Print-On-Demand Publishing: Helpful Tips for a First-Time Author

Having successfully self-published three books through a POD (print-on-demand) publisher, I believe I have gathered some valuable experience, and I will be happy to share it with those still considering the self-publishing / POD route.

I had been planning to self-publish my adventure trilogy from the very beginning, for two reasons. The first one is the genre: Christian fantasy. Even now the Christian fantasy market is very limited, and back in 2003 it was virtually non-existent. My second reason for choosing the self-publishing option was not wishing to waste time on breaking the publishing barrier yet again. Even though I had been published in Europe, here in America I was still a new, unknown author. I figured that I would do much better if I spend a few years promoting my books rather than collecting rejection slips.

I have published my trilogy with Xulon Press, a Christian print-on-demand publisher. POD publishing has been growing fast, with more and more new companies showing up and offering their services. Choosing a good one is, of course, one of your keys to success. Some of the things I would recommend to keep in mind are:

1) The publisher must accept book returns

This is crucial. Most POD publishers do not take back unsold copies from bookstores, which will make placing your book into stores extremely difficult. My publisher accepts book returns, and I still had some hard time with bookstore managers for whom “POD” automatically means “non-returnable.” Without lifting a finger to check whether my books fell into that category, those managers would refuse to carry them, for that very reason: it is a non-returnable POD title.

So, here are two tips that I give you based on this experience: a) Choose a publisher that accepts book returns; b) Point it out in every promotional letter to bookstores that your titles are returnable.

2) Distribution

Make sure that your books will be carried by a major distributor like Spring Arbor and Ingram. These are the sellers that bookstores and libraries work with. If your book is not sold through them, it will be automatically disregarded.

3) Book price

Books published with the print-on-demand technology usually cost more than those printed traditionally. It is something every POD-published author has to deal with. However, some POD publishers make an effort to lower their book prices, and others don’t. If you see that every book of the particular publisher costs $19.99, move on. There should be a pricing scale, with the book cost depending on page count. Also, I would advise you to go to Amazon.com and check whether other books by this publisher have a discount. Amazon offers 23%-35% discounts for my books, which brings the price down far enough to be within the same range as regular books.

4) Marketing package

Most POD publishers offer some sort of a marketing package. Some offer several, differently priced, letting you choose how much or how little you want them to help you promote your book. I would advise you to study those packages very carefully. See whether it is just the basic things (getting an ISBN, placing with online stores) or something more serious (sending out review copies, helping with media publicity, etc.).

Choose the best package you can afford, but remember one thing: no matter how nice the marketing program sounds, you cannot totally rely on the publisher’s efforts. If you want your book to succeed, YOU must become its major marketer and promoter. It’s your job to contact bookstores, newspapers, magazines, organize book signings, interviews, etc.

5) Cover design

Find out how much control you will have over the cover design. Whether it’s fair or not, books are judged by their cover, so you don’t want to end up with something generic or poorly done. Ask the publisher whether the cover will be sent to you for approval, and how many revisions you are allowed to make. Ask them whether you can use your own images. I was not satisfied with stock photos my publisher had used for Book 1 of my trilogy, so for the second book I took matters into my own hands and found my own model to pose for the cover. It took extra time and effort, but in the end I got a book looking exactly the way I wanted.

I hope you will find these tips helpful. Notice I haven’t mentioned the publishing cost. Most POD services are relatively inexpensive, especially compared to the traditional press. This gives you the opportunity to choose what is best and not what is the cheapest. There are POD publishers that have lower prices than mine, but they fail in other departments (see above). Promoting a self-published book is hard enough; you don’t want any additional trouble with distribution, pricing, and other things.