This
is Part Two in a five-part series summarizing my remarks in the “Ins and Outs
of Self-Publishing” panel discussion sponsored by the Washington, DC chapter of the Women’s National Book Association.
During the panel, I offered an overview of
how an aspiring author might get her book published. In Part One of this series, I discussed using
a traditional publisher and began a definition of what it means to
self-publish. I noted that there is
debate over the definition of “self-publish” and listed three methods of
self-publishing:
- Using
Print-on-Demand Printing
- Publishing via
Vanity or Subsidy Press
- Working Directly with Wholesalers and Distributors
Using
Print-On-Demand (POD) Printing
Print-on-Demand printing, or POD for short,
is a method of printing by which you print one book at a time. In other words, you do not have to print a
book until you generate a sale for the book.
POD is how the Wall Street Journal and much mainstream media define
self-publishing. Many self-publishers
bristle at equating POD with self-publishing and explain that print-on-demand
is not publishing. Instead, print-on-demand is a means of printing that is used
by self-publishers, by small presses, and even by larger, well-established
publishing companies that want to keep an older title with limited demand
available without printing the 1,000+ copies required for an offset print-run.
The primary advantage to publishing via
print-on-demand printing is minimizing or eliminating your initial upfront
costs and the financial risk. However,
while POD lowers upfront investment and financial risk, it increases your costs
of producing each book. For example, a 250-page paperback, perfect-bound with a
trim size of 6 X 9 would cost as much as $4.65 if printed through LSI or $9.53
if printed through Lulu, one of the LSI intermediaries. Costs for printing the
same book as part of a offset print-run could be as low or lower than $2,
depending on the number of copies in your offset print-run.
Come back for Part Three, to be posted on Saturday, November 10, in which I’ll discuss method two of self-publishing: publishing via vanity and subsidy press.