Seeking Publisher - Here we go again

Subject: Re: Seeking Publisher - Here we go again Mon Jan 28, 2008 12:39 am

Saw this article in Publishers Weekly and thought it interesting.
Don't forget there is a difference between POD and vanity publishing. There is also a difference on the different POD avenues, too.

Here is part of it. To read the entire article go to:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6522044.html

POD Heads to the Mainstream
In the future, there will be no warehouses, and books will never go out
of print
by Calvin Reid -- Publishers Weekly, 1/14/2008

Walking into Lightning Source's sprawling plant just outside of
Nashville, Tenn., CEO J. Kirby Best recites a list of print-on-demand
milestones: Lightning Source has grown from three employees in 1997 to
more than 500 today; the company digitally scans about 2,000 books a
week and prints 1.2 million books a month. “It took us seven years to
print 10 million books,” says Best as we stroll through the
159,000-sq.-ft. building. “This year we published 10 million books in
the first 11 months.”

Welcome to LaVergne, Tenn., headquarters of Lightning Source and the
center of the POD universe. A subsidiary of Ingram Industries and sister
company to Ingram Book Group, Lightning Source was founded in 1997 and
over the past 10 years has grown into the largest of about a dozen
companies—among them BookMobile, IBT, BookSurge and Bridgeport National
Bindery—offering a wide range of POD services. As Lightning Source
prepares to mark its 10th anniversary, the use of POD technology
continues to grow and transform the economics of book publishing.

For years, print-on-demand has held out the promise of a new business
model. Rather than print thousands of copies of a book and then work
frantically to sell them, POD stands the usual publishing model on its
head. POD offers publishers the possibility of selling a book before it
is printed and then delivering it directly to a consumer, to a store or
to a publisher's warehouse. As the differences in the quality between
POD and conventional offset printing continue to shrink—“it's getting
damn close to offset,” says Best—publishers are taking a good long look
at the potential of POD technology to eliminate warehousing entirely and
manage their supply chain as never before.
_________________
Regards,
Anne Whitfield
http://www.annewhitfield.com
historical & contemporary author

Subject: LSI Mon Jan 28, 2008 5:38 am

Thank you, Anne, for this article. I have read it before right after I had signed a contract with them. I am glad I did. I like the fact that they get one into catalogs and venues for Ingram, Baker and Taylor, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. I like that I have control over everything.

They have worked closely with me, helped me with any issues that I had, and even helped me with a shipping problem. They discounted the next order by 50% and didn't charge me shipping and handling. All because they were going to be a day late on my original order. I am really impressed with the representatives that were assigned to me and couldn't ask for anything better. At least at this time.

So if any publisher uses them I think you are going in a good direction. (They only deal with publishers, btw.)

Thanks again, Anne!
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Four Star Member Joined : 11 Jan 2008 Posts : 376

Brilliant article Anne. Here are the main reasons I decided to go PoD.

I believe, after doing much research, that PoD is the future of book publishing. I can see all publishers, even the major houses, using nothing but PoD in a few short years. There is no risk to them as there are no stocks piled up in warehouses to shift.

It is this stock that has made publishing houses so wary of signing new authors. They do not want pallets of unsold books sitting in warehouses. Now they can do it without risk (once the die hards running the companies who resist change get their heads around the concept).

You keep the copyright to your work which means you still have all your publishing and movie rights.

Most conventional publishers are now cherry picking from PoD books. It is easy for them to offer contracts to new authors whose books they can see have already been successful. This is a fast growing trend.

It's low cost and can even be free, though I chose to pay because I wanted my book in hardback with a good quality printed dust jacket.

Books never go out of print. In 10 years time if anyone wants my book they can get it.

And don't forget this one - I'm now a published author with a hardback sitting on his bookshelf! That in itself is priceless.

If I want to go the traditional route, I still can though instead of sending a manuscript I would send a copy of my book.

Subject: Same Reasons, George Mon Jan 28, 2008 5:13 pm

Thank you, George for the post. They are some of the very same reasons I chose to go the way I did. You mentioned inventory and yesterday I was looking at the books sitting in boxes in my living room for the books signings I have had and are in the future. I can't imagine having more than what I have now sitting in my house. For that I am thankful that I can get as I need.

Also it seems to be important to people that one is on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. I am talking about the average reader who has no idea about the publishing or book writing industry. They get impressed if you say I have written a book and am published. Right away they sit up and take notice and want to know about the book. Then when you tell them you are on one of the above mentioned websites, they are even more interested. I get more private orders that way because now they want an autographed copy which they can't get through those sources. Even people I talk to on the internet don't seem to want to go the bookstore route.

Thank you also, George, for the info on the cherry picking. I didn't know that was done. That just adds another perk to doing it the way I am doing it.

Gosh, I love this group!!!!!!
Susie

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http://suesunshine.blogspot.com/
http://suesunshine.wordpress.com/

Last edited by on Tue Feb 05, 2008 3:34 pm; edited 1 time in total

Lots of good information here, everyone. And I must agree that it is very refreshing to not have a bunch of bashing going back and forth. Everyone has different ideas, and the sharing going on here may open doors to someone (like me) that they would not have otherwise considered.

There is so very much that I do not know. Rejection slips? I have none. Not because I am an exceptionel writer, but because the first house I submitted to said yes. I did not know where to reach the big boys. Embarassed

For myself, I guess the route I chose was the right one for me at the time. Will I go with them for my next one? I don't know, but you all have offered up some very good options and ideas. cheers

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you--one and all. heart

_________________
Zada Connaway
Mother's Journals: parts 1, 2 and 3 ISBN # 1-4241-6969-0

http://www.zadaconnaway.com/

Guest

This is a great thread! I self published my book last year but only after trying the traditional route and getting rejected. What a humbling experience! Sad

I was still hoping for a publisher to fall in love with it, but also wanted my grandmother to see it, and she turned 85 last year. So I self published it, and I am just getting started with promoting my book across the country via several methods. Although it is a long way from being a best seller, I know that I would have to do the same amount of work if I had published it through a publisher, and so I am quite OK with it. I will do my next book in the same manner, although not sure if I will use the same company or not.
Pam
Writing as Maggie Bendar
Marching Across the Heart

Subject: Re: Seeking Publisher - Here we go again Tue Feb 05, 2008 3:40 pm

Another point I have not seen here: Save a tree, publish POD. It really is more eco-friendly when you consider, as George mentioned, that there will not be warehouses filled with unordered books, which will probably just go up in smoke after a certain period of time.

In our current time of ecolological awareness, this is a good selling point I think.

I cringe every time I think of 'book burnings'. Mad

_________________
Zada Connaway
Mother's Journals: parts 1, 2 and 3 ISBN # 1-4241-6969-0

http://www.zadaconnaway.com/

Four Star Member Joined : 11 Jan 2008 Posts : 376

I think the book clubs thrive on unsold stock; that's where they get their cheap books from which keeps them in business. Not sure how that works but I think it's something like that.

Subject: Re: Seeking Publisher - Here we go again Tue Feb 05, 2008 5:04 pm

But, don't they have to be reprinted with "Book Club Edition" on the inside?
_________________
Zada Connaway
Mother's Journals: parts 1, 2 and 3 ISBN # 1-4241-6969-0

http://www.zadaconnaway.com/

Four Star Member Joined : 11 Jan 2008 Posts : 376

No idea, someone else maybe knows.

Admin Joined : 11 Jan 2008 Posts : 2062 Location : UK

George and Zada, Does this answer your questions?

Book Clubs
_________________
Shelagh Watkins
http://shelaghwatkins.co.uk/

Subject: Re: Seeking Publisher - Here we go again Wed Feb 06, 2008 1:45 am

Not entirely. Does the book have to have "Book Club Edition" imprinted on the flyleaf?
_________________
Zada Connaway
Mother's Journals: parts 1, 2 and 3 ISBN # 1-4241-6969-0

http://www.zadaconnaway.com/

Admin Joined : 11 Jan 2008 Posts : 2062 Location : UK

Hi Zada,

This page explains how to identify first editions and book club editions. You will need to scroll down the page to:

Identifying Book Club Editions

This is the web address:

http://www.emptymirrorbooks.com/collecting/firstedition.html
_________________
Shelagh Watkins
http://shelaghwatkins.co.uk/

Four Star Member Joined : 11 Jan 2008 Posts : 376

Most books bought from Book Clubs aren't Book Club editions. At least not here anyways Very Happy

Subject: Re: Seeking Publisher - Here we go again Sun Feb 17, 2008 4:01 pm

It is so refreshing reading all the different opinions here, and to see everyone still "playing nice in the sandbox". Very Happy

My first two books were published by a small, traditional press. I learned a lot about what was expected of me in terms of promotion. Plus, I learned a great deal about the business end of things.

Now, I am fortunate to have an agent I dearly love, and I hope she can place my next novels with a larger house.

I agree with Don, in that everyone must follow his or her own version of a dream. We don't all take off in the same kind of car, or with the same routes. I don't have a Mercedes with a GPS, so I keep unfolding my maps and piecing my vehicle together with bailing wire. Still, I will eventually limp into town...

I am such a sucker for analogy. Rolling Eyes

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Southern fiction with a madhatter twist...
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