POD and Self Publishing

The development of print on demand (POD) technology has led to the concept of publishing houses offering services directly to authors who are keen to self-publish.

Book packagers, who take the risk of production by offering the work to a prospective publisher, offer a good place as starters for a novice self-publisher. The cost for this type of publishing usually covers printing as well as the handling of author royalties. Sometimes the book packager may cover in the printing fees, the editing and production charges, or may charge additional rates to cover the administration and project management.

Several ethical subsidy presses offer printing assistance to authors looking to self-publish their work and authors are well advised to seek the services of only reputable printers.

Some also offer a co-publishing arrangement where the author may opt to pick up the tab of the production and printing expenses. The printer/small publisher takes the responsibility to obtain the technical aspects of ISBN and LOC as required as well as the distribution costs. Likewise other typical co-publishers may choose to incur the production costs and withhold royalties until these expenses are recovered.

One can consider self-publishing to be a viable option if one wishes to be an independent publisher in the event that a regular publisher is unavailable.

Understandably authors might lack the range of abilities that take to publish their work; howeverin today’s competitive world there exist publishing consultants, small presses and firms that provide all the required assistance to successfully self publish.