re POD and Vanity Presses

Hi

Okay, today I decided to write about one of my personal pet-peeves. There seems to be a huge stigma attached about printing on demand, or POD.

Let me see if I can clear up a few things here on this blog. First, there is a difference between PRINT on Demand and PUBLISH on Demand.

Many small publishers, mine included, print books in small runs--thus, the use of a PRINT on Demand printer is utilized.

The company I publish with doesn't charge the author a dime. It's not a vanity press.

PUBLISH on Demand are usually Vanity Presses. The author pays for the privilege of seeing their book in print. Sometimes up to a thousand dollars.

Some places provide both services- Print on demand AND Publish on demand; Lulu is one such place. Some small publishers use their service to do very small print runs--not to mention Lulu provides another outlet to find books.

So, the writing tip for today: If you're considering POD--make sure it's PRINT on demand; not a publisher that is going to charge you to print your book! POD takes eBook authors a step further, and allows their readers to buy print versions of their books.

POD books look the same--the printer prints what the publisher sends. Real books, real perfect-bound paperback books.