The age of Print-on-Demand publishing is here, and it's calling into question the difference between POD, vanity publishing and independent publishing. What's the difference? There are some big ones, but booksellers don't seem to notice.
POD sounds like an innovation, if you listen to Xerox's latest TV ad, which features a student telling a stuffy college professor that publishing costs are no longer a problem with today's new technology. But actually, POD is just the latest vehicle for vanity publishing, or self-publishing, by authors who are able to pay a fee to see their books in print. POD books may look and feel professionally produced, but that doesn't change the fact that they are not actually "published." Most do not receive anywhere near the level of attention that independent presses and the major houses invest in editing, designing, marketing, publicizing and distributing their books. In fact, when it comes to practical nonfiction, the information contained in POD books may be just as suspect as that found on some Internet sites.
But as POD titles have contributed to a 28% increase in the number of books published between 2000 and 2004 (from 140,000 to 180,000 titles), the public and some book retailers have begun to confuse them with books published by independent and niche houses. That hurts not only indie publishers, but also readers and the industry in general, by displacing independently published books from already limited retail display space, lowering readers' expectations of quality and introducing steeply discounted books into the marketplace, as POD houses offer incentives for buying their titles.
True, POD does have its place as a printing option that makes short runs feasible, helps get books out fast, keeps books in print, and allows frustrated authors to reach a limited audience. But as these books steadily make inroads into regular bookselling channels, they are becoming a bigger problem for independent publishers and the industry.
At major online booksellers, the profusion of POD books may eventually eclipse established titles from independent presses, particularly in categories like New Age spirituality, self-help, health and paranormal romance. What's to prevent POD authors from getting ahead by manipulating their sales rankings through buying copies of their own titles from sites like Amazon and BN.com? Meanwhile, most independent publishers are focused on driving real sales by distributing their books widely and lining up credible media coverage.
In the scramble for shelf space in trade bookstores, POD books are also gaining ground. The nine-store Joseph Beth/Davis-Kidd chain recently struck a deal with POD-publisher AuthorHouse to stock and display titles written by local authors. At the same time, small and micro-publishers have reported to organizations like PMA, the Independent Book Publisher's Association, that chain and independent bookstore buyers don't have the time to distinguish their titles from those published by POD presses.
We independent publishers are getting squeezed from both sides. As the big publishers have grown larger, our books have been pushed to the margins in stores. Now, as self-published authors proliferate, we may lose even more display space. It's one thing to make room for the voices of unknown writers, some of whom may be quite talented; it's quite another to allow our own authors to be drowned out by their growing roar. If our industry continues to ignore the increasing confusion over POD publishing, we will soon find ourselves overwhelmed by it.
