post # 418 — Wednesday, August 15, 2007 — a Strategy and the Fat Smoker post
Self-Publishing: Print On Demand
For me, one of the things that decided me about self-publishing was the combination of Print On Demand (POD) services and online bookstores such as 1800CEOREAD (a business bookstore that has been very supportive of my books), Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.
I had known about the bookstores, of course, but POD was new to me. It’s amazing the services that such places can offer. I’m going with LightningSource.com, which was highly recommended to me.
They will not only print books in any quantity, but also offer an order fulfillment service. All I have to is send them any orders I receive, and they take of things from there. No inventory, no fuss, no muss.
They also automatically list your book with Amazon and – and this is a big plus – with Ingram, which is the overwhelmingly dominant wholesaler (book channel) to the entire (bricks and mortar) bookselling industry. They can also sell my book as an ebook.
Fees to get started (ie to register the book) are minimal, so it’s very easy to get going!
I know I’m still going to have to do a lot of marketing, but it’s exciting to see that the actual production and distribution of the book should be very simple to manage. (At least, it appears so!)
Adam J Fein said
http://www.pembrokeconsulting.com
First, let me thank you for discussing your decision. I started looking into self-publishing after reading your post last week and became convinced that it is the right way to go.
If you don't mind, I have a few quick questions:
1. Are you using your primary company as the "publisher" or are you setting up a separate publishing company? (Actually, I don’t know your corporate structure, but I have heard that LS only works with “publishers” not individual authors.)
2. Did you hire people to perform the services normally provided by a publisher, such as an editor, designer, or publicist? If so, any tips on finding these professionals? If not, why did you decide to go it alone?
Thanks very much for sharing your experiences.
Adam
posted on Wednesday, August 15, 2007