Publish-on-Demand: the hassle free, cheap route for authors

By Christine Buske - a Writer's Life

Writers should by default be a patient bunch; the time alone it takes to finish one manuscript can be discouraging. That doesn't include the time it takes to just rewrite that same manuscript before it even comes close to being book-shelf-worthy. Finding agents, publishers, etc is another hassle to deal with. A hassle many authors take upon themselves every single day to get their names on library and bookstore shelves. Publishing can be a long road. Some books take years to go from manuscript to hard copy, and on average it takes months to get a book on the market after the final draft is done. Self publishing is not only a faster route, for some authors it is still the only route.

Self publishing is popular with those who cannot find an agent or publisher, but firmly believe in their work. Traditionally, you need some capital for self publishing. The only way to self publish in the past would be to print and pay for the books in advance. A little while later you would fill your house with boxes of your books. After this the real promotion work would start to get rid of those boxes again and release your name into the world. Trouble is, you need to pay up front for the printing and binding of the books. Without any guarantees or prospect of actually selling any of them.

Thank God for the Internet! Yes, now there is the print-on-demand industry. Don't ask me how they are profitable, but I am guessing technology has something to do with it. You can publish your book, and whenever someone wants it, they can just order it online. There are two services I can personally recommend:

Lulu: publish books (hard copy or electronic), CDs and DVDs with your work. Go here to visit lulu.

Cafepress: I personally really like cafepress, you can also publish hard copy books, CDs DVDs as well as t-shirts, mugs, mouse pads, posters and more.

Lulu does allow you to get your book listed with Amazon, however this does require you to pay a fee.

I believe that print on demand has revolutionized the publishing industry. Now writers who may not be in high demand with the masses can still write about more specialized topics and see a nice return from their work. Even if your work is not economically feasible for publishers because they may have trouble marketing it to the average Joe and Jane, you can still publish and get your knowledge or creativity out there.