Is There a Difference Between Vanity and POD?

I don’t give advice. I’m no more and no less qualified than anyone else to dish it out. I can’t tell you the best way to write a novel, I can’t advise you on whether you should self-publish or go with a publisher. Instead, I rattle on about my experiences, and after 27 years, they’re considerable.

I don’t object to advice blogs/comments and so on, but it irks me when I see someone shouting and they obviously don’t know what they’re talking about.

So what brought this particular rant on? It was a comment I read concerning POD publishing, and how everyone should be wary of it. What a lot of crap. The person concerned obviously doesn’t know the difference between POD and vanity publishing.

POD stands for Print On Demand. In other words the publisher does not deal with High Street bookshops, which is just as well because we don’t have that many left. The publisher does not stock huge quantities of books. Instead, a book is printed when reader demands i.e. orders it.

Vanity publishing, on the other hand is where a publisher will be happy to take on your book subject to you forking out a large sum of money in advance. He will do nothing to help sell your book, but he will expect you to take delivery of hundreds of copies, with which you can do what you like. He’s had his three grand, and that’s all he cares about.

The terms are not necessarily mutually exclusive. A good number of vanity publishers utilise POD technology on the offchance that you may need to order more copies… presumably when the bonfire is going out.

However, just because publisher works with POD does not make them a vanity publisher.

Some years ago, I worked with an American imprint, Virtual Tales. An upfront, thoroughly respectable publisher who liked my novel, and took it on. They designed a cover, they appointed an editor, and consulted with me at every stage of the process. And when the book was ready to go, they sent me a complimentary paperback copy.

Virtual Tales did not store books. They utilised POD. And yet, they never charged me a penny.

These days I work exclusively with Crooked Cat Publishing. I have the scripts edited before they’re submitted, but once received, Crooked Cat pore over my work, making whatever additional edits they feel are necessary, they design a cover, and they consult with me on everything from that cover and those edits, right down to pricing. And when we’re ready to go, they send me a complimentary copy of the paperback.

My sixth novel, Murder at the Murder Mystery Weekend, the latest in the popular STAC Mystery series, is due out next week (November 23rd) and they’ve never charged me one penny. And yet they utilise POD.

With an ever-increasing amount of business done over the internet, POD is the way forward. It avoids filling a huge warehouse with thousands and thousands of copies of the books. It improves cash flow inasmuch as there is no vast outlay. Each book is paid for as it is printed, and that printing, binding process can take a matter of just a few hours.

The commentator in question stressed that Amazon pay the best royalties. That’s not strictly true. Smashwords pay better royalties. Amazon offer the best sales channels. However, leaving that aside, if you want to self-publish in paperback using Amazon, you’ll do so through a subsidiary named Createspace. Brilliant setup, the quality is absolute top drawer. I cannot fault CS.

But it’s POD.

So there you have it. If you want to criticise the growing band of small, independent publishers, do so, but do your homework first, and if you’re not prepared to do that, at least learn the difference between vanity and POD.

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Murder at the Murder Mystery Weekend the fifth STAC Mysteries is published on November 23rd by Crooked Cat Books.