Publish on Demand is something you might think about when you finally decide how you want your book to be published. Usually, when you go the traditional way you go through a serious of paths to get published. In the end, it will be the publisher that will make that decision and not you. When you decide to self-publish you, either print your work, or you Publish on Demand (POD).
So what is the difference between going to somewhere and print out your work and doing a POD? For instance, money is an answer. The inventory you will need to have it stored somewhere. Damage of your product after it is done. I’m not saying you should avoid printing a book on your own. You can, plus you support your local business. Now on a POD usually is cheaper, you don’t need to store any inventory and thus worry your product will get damaged.
One thing to know is that some major bookstores around the globe will actually prefer buying directly from a POD than directly from you. Fewer interactions, saving time, plus usually, they get discounts by doing it this way. Bookstores are a business and they need to get a profit, otherwise, they won’t consider your book to be on their shelves.
So what are your options if you are going to do a POD? In the U.S. you have but not limited to, Ingramspark, Createspace, KDP. Again there are others like Tablo, Blurb, Bookbaby, D2D print. for the time being, I’ll concentrate on the most used ones, which are the first three.
Ingramspark
Right now is the most popular way to use POD for paperback and hardcover. It is what bookstores look for and you’ll get a global expansion with it. They also have an ebook service but from all the research over the internet, their highest rating is on the physical aspect of the book.
Pricing for submitting the book on Ingramspark? Around $49. You will also need an ISBN and your, cover art and a pdf of your formatted story. Ingramspark also would tell how much profit you will earn from book sales as you adjust the pricing on depending on which part of the world your book will travel.
Many bookstores will ask you if your book is through Ingramspark for two main reasons. One, wholesale discount and two, returnable for unwanted books. Wholesale discount, you got to remember they are driving business and they need to profit versus you selling your book on your own. Returnable, it does become a chargeback on your profits, but bookstores don’t want to invest in something they don’t get insurance on what if your book does not move.
Create Space
Createspace is from Amazon and they also print physical books. You don’t need an ISBN although I would definitely recommend one. Not doing so makes automatically Amazon technically your publishing house in the whole sense of the word. So they can provide you with one if you don’t want to pay for them.
Pricing for submitting the book on Create Space? Around $0. You will also need your cover art and a pdf of your formatted story. Although if you don’t have your book cover Create Space can provide you with some tools. Best advice, hire an artist. Create Space also would tell how much profit you will earn from the book sale.
KDP
KDP is also from Amazon. One thing to know is that Amazon controls the highest ebook distribution in the world. This is the reason why I didn’t continue with Ingramspark’s ebook service. Yet you don’t need to disqualify it of maybe being your option for distribution. So a no-brainer would have your ebook on Amazon. Now KDP allows you to do just that, distribute your book digitally.
KDP lets you distribute on two forms and it basically translates on how much money you will make per ebook sale.
35% This is if you are going o sell on every platform, in other words, if you want a wider distribution of your ebook. The other option on doing 35% is if you are going to sell over $10 your ebook.
70% This is if you want to go exclusive with Amazon and if you are going to sell your book from $2.99 to 9.99. So if you don’t want to do these two, reverse to option 35%. Another thing that you get if you sign up for the exclusivity is that you get access to the KDP unlimited program. In this program, you have two more things. One, your book can be lent to others as it is more or less like going to a library and two, you get paid by pages read. Getting paid by getting read is an excellent source of income.
So you got two choices, 35% with more distribution and no lending books or 70% with exclusivity with Amazon access to KDP unlimited and getting paid for pages read.
If you want more information on the Publish on Demands let me know. Have a nice day guys!