Ah, the large POD publishers will say just about anything to get your money, including offering ridiculous sales that look like good deals…until you do the math.
It’s no secret that that there are just a handful of major players in the Print on Demand (POD) industry (with a few thousand smaller ones) and that there are numerous complaints about the largest ones online. Oddly, under those complaints you rarely see the company in question defending itself. Why?
It seems it’s not enough that some POD publishers charge new authors thousands of dollars to publish a book. Some have taken the low road by attempting to trick their competitors’ authors into thinking they need more than one publisher…
POD Publishers that use Ingram’s printing division to print their books incur a $12 annual fee for each title/ISBN. They call this their “Catalog Fee.” Ingram’s catalog fee 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 and it costs $12 per year to keep a book in their feed.
Most POD publishers pass this fee onto their authors but under a variety of names. While it’s common to mark up a fee a small bit for a variety of reasons (administrative costs, their own file hosting expenses, etc.), some POD publishers take “marking up” to a whole new level.
As I wrote last week, “Some companies will say or write just about anything to get your business…”
At BookLocker, we are frequently contacted by authors who say they are surprised by our candor. We never tell authors their book might become a best seller…because it probably won’t (most traditionally published books never become best sellers, either). We don’t twist our words around to make it appear an author’s book will be stocked by “25,000” bookstores. It won’t. And we don’t publish verbiage that makes an author think we do something we don’t. We just don’t do business that way.
Authors appreciate our honestly because they have read so much confusing blurbage on other POD publishers’ websites.
Here are a few examples of what we believe is “hot air” on some POD publishers’ websites. Of course, this is our opinion. You can form your own…
It’s disgusting but it’s true. Some POD publishers will do anything to make it financially and logistically impossible for you to switch to another POD publisher if you are unhappy with their services in the future. We call this a “forced marriage.” One way they might do this is to include verbiage, buried in the middle of their contract (or multiple contracts as some POD publishers offer different contracts for each service), that states they own all rights to the materials you have paid them to create…
Last week, we discussed how most POD publishers’ websites not only do almost nothing to promote their authors’ books, but also tell everyone their authors paid to have their books published. This week, we’ll look at those ridiculous “free book!” offers.
Your book is finally on the market. You print business cards, update your website, and send out press releases. You know you’ll get higher royalties when someone buys your book from your publisher’s website, so you send people there. But, wait! What does your publisher’s homepage tell your readers about your book?
Tempted to sign up with one of those POD publishers that are claiming to be FREE? Think again! If you’re a graphic designer and you can layout your book on your own, and if you can create a professional and original book cover on your own, too, and if you want to severely limit your book’s availability (and salability), that’s one thing. But, if you 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 and libraries require), forget about being distributed by Ingram, the largest book distributor, and forget about a lot of other things as well…
Wow! That nice POD publishing house representative wants to hear “more about your book!” Is it finished yet? Did you have it edited? Are you going to included pictures? What’s your target market?
This week, we’re going to look at how some POD publishers upsell authors on products and services that should already be included in their outrageous setup fees…
When authors are researching POD publishers, they often just look at the setup fees, glance at the royalties (not knowing what they’re a percentage of), and go from there. Unfortunately, they don’t always think about asking what the list price of their book will be, don’t understand how the royalty structure works or when royalties will be paid, and don’t always ask how much they’ll have to pay for copies they purchase themselves after the book is ready to sell…
You did it! Your book is finally in print! After months of sweating over details like editing and cover colors and even the final list price, you’re ready to start that marketing campaign! You’ve even figured out that you can make more money buying copies at your author discount and doing your own fulfillment at appearances than you would if you sent potential readers to your publisher’s website. But, wait…
You just tried to place an order for 100 copies of your book…and discovered that your publisher is charging you around $1 per small, paperback book for shipping and handling! Say what?! That blows your budget right out of the water!
In 2007, I wrote a popular series of articles exposing many tactics being used by some POD publishers. Four years later, it’s time for an update…
I received this email from an unhappy POD author:
“I’ve really, really disliked Lulu, and have been very discouraged by the process. I don’t think a paperback of this book should cost so much (they claimed it’s necessary for the Amazon distribution). I actually haven’t marketed this book at all because I’m upset by the costs.
She provided me with her book’s information online. It’s a 390-page paperback (fiction) and it costs (are you sitting down?) more than $25! She’s right. That is WAY too expensive. Why would any POD publisher want to price a book out of the market like that?
I looked online and found two POD publishers that have some (not all) of their books appearing on Amazon with significant price differences compared to the list price on the publishers’ own websites…
A year and a half ago, I published an article about hard core sales tactics being used by some POD publishers. Some of the sales reps at some POD publishers work on commission. Obviously, things haven’t changed. In fact, they’ve gotten worse.
Several months ago, we ran a feature that revealed the shipping costs charged by POD publishers on author orders (large-quantity purchases).
Today, we’re comparing the shipping costs POD publishers are charging YOUR readers – the customer who drops by to order a book from the publisher at the recommendation of the author. Yes, inflated shipping costs CAN impact your sales!
Here are a few examples of what we believe is “hot air” on some POD publishers’ websites. Of course, this is our opinion. You can form your own.
You did it! Your book is finally in print! After months of sweating over details like editing and cover colors and even the final list price, you’re ready to start that marketing campaign! You’ve even figured out that you can make more money buying copies at your author discount and doing your own fulfillment at appearances than you would if you sent potential readers to your publisher’s website. But, wait…
You just tried to place an order for 100 copies of your book…and discovered that your publisher is charging you around $1 per paperback book for shipping and handling! Say what?!
