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Perhaps you've seen the television ad. A pompous professor informs creative writing students that it costs too much to publish books and that they have little chance of finding a New York publisher. A student stands up and defiantly announces that now, through digital technology (POD or print on demand), everyone can be published. The students cheer.
In fact, both are right.
Many major publishers have merged and since it is expensive to publish a book, name writers dominate the scene. Even new writers who do get published often disappear through poor publicity and low sales. Their books get remaindered and eventually go out of print. Agents have a fierce, commercially oriented screening process and it is difficult for a new writer to catch a break. The days of in-house editors nurturing a new Faulkner or Hemingway are gone. POD companies have little professional editing.
Thanks to print on demand technology which publishes books as needed, many POD companies are offering new writers a chance to publish without agents or the usual screening. This includes amateur writers. One could argue that there is nothing wrong with someone publishing their grandmother's memoir about famous dogs of Cleveland, a book to share with family and friends, but the current book market is glutted with new books. Publish America published 4,000 new books last year.
Ironically, POD books are more expensive than those mass produced through off-set publishing, so they have a higher and often non competitive price. POD books save on paper and don't require warehousing, but that means a no return policy that discourages book buyers; major bookstores like Borders or Barnes and Noble don't stock the books. Many new authors are shocked to discover reputable critics will not review a POD book and writing organizations don't recognize them. POD publishers tend to have low discounts, as well. The POD phenomenon which was supposed to change publishing carries the stigma of a cleverly disguised "vanity" press. Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware has this to say:
"In my opinion, a distinction needs to be made between print-on-demand the technology-which doesn't in and of itself imply any particular philosophy or business practice-and print-on-demand the business model-which involves a complex of factors such as poor editorial gatekeeping and lack of marketing and distribution. The latter is never going to merit respect-not just because it can't reliably produce quality books, but because it can't or won't provide them with any exposure." Victoria Strauss warns writers to examine a "publisher's overall business practices and whether or not it can get its book reviewed and into bookstores."
In the past, I had reputable agents, but not relishing the tedious process of finding a new agent, I decided to publish an Irish American memoir called Confessions of a Shanty Irishman using Publish America. It seemed like a good idea; I would have a book in print and Publish America charged nothing, insisting they were a "traditional" publisher, not a POD press. My wife, a journalist and editor herself, warned me that the contract was Draconian. Publish America took most of the rights and had a copyright that ran until the book entered into public domain. That's over a century. (They have since adopted the standard policy of the seven year copyright.)
I edited Confessions of a Shanty Irishman myself and I was satisfied with the book when it arrived in the mail. I even got a one dollar token advance against royalties which are 8 percent, low by most standards. I quickly discovered that my memoir would not make the bookshelves of brick and mortar bookstores and no critic wanted to review it except for one in Galway. It was available online through Amazon and Barnes and Noble, but online sales are generally poor for new books by unknown authors. It seemed I had a book no one would read except friends.
Then I got lucky.
Gerry Nicosia of The San Francisco Chronicle and a Kerouac scholar loved the memoir and gave it a glowing review. I got my "exposure." The sales dramatically improved and I received invitations to two important Irish festivals. My royalties even at 8 percent were decent, and Publish America allowed a second edition with some added material. (All print on demand books are first editions.) Libraries took the book, including Dublin's public library. Though Publish America was the subject of controversy in the Washington Post and other newspapers, my experience was relatively positive. At the encouragement of a popular writer willing to give POD publishers a shot, I published a second book with Publish America called The Irish Connection and Other Stories. This collection of connected short stories, always a risky venture, did not get a major review; its rating on Amazon grew worse by the day.
Like Laurel Johnson (Alley of Wishes) and Christy French (Wayne's Dead) who eventually found POD publishers with whom they were comfortable, I used a more author friendly POD publisher for my third book, a thriller called Byron. Virtual Bookworm offered 50 percent royalties and a return policy (for a price), didn't tie up the rights, and had a non exclusive contract which meant I could leave at any time. (Publish America has a tight lock on my memoir.) If the POD situation has improved, a "stench" as Christy French calls it, still hangs over POD presses, even though commercial publishers occasionally use the process for a book that has a limited audience. Print on demand distribution remains poor and I doubt the New York Times will review Byron, though the book has been favorably received elsewhere. There is that rare POD book that is successful enough to attract a mainstream publisher. John Gilmore, author of Severed and Live Fast, Die Young, feels that the POD process "has to act as a legit publisher to succeed and advance the world of publishing and desperately needs to escape the doom of the 'self publishing' house-label."
I don't plan to use the technology again though it is growing in popularity and availability. For my next book about my wife whom I lost on 12 September of last year, I will pursue the lengthy process of finding a reputable agent and a reputable publisher. Her story and the grief process deserve a book that reaches a wide audience, something that no POD publishers can promise.
I would not recommend POD publishers to a new author unless the writer simply wanted a book out on the market. (A POD book will live forever in an electronic file, if that's any consolation.) Certainly, an author who has a manuscript intended just for family and friends may consider Publish America, since it's free. Christy French insists that a good book with a reasonable POD publisher could build a readership. One can't wait forever for a New York publisher, perhaps, but for the serious writer, mainstream publishers still offer nationwide distribution and a chance for reviews by established critics. I do agree with John Gilmore, however, that POD technology may be the wave of the future.
For beginning writers, my advice is to consider Victoria Strauss's warnings and check each POD publisher carefully. There are many high priced POD outfits looking to fleece naive novice authors.
First published by The Boise Weekly. If you'd like to see more of Mr. Corrigan's writing, be sure to visit his website which is linked in his byline for this article.