But for the record, if you talk to the guys at that well-known POD printer, that ‘return units’ clause basically means that they are printing you another book while the stores send back the covers and pulp the core. I know– they blew a bunch of copies on one of mine, and all they wanted to replace them was the covers and a promise not to sell the remaining pages. (Happily for me, they didn’t care if I gave them away, as long as I didn’t sell them.)

From my B&N manager friend, for all softcovers the policy is to pulp the core and return the cover. Which is why I too didn’t check that ‘returnable’ box. It puts all the risk on the publisher, while the bookstore has zero responsibility to even try to sell the book. I know of an incident where a store employee mistakenly ordered 20 copies when he meant to order two. The box was never unpacked for want of shelf space, and after a month all 20 were pulped, the covers sent back, and the publisher charged.
That’s a business model I would not buy into if I had a choice.
Thank the God who gave us brains to invent technology, POD and internet marketing finally give us that choice.

You can find it at The CAN blog.

And, to address the current topic, I think what Jeff is doing is revolutionary.

I’m also curious about promoting the book. Does this type of process leave all/most of the promoting to the authors? Even with friends/website things you’re not going to be searched until your name is known, which makes it hard for first-time/unknown authors.

Do you have a better deal on POD?

What would the customer be charged plus the shipping? IOTW, what would the net be on that 50/50 split?

Thanks!

This is very exciting. Tell us more!

This will not market your book. Neither does it mean your book is of any interest to a paying customer. It will only print and deliver your book. All the rest of the know-how is what Jeff is offering. I find his offer to put up his expertise and labor on half-shares quite generous, and if I were writing anything that would fit his profile, I’d definitely consider Marcher Lord.

Is this true for Marcher Lord Press? I have a science fiction query I would like to send.

Welcome to my world–Zumaya has been perfecting the digital printing business model for the last five years.

There’s a very good reason why POD has become synonymous with vanity/subsidy/author mill publishing in the minds of the public. Those are the only companies that have gotten any kind of media attention since the digital printing process was perfected. Then, the major writers’ organizations like SFWA, RWA and, most recently, MWA added to the misconception by writing membership criteria that clearly targeted non-traditional independent publishers.

Lightning Source doesn’t have a monopoly on print-on-demand services. They are, however, the only one (to my knowledge, anyway) that deals strictly with publishers. In other words, they don’t offer subsidy publishing services, as is the case with Author House and Amazon’s OnDemand, which used to be Booksurge. They are also favored BY publishers because they are the only way to be listed in the Ingram database.

That last isn’t a factor if, as Jeff plans to do, you aren’t interested in dealing with bookstores (although they aren’t by any means dead). OTOH, limiting one’s market isn’t a good idea–I speak here from experience. Nor is it helpful when your authors want to schedule author events at a bookstore. Again, not a problem, but honesty demands authors be made fully aware of the drawbacks inherent in bucking the system totally rather than remodeling it.