Publishing Choices For Writers - Self-Publishing Print on Demand, Part One

Publishing Choices For Writers - Self-Publishing Print on Demand

, Part One

In the introduction to Self-Publishing Print On Demand, I discussed several generalized benefits that authors can achieve using Print On Demand publishing. However, for every benefit, there is of course a detriment that has to be considered by an author prior to choosing this method of publishing.

For example, obtaining just a few copies at a reasonable price prior to actually going live with your book in order to get favorable reviews is now much easier. Taken from just this angle, Print On Demand sounds like the problem of getting copies to a reviewer prior to printing is now solved. However, it is unfortunate that one of the negatives of Print on Demand is that even if the author can now get an affordable copy of their book in order to send to a reviewer, most likely a reviewer never will review a POD (i.e., self-published in the reviewer's mind) book.

Like the whole self-publishing industry, Print on Demand wears the self-published "vanity" stigma, especially to reviewers. As discussed in other articles in this Writers Publishing Choice series, "vanity" publishers are publishers who publish anything for money with no concern as to what a book looks like or how a book actually reads. Since in the past, these vanity publishers tended to flood the market with trash (badly written, badly edited books), reviewers had no desire to waste their time.

With the advent of POD, the potential is still there to put out trash, in fact even more so since Print On Demand companies usually are printers and not publishers. By being printers and not publishers, these companies do not offer any publishing type services (e.g., editing, copywriting, cover design, etc.) and are not in the business to care about the quality of what they are printing. As long as it is in the correct format, their business is to print what is sent to them, and thus, as the old saying goes, garbage in and garbage out.

So while you can not really blame these Print on Demand companies which are in business to just print books without regard to the quality of what they are printing, you also can not blame the reviewers who do not want to waste their time with books that even readers will not want to see. So until Print On Demand gets better quality control and thus. a better image, reviewers will always look with a jaundiced eye on any book published under that moniker.

In Part Two of Print on Demand, I will discuss other cons about choosing POD as an author's method of publishing.

Candace C. Davenport is a retired attorney and published author whose love of writing led to co-founding a small independent publishing company, Our Little Books. Our Little Books ( http://www.ourlittlebooks.com ) is dedicated to publishing inspirational, educational and fun little books for pocket or purse. Candace encourages all people to find their inner muse and become published authors with their own little book, either for pleasure or for their business. Sign up for a free report on how Becoming a Published Author Will Improve Your Credibility and Make You an Expert in Your Field at http://www.ourlittlebooks.com/free-report/. Enjoy!

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