(7) What is Print-On-Demand Publishing?
Print-On-Demand or 'POD' publishing is the outcome of new
computer-based technology that allows books to be produced one
at a time by a machine that looks superficially like a large
photocopier.
Publishers who use it are now able to make out-of-print books
available to infrequent buyers, responding to orders 'one at a time'.
For example, I spent decades looking for a copy of Cordwainer
Smith's 1965 science fiction novel Norstrilia. I would have been
happy with a used copy in any condition, but recently, through
Amazon.com, I got a fresh one, just off the press.
For writers unable to find a commercial publisher, POD offers a
new route to getting published. It used to be that you needed tens
of thousands of dollars to get a book into print. Now it can be done
for as little as $500. The Birdcatcher cost approximately $2,000, but I
I did a lot of meddling during the publication process.
With the help of the Internet, you can market such a book now
without any assistance from, or the approval of, the traditional book
publlishing community.
If you want to know more about POD, or on-line publishing in
general, I recommend Morris Rosenthal's book Print-On-Demand
BookPublishing (a POD book itself - www.fonerbooks.com). For an
informative, and often entertaining, catalogue of POD publishers
and the on-line publishing world in general, go to the website of the
science fiction author Piers Anthony (www.hipiers.com).
Alan Conrad