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…
When an author publishes a brand new edition of their book, or when they move their book from one publisher to another, or even when they get the rights back to their book and decide to self-publish, they are often frustrated to learn that Amazon will not remove the old version of their book from Amazon.com…
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…
