POD SECRETS REVEALED

SELF-PUBLISHING IN 2023? – How Many Book Sales Needed to Recoup Your Investment?

Considering self-publishing? How many copies would you need to sell to earn back your investment? Compare these 17 popular POD publishers!

CREATESPACE COMPLAINTS (now known as KDP Print) – PART IV

CREATESPACE COMPLAINTS (now known as KDP Print) – PART IV

CreateSpace is a mess. The process to get the proof is no problem. Everything was going swell until I ordered 50 copies on the 9th of January and chose expedited shipping. They shipped it standard, then it took 5 days to print the book, then another 5 days to get it to USPS. Then it was sent off, only to be delayed another 2 days. Now it’s the 20th and I need it for a book signing on the 23rd and there’s no way it’s getting from Pennsylvania to Lafayette, Louisiana in 2 days. Hopefully your service will be done correctly.

HELP! MY PUBLISHER IS GOING OUT OF BUSINESS!! How Can I SAVE MY BOOK Without Going Broke?!

HELP! MY PUBLISHER IS GOING OUT OF BUSINESS!! How Can I SAVE MY BOOK Without Going Broke?!

Over the last 2 weeks, we’ve received reports from authors that another well-known P.O.D. publisher recently kicked the bucket. In their email notice (which used the word “regret,” but offered no apologies, nor an explanation), they told authors to pay them ($250 to $300 per author!) if they wanted copies of their production files and an ISBN. That’s right. AFTER those authors paid upwards of $1,000, $2,000 or even more to get published, the publisher is trying to drain their wallets further…as they’re kicking those authors out the door…

PRINT ON DEMAND (POD) PRICE COMPARISON

UPDATED: 04/15/2016 SUMMARY (see details about each firm below) BookLocker: $675 (Deduct $200 if submitting your own cover.) Lulu: $1,089 Infinity Publishing: $1,097 (includes 5 “free” copies) CreateSpace: $1,151 (Deduct $299 if submitting your own cover. Add $500 if you want more than one image or color on your cover.) Trafford: $1,474 Xlibris: $1,723 iUniverse: […]

POD SECRETS REVEALED: “Free Publishing Guides” Are Used To Harvest Your Email Address, Phone Number, And More!

POD SECRETS REVEALED: “Free Publishing Guides” Are Used To Harvest Your Email Address, Phone Number, And More!

When I see the words “free publishing guide,” I think somebody is going to send me a free ebook that is an actual, factual, non-biased guide about the publishing industry, and/or the publishing process. I don’t think, “Wow, I’m just going to get a big, boring advertisement in exchange for all my contact information!”

POD SECRETS REVEALED: How Much Do Some POD Publishers Profit from Ingram’s “Channel Distribution” Fees? Plenty! By Angela Hoy

POD SECRETS REVEALED: How Much Do Some POD Publishers Profit from Ingram’s “Channel Distribution” Fees? Plenty! By Angela Hoy

POD Publishers that use Ingram’s printing division to print their books incur an annual fee, which is charged by Ingram for each title/ISBN. Ingram calls this their “Catalog Fee.” It provides: “Access to our worldwide distribution channels (the largest portfolio of wholesalers, distributors and booksellers worldwide).” Basically, this means they send out an automated feed to bookstores that includes all the available titles. It typically costs publishers $12 per year to keep a book in Ingram’s system…

P.O.D. SECRETS REVEALED: “Free” P.O.D. Services Can Be Very Expensive!

P.O.D. SECRETS REVEALED: “Free” P.O.D. Services Can Be Very Expensive!

Tempted to sign up with one of those P.O.D. publishers that are claiming to be FREE? You’ll first need design experience so you can layout a professional book interior, and create a professional cover.
In addition, if you really want to get your book published for “free”, in some cases you can forget about having an ISBN (which online and brick and mortar bookstores as well as libraries require), forget about being distributed by Ingram, the world’s largest book distributor, which distributes book listings to online and physical bookstores across the globe, and forget about a lot of other things as well, including a print proof to check before your book goes to market…

P.O.D. SECRETS REVEALED: FEEDING ON YOUR VANITY – OR IGNORANCE – HOT AIR ON PUBLISHERS’ WEBSITES IS INSULTING! – Angela Hoy

P.O.D. SECRETS REVEALED: FEEDING ON YOUR VANITY – OR IGNORANCE – HOT AIR ON PUBLISHERS’ WEBSITES IS INSULTING! – Angela Hoy

I have always been offended by over-the-top marketing verbiage. Saying something is a “good deal” is one thing but trying to tell me a product or service is going to “make my dreams come true” is insulting to an individual’s intelligence. I always wonder how people can fall for so much of the garbage being shoved our way by marketing executives these days…

P.O.D. SECRETS REVEALED: PUBLISHERS PROFITING FROM AUTHOR ERRORS! – Angela Hoy

At BookLocker.com, whenever I notice a mistake in a book, I alert the author. If I notice a few, I will send them a list. These errors can range from the occasional misuse of a word (their vs. there, for example), or a formatting inconsistency (Chapter 1, Chapter Two, etc.), to something like the author’s misuse of the term Prologue at the end of the book (should be Epilogue).

Since we send the formatted file back to the author for any final changes, they have the opportunity to make any corrections at no extra charge at that point in the process. Alerting the author when we notice an error helps them avoid future reader complaints and, of course, bad book reviews.

Here’s a dirty secret you won’t hear anyone talking about among P.O.D. publishers. Some of them see mistakes, and purposely allow them to remain in the book…