Publishers are squeezing out even the most respected authors, as wallets tighten and print runs drop. More and more creators are turning to self publishing.
When I was a self publishing tadpole, self publishing meant printing thousands of copies to distributor order. Total newbies who didn’t understand how the business works lost big bucks printing what they thought distributors would order in the future, only to find their prose books/comics/graphic novels taking up space in the garage and attracting nothing but hordes of silverfish.
Print on Demand seems like the perfect solution. Print on Demand allows you to print exactly to order, even if that order is as low as one copy at a time. The cost per copy is much higher than printing in bulk, but there is little or no risk.
I’ve spent many exhausting hours trying to convince people that printing 2,000 copies when you don’t have any up front orders will not save you any money, even if unit cost is lower. Printing 2,000 copies over 500 copies will give you a discount of 50 cents per unit. However, you still spent $2 per copy for orders you didn’t get.
A friend of mine who would not take my advice printed $12,000 worth of books and six years later is still five figures in the hole on her project.
You minimize risk with POD, but all Print on Demand services are not created equal. Some which started out as printing services have grown into vanity presses which charge fat fees for tasks you can easily perform yourself.
Let’s take a look at iUniverse.
My friend Arlene Harris is an award-winning author who has a long-term interest in Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. She spent years researching and writing sequels to the book, three of which she self published through iUniverse.
When she first went to iUniverse, the up-front POD fee was a reasonable $100. Later it increased to $300. Now the minimum package fee is nearly $600, and the contract appears to be a co-publishing agreement with term rights clauses, and high prices for basics that are easily performed for free.
Arlene decided to take her business elsewhere. She sent iUniverse a short letter of termination in response to their upselling more of their (IMHO) expensive packaging services to her.
Thanks, however I am not about to call you and get upsold services I do not want. Any messages you have, unless they are sales messages, can be relayed through this email address. If they are sales messages, kindly refrain from sending them. I’ve wasted enough money with this company and am not about to throw more money after it.
Arlene C. Harris
From iUniverse, a finger-wagging tour de force of patronization (emphasis within text is mine.)
Hello Ms. Harris,
I wish there was something I could say to pacify your hurt feelings. But seriously, you need to take time to ponder about what you have done so far to market your book because I don’t see anything about it that’s remotely significant or serious.
The authors that have made significant strides in promoting their book rightly deserve what they reap because they take action instead of complaining and blaming others for their failure.
We are here to help but if you don’t like our gesture, we will as you say, kindly refrain from doing it.
However, we are here to serve everyone without prejudice so we will continue to be available to you in case you’ll need our help someday.
With kind regards.
Jed Michael “Luck happens when opportunity meets preparation!”
Marketing Consultant
Perhaps iUniverse will require something from me to pacify their hurt feelings after I post this review of their services.
Let’s examine a few, shall we?
The $599 “Select” service package includes:
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