Print On Demand - What Does It Mean For Writers

Last week, I said I was going to start sharing publishing tips for authors hoping to go the indie route. The first thing you need to understand is Print On Demand (POD). POD technology has been around for a few years now, and has completely eliminated the need for large print runs. Publishers no longer need to print thousands of books and then pay for warehouse space to hold them all. Books can be printed one at a time, on demand.

Ebooks are great, but POD is very easy. Plus not everyone has an e-reader, yet, so I would never consider publishing an ebook without a POD counterpart. And if you are going to go POD, use Lightning Source. Create Space and Lulu are two other very widely used POD companies, but they are also a lot more limiting. If you want to actually sell your book, Lighting Source is the only option worth considering, in my opinion.

Ingram, is the largest book warehouser and distributor in the world. All of the biggest publishers use Ingram, and all of the retailers (both on-line and brick and mortar) use Ingram.

Ingram isn't only big, they are also smart. When they saw POD emerging as a very viable new book platform, instead of bemoaning the end of publishers warehousing their books with Ingram, they created Lightning Source.

Lighting Source is a subsidiary company of Ingram, and the two are integrally linked. So every book printed by Lighting Source is listed in the Ingram catalog (and thus available at every on-line bookstore, and order-able at every brick and mortar bookstore) automatically.

Before my launch, I started thinking about distribution and wondered how to get my book up on websites like Amazon and B&N. I couldn't find an easy, sell your book as the publisher here button without using an Amazon publishing platform (aka Create Space). Then a reviewer linked to my books amazon page, that I hadn't even known was there. Because every single book in the Ingram catalog is automatically listed on Amazon, B&N and every other major online book retailer. You don't need to do anything but be in the Ingram catalog. And like I said, Ingram owns Lightning Source, so it's seamless.

In the spirit of honesty, there are two downsides to PODs.

First POD books are more expensive. When publishers print thousands of copies of a book at once, the cost goes way down. That's how mass market paperbacks can sell for $7 or $8. The price of printing a POD book varies slightly by length and size, but in general it costs about $4 to $5 to print a single book. Retailers then require a 40%-55% discount of the purchase price to cover their own expenses. The result is that a POD paperback priced at $7 could actually loose $2 per copy sold.

I priced my POD book at $13.99. Most POD books I've seen fall somewhere in the $12-$16 range. Possibly more if it's a very large book or it has lots of graphics. When you assume the majority of your sales are going to be ebooks, and the only people buying your POD book are committed fans who are willing to pay extra for the paper version, $16 for a paperback starts to sound more reasonable. After all, readers pay $30 for hardbacks all the time. It does require a mental shift in the value of paperbacks though, and leads me to my second POD downside - distribution.

It's very hard to get POD books in physical bookstores. I mentioned before that on-line retailers automatically carry Lighting Source books, but that doesn't mean brick and mortar stores carry them. They don't. Bookstores demand returns. When B&N buys a whole bunch of copies of the latest celebrity tell all that doesn't sell, all those books are shipped back to the publisher. When B&N buys two copies of your POD book and they don't sell, they still expect (and require) to be able to ship them back to the publisher.

Currently Create Space does not allow for returns, period. I don't know about Lulu, because I simply haven't looked into it. Lighting Source does allow for returns, which is great if you want to try and get your POD books in actual stores. But since the books are printed on demand, and not warehoused, what to do with returned books becomes a lot more complicated.

There are currently two return options available with Lightning Source. First, all returned books can be shipped to you the publisher, and you can warehouse them in your basement and then resell them on your own. This requires you, the publisher, to pay for the printing and shipping cost of all the books that have been returned. And since often times the printing cost of a POD is larger than the profit per book, too many returns could lead to not only a crowded basement but also a significant financial loss.

The second return option is pulping. Lightning Source will shred and pulp all returned books upon receipt. In this case, the only cost to the publisher is the cost of shipping, again not free, but at least not as big of a financial loss. But there is the added knowledge that your books are being shredded and pulped, a bit heart breaking.

Authors can of course also select to not allow for returns. But as an author, you should know, making that choice guarantees your book will never be carried in any bookstore. So POD isn't perfect. It is however easy. Lightning Source is super user friendly. I would give you lots of info about how to get started, but honestly, it's all on their website. And the start-up cost to register as a new publisher with Lighting Source is $12. Each title you list with them has an additional $50 processing fee. Still $62 isn't much for the ability to offer physical books your readers can hold in their hands.