in print—many are eager to, in fact—and realizing that all other avenues are closed to them regarding this dream, print-on-demand is usually the most simple and cost-effective alternative.

If you are truly desirous to see your work in print, and are not concerned with a huge monetary return on your initial investment (made on behalf of your literary endeavor), and if fame is not on your agenda, then you’re the perfect candidate for this revolutionary technology. In addition, one should seek to reach a niche audience, rather than a large mainstream one. Since your books won’t be stocked by the national chains, reaching a large audience will be virtually impossible anyway, and even publishers at POD micropresses understand this.

The Internet should also be your main focus, and if you’re game, target your local community as well. But a niche audience is the ticket. You should target your material to those who are your—and I use the term loosely—“guaranteed market.” You have to fill an area where a demand for your product exists. Is that area Vampire fiction? Not likely, because there’s plenty of that being offered by the large trade presses out there. If you want to self-publish Vampire fiction using POD, you’ll be doing so for your own pleasure, and that of maybe fifty other people, if you’re lucky. But to fill a real demand would be to offer a book that is rare, and will yield little to no competition from similar titles.

Nonfiction is usually a good fit for POD, especially when a title targets a good niche market. But all that aside, if you truly have a love for writing, and literature on a whole, and are convinced that you can deliver a good product to the public, be it fiction or nonfiction—I’m talking quality writing, editing, and book design—and you’re not delusional about making a success of it, by all means, go POD. At the end of the day, everyone deserves a moment in the sun. There’s no better way to achieve this than to have your book lauded by an established POD reviewer and purchased by complete strangers who celebrate your efforts with a few choice remarks on your Amazon Product Overview page. I have witnessed firsthand the joy that writers derive from these two things; and the sense of achievement on their part is, in a word, priceless. There is almost no greater benefit in going POD than this.
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*This article may not be cited or republished electronically or in print without permission from the author.