It’s a technology, but is often refered to as a publishing option (maybe in some words, vanity). My clients don’t do vanity-they are serious business people who want the share their expertise with their particular audience to brand their business. Yet, I’m going to try out Amazon’s Create Space with a new book on book marketing. (any good or bad reports?)

And I’m sure you’ll all agree that it takes a lot of marketing and promotion to get your books noticed, no matter the publisher.

And with the layoffs in the traditional industry, traditional books are suffering bad editing and not-so-great design. So a self-published author who hires a professional editor (Chicago Manual of Style) and professional book designer will compete in the realm of traditional books. Nowadays, it can be very difficult for people to tell the difference between a traditional or self-published book – if self-published books are done right. I get asked all the time who my publisher is, and that is the question any self-published authors should strive to have!

I’ve developed a series of short videos explaining vanity, subsidy, and true self-publishing at YouTube channel imaginestudios7. And look for more great exclusive content on the new Publishing Academy site soon!

Also, if you use Print On Demand through someone like Lightningsource.com it’s incredibly easy to get your books on amazon – they do it for you as part of the distribution. And if you do self-publish the old way (print-then-sell as we call it) then you can always use Amazon Advantage (though you do lose more money, but gain a distribution channel).

Debs

I’ve had two books through major houses and self-published five. Our five books are more aesthetic than my two major house published books and they had fewer mistakes per the first run. We consider ourselves a small independent press.

It’s also pretty easy to put your book on Amazon. Just wanted to add this for anyone considering self-publishing. I can be done right, with high quality.

I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s a real shame that the excellent technological advancement Print On Demand (POD) has been confused and tainted by the vanity press market. The POD industry is truly excellent for all small publishers and self publishers as it allows them to quickly, cheaply and easily test the market with a print book. The POD industry is also used by larger publishers to keep back catalogs in print, ensuring a very long long-tail of books for all interests.

To clear up confusion – Vanity Presses (or whatever they choose to call themselves) charge you for their services and then charge you exorbitant fees for books. Whereas Print On Demand just means that you only print books as they are needed – it is just a technology – like a photocopier is just a technology.

Debs

I too warn to be clients about many of the so called Print on Demand (POD) publishshers who take big money and cause the author to charge too much for the book, then get low sales from that and other low-marketing appeal short paragraphs on the book instead of a strong book sales letter on the author’s website as well as Other book-selling sites.

I recommend digital printers like deharts.com where the author still has all the control over the book, but gets professional print copies.

If in doubt, write an eBook first to get the kinks out of your book before big printing costs. Most authors cringe at some of their mistakes when their book has already been printed. And most emerging authors print too many books before they set up their marketing plan and actions. Why fill a storage space?

If a speaker and you give 5 or so talks a month, print more, but a rule of thumb is to print as many as you will sell in 3-4 months at a time for POD.
If emerging authors would check out the advice of a book coach first, they would save so much money.