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PRINT ON DEMAND (POD) VERSUS THE VANITY PRESS
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By Charles Muller
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When the manuscript of Australian author Filton Hebbard's novelBranigan was returned by a film company, the author askedfor the reason and was told it was because the novel had"insufficient violence and overt sex"! Finally he had the novelpublished by a subsidy publisher. He paid over ten thousandpounds for a limited run of copies that never sold. I happenedto buy a copy of the novel to sample novels published in thisway. I chose Branigan since the length and content tosome extent resembled one of my novels, Wheel of Fortune,where some of the action takes place in the Northern Territoryof Australia. When Branigan arrived I settled down toread it, taking it to bed the first night. The opening pageswere interesting, the style seductively easy to read, even ifthe story didn't at first appear to be gripping. I willinglypicked it up the next day, thinking I might speed-read throughit, to see just how good a piece of fiction it was. But I readevery word of it. It had got me! It was my constant companionuntil the last line. It is one of the most absorbing, evenmoving, books I have read for a long time. Obviously the bookshould be a best seller. It has to be. And yet Filtoninforms me (yes, I wrote to him, to tell him what a great novelhe had written!) that thus far very few copies have been sold.Filton, in short, was the victim of the Vanity Press, where agreat sum of money is paid for a very limited print run.
I suggested to Filton that he republish the book through the POD(Print on Demand) system, whereby the cost is just a small basicfee to have the book edited and placed on all the leadingon-line bookstores like Amazon and Barnes and Noble. There is nowasted money on a print run and the book is only printed when itis ordered. Whereas the vanity press has the reputation of apariah system that exploits the author who pays to have his bookpublished because he cannot find a mainline publisher,self-publishing, ever since the days of William Blake, isrespectable, and the POD system, whereby books are publisheddigitally, is the most efficient and cost-effective way ofself-publishing today.
In the print-on-demand system there is no limited print run, assuch. The author's book is never out of print, and copies can beordered as and when he, or anyone else, wishes, from one to 50or 100 or whatever! The books are normally produced inprofessional paperback format as well as in a hardback edition,and available to order in whatever numbers the author orbookstore or member of the public requires. The cover is usuallyin full-colour and designed in accordance with the author'swishes. The author can even submit his own cover design.
In the POD system the author receives a generous 20% or more ofroyalties on sales of his or her book, paid direct by thepublisher. The book is usually no less attractive or impressivethan a book produced by a mainline publisher, being aprofessionally produced paperback or hardback edition with itsown ISBN number. It normally takes less than two months tocomplete the production process, after which the book isavailable to order through on-line bookstores such asAmazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Booksamillion, Borders and Barnes &Noble, the largest chain of bookstores in America. Promotion isgenerally in the author's hands, which is why the productioncosts are low. And as I said, because this is a print-on-demandsystem, the book is never out of print.
A good digital (POD) publisher - and there are a good manynowadays - should offer the following comprehensive service:
¡ì Free books. Upon publication the author will normallyreceive a few free copies of the paperback book. This is inaddition to any free hardback copies that the author shouldreceive if he/she opted for the hardcover option.
¡ì Non-exclusive Contract: A non-exclusivepublishing agreement should allow the author to pursuearrangements with traditional publishers while enjoying agenerous 20% or more royalty--higher than industry standards.
¡ì Custom Cover: The book should have a custom-designed,four-colour cover, created with the author's input, by thepublisher's professional book designers. The author should beable to submit his or her own ideas and/or pictures.
¡ì eBook setup: The author's manuscript should also bepublished in the Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader format and he/sheshould receive one free copy of the eBook.
¡ì Copy editing: Regardless of the amount of editingrequired or length of a book, the POD publisher may offer tocheck for errors and (if required) give the manuscript afinished polish with their copy-editing service. However, somePOD publishers will charge an additional amount for thisservice, gearing the fee to the length of the manuscript.
¡ì Distribution: The trade paperback book should have aunique ISBN number, as well as benefit from inclusion in RRBowker's Books in Print. This means that the book willappear on online retailers like Barnes & Noble and Amazon, andbe available to order from over 25,000 traditional booksellersworldwide.
¡ì Discounts: The author should be offered generous volumediscounts when purchasing his/her own books for personaldistribution and sale.
¡ì Quick Availability: The book is normally ready for salein just 90 days or less--months faster than industry standards.
¡ì Marketing Toolkit: In some cases the POD publisher willsupply a Marketing Toolkit that will normally include a set oftemplates for the author to create his/her own press release,sell sheet, event sign, post card, bookmark, business card,poster and banner ad, etc.
It's not surprising, perhaps, that digital (POD) publishers aregaining ground, and that the vanity press, as a result, is beingforced out of the marketplace! Nevertheless, the author seekingto self-publish his novel, autobiography, or collection ofpoems, or whatever, still needs to be wary and needs to reassurehimself that the publisher he has found is a reputable digitalpublisher and, indeed, not a member of the vanity press. If heor she is quoted a sum in excess of even one thousand pounds forthe service, he/she would do well to tread carefully!
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