I know that this is a digression, but since it does seem to be in the background of several comments, and since I see far too many broken hearts over some of these issues, please pardon a brief word on the issue.
POD is a printing method. LOTS of publishers use it, usually to keep backlist in print, to produce ARCs, and other low-volume, low-overhead items.
There are a zillion permutations on the subsidy press/vanity press model. Some of them have arrogated the term POD publishing to themselves, thus annoying the tar out of the small trade pb houses that are using POD printing in the search to make tiny niches pay.
The subsidy presses using digital printing and offering low set-up costs now bring out tens of thousands of titles per year. The average sales per title are between 50 and 100 copies, including those sold to the authors themselves.
Some POD publishers leave writers confused about much of the following: --Being listed by B&N, etc. is trivial, for anyone. Get an ISBN, record the release of the associated book, and it's done. --Getting onto the store shelves is an ENTIRELY different game. --ISBNs belong to the entity that buys them from Bowker. They cannot be resold. This matters in all kinds of ways (liability, returns, re-orders, marketing momentum, . . . .) --The rights to the words in a book are a very different thing from the rights to the design. If you move your book to a different subsidy, self or traditional publishing option, you can't take the ISBN or the design with you, so you generally lose the momentum you have built.
I hope this starts some interesting thoughts in various folks' minds.
POD or not
POD is a printing method. LOTS of publishers use it, usually to keep backlist in print, to produce ARCs, and other low-volume, low-overhead items.
There are a zillion permutations on the subsidy press/vanity press model. Some of them have arrogated the term POD publishing to themselves, thus annoying the tar out of the small trade pb houses that are using POD printing in the search to make tiny niches pay.
The subsidy presses using digital printing and offering low set-up costs now bring out tens of thousands of titles per year. The average sales per title are between 50 and 100 copies, including those sold to the authors themselves.
Some POD publishers leave writers confused about much of the following:
--Being listed by B&N, etc. is trivial, for anyone. Get an ISBN, record the release of the associated book, and it's done.
--Getting onto the store shelves is an ENTIRELY different game.
--ISBNs belong to the entity that buys them from Bowker. They cannot be resold. This matters in all kinds of ways (liability, returns, re-orders, marketing momentum, . . . .)
--The rights to the words in a book are a very different thing from the rights to the design. If you move your book to a different subsidy, self or traditional publishing option, you can't take the ISBN or the design with you, so you generally lose the momentum you have built.
I hope this starts some interesting thoughts in various folks' minds.