2009: The Year Print-on-Demand Goes Mainstream
"2009 is the year that print on demand goes mainstream." – Warren Ellis
We are living in an incredible time, both as consumers and creators. As consumers, whatever entertainment we want, whether it's television, music, movies, games or books, is easier and faster to get than ever before. As creators, the barriers between us and our audience are falling faster and more easily than ever before, the time between creation and release is shrinking, and thanks to the Internet we can reach more people with less effort than we could as recently as a decade ago.
Earlier this week, I came across a post in my blog archives from September of 2002 where I said:
Remember how so many readers have been telling me to write a book? Well, I listened. Watch this space for details on how you can get it in about a week or so, maybe two.
I was talking about my book Dancing Barefoot, which was created from material I cut out of Just A Geek. I looked at that post and felt a little nostalgic, because that's where my journey as a published writer and champion of indie publishing began.
In 2002, I was just another struggling actor and fledgling blogger. I figured that, since I was having such a hard time getting work as an actor - where I had a huge resume and a lifetime of experience - it would be nearly-impossible to sell my books to a publisher. I did some research, figured out that I was able to reach a few hundred thousand people with my blog, and decided to reject the "traditional" publishing route in favor of self-publishing.
I needed an education in self-publishing, and read two books that made all the difference: The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing and The Self-Publishing Manual. They were both filled with great advice, like the importance of hiring and respecting an experienced editor, a good designer, and putting together an intelligent marketing plan. I'm not sure what the current versions of the books say, but in 2002, they both warned authors away from using print on demand, largely because the per-unit costs were unreasonably high, and when you held a POD book in your hands, it really felt like you were holding a POD book in your hands.
My, my, my, how the times have changed. The prejudice against POD persists, but that tactile difference in quality has vanished, and after a couple of my friends used print on demand from Lulu to release their books, I decided to give it a try myself. I wrote in my blog:
If this works the way I think it will, it's going to be super awesome for all of us as I release books in the future: You don't have to worry about me screwing up your order, I don't have to invest in a thousand books at a time, you get your book in a few days instead of a few weeks because I'm not shipping it myself, and I can spend more time creating new stories while remaining independent. Best of all, I'll have the time to write and release more than one or two books a year.
Just one month after releasing print and digital versions of my chapbook Sunken Treasure, as well as a short audio book, my only complaint is that I didn't use POD sooner. The whole experience has been so overwhelmingly positive, I don't think I'll ever use a different publishing method again. If you're a writer, you owe it to yourself to examine the self-publishing and POD opportunities you have available to you right now, keeping in mind the advice in those books I mentioned: if you want people to take you seriously, you have to invest in a good editor and designer, and you have to be willing to listen to them both. This is the fundamental difference between someone who is a self-publisher, and someone who is a vanity publisher.
As a creator, I have an unprecedented opportunity to use POD technology and Internet distribution to take more chances and release more material with less risk than ever before. Before POD, I never would have even considered a wide release of something like Sunken Treasure; it was just too risky to invest thousands of dollars into something that I was unsure would sell the quantity I would need to order from a traditional printer. But with access to print on demand technology, and using the Internet as a means to market and distribute the book, there was no good reason not to give it a try. So far, it's working out really well. Reviews are good, sales are good, and I've really enjoyed every step of the process.
I know I'm just one guy with a very small operation, and my way of doing things isn't for everyone, but I believe that this is the future of publishing,
Last week, there was a significant change in the institutional prejudice against print on demand. It's not in book publishing, but in DVDs:
Warner Brothers is putting their DVD back catalog into a POD service: Warner Bros on Monday became the first studio to open its film vault to "made-to-order" DVDs, as it sought new revenues in a slumping DVD market by making it possible for fans to buy decades-old films.
Warner Bros, owned by Time Warner Inc, made an initial batch of 150 titles available for purchase online at www.WarnerArchive.com, including 1943 comedy-romance "Mr. Lucky" starring Cary Grant and the 1962 release "All Fall Down" with Warren Beatty and Eva Marie Saint.
The on-demand service allows Warner Bros. to avoid the risk of manufacturing too many copies of old or obscure titles and shipping them to retailers because customers directly order only the titles they want to buy.
The Warner Bros film archive has 6,800 titles. Since it entered the DVD market in 1997, the studio has released only around 1,200 of those titles from the vault. By comparison, the company expects by the end of the year to have more than 300 titles available via the DVD-on-demand service.
I completely agree with Warren Ellis (who, full disclosure, is a friend) that 2009 is the year print on demand goes mainstream. It just makes so much sense; why waste warehouse space, shelf space, and limited-investment capital on something nobody's interested in, when it's just as easy to show them the entire menu and let them pick out what they want? All of the elements that we need are lined up and ready to work together: decentralized distribution online, long tail publishing, high-quality on-demand products, and creators who have enough direct contact with their audience to make giving huge portions of their profits and their rights away to publishers totally unnecessary.
I hope that Warner Bros. has success with their POD publishing, and that it encourages other publishers, creators, and music labels to do the same, because I believe that this is the future, whether you're an indie creator like me, or a giant powerhouse like them.
--Wil Wheaton would love to change the world.
Jennifer Wood on March 27, 2009 at 04:54 PM
POD publishing gets a horrible rap, but for people like me, it's a godsend. I published a little book, a collection of personal stories related to a support group website that I run, nothing that would attract a major audience or generate big sales. Still, I was able to publish it and have been happy to have it to offer to new visitors to my site. I don't have to worry about making some quota, or even marketing it all that much. Lulu was a great site to work with as well; I was really impressed with the quality of the final book.
ShelleyDelayne on March 27, 2009 at 04:55 PM
I've been a big fan of POD for a year or so now, since I first became aware of it. As a graphic designer, I've helped in the creation of a couple of self-published books and I am so excited to see where these new technologies take us.
I sincerely hope you're right, that this is the year POD goes mainstream.
And I'm looking forward to reading your book(s).
:)
Char on March 27, 2009 at 05:10 PM
Good column and thanks for including the part about Warner Bros. pod dvds. I love old movies and to be able to get a chance to see some of the more non commercial ones is great.
Dr Dalim on March 27, 2009 at 05:15 PM
Wil
This sounds fantastic I always dreamed of a world where you could make mix CD's in the store - now with aps like iTunes and eMusic you don't need to burn a CD you can download the music you want. Books are the same - why search every 2nd hand book store for that last book in that obscure series (or the US only new release of your favourtie author - Aussie here) when you could get a copy via POD. And I love the fact that movies are coming to the fun park.
My only gripe - both Music and Movies are restricted to zones for example I can't buy anything from Warner's site because I live in Australia. I can't watch movies on demand because I live in Australia. When will these big corps realise that the world in connected - remove these stupid zones and let the market place be THE WORLD...
Jill Cooper on March 27, 2009 at 05:19 PM
We were just discussing POD on my writer's website today (a site for reviewing and critquing novels). We're excited about the future and what it might mean for new writers today!
Elizabeth Burton on March 27, 2009 at 05:29 PM
When my partner started Zumaya a decade ago, it was with a tight budget and a preference for publishing more authors rather than more copies of the books. POD was the obvious choice.
Even then, many of the negative remarks about the quality were unwarranted. What's truly sad is that those same remarks are still being made by people who will insist they can tell by looking which books were digitally printed, which is utter rubbish. Nevertheless, one bad copy, and the entire industry gets flogged, even though there are probably no more "misprints" with POD than with any other print process.
What's even more sad is that the same independent booksellers who are shaking in their boots because of the economy seem incapable of seeing the benefits of books that can be ordered one or two copies at a time and replaced, if desired, within days--with no danger they will be out of stock.
To be fair, far too much of what is being printed digitally is really, really bad. Sometimes there's good reason why a particular book was rejected by every publisher who ever looked at it. That, however, is no reason to paint every digitally printed book with the same brush.
Just as a side note regarding availability. Unfortunately, it's not always a simple case of not offering the material. Every country has laws that in some cases make it prohibitively expensive for an "outside" company, even one that is nominally multi-national, to do business of a particular kind. The only way that will change is for consumers to learn all they can about what prevents them from access then do something about it.
Budgie on March 27, 2009 at 05:59 PM
Thanks for the link to The Fast Fiction Challenge, Wil...
Very interesting post... and worth wider distribution!
Thad McIlroy on March 27, 2009 at 08:22 PM
I agree with you that POD is getting closer and closer, and works very well in its current form for many writers. But as I wrote on Warren's blog:
"I’ve been intensively investigating POD for my website (www.TheFutureofPublishing.com) and believe that for printed publications we’re still approximately two years off, because that’s how long it is going to take for the printing device manufacturers to bring to market printing devices that can print color pages for roughly the same price as black & white. Color throughout a publication remains too expensive today, and this creates a major block in the market. I’m off to Philadelphia tomorrow for the OnDemand show and will have a lot more data by end of week."
Declan Stanley on March 28, 2009 at 01:42 AM
POD is a great enabling technology. For a author like myself who writes very personal(read not mainstream commercial) works it enables you to publish a book no matter if the market is 10 people form your own town or 10,000 people spread across the entire world. And using Web 2.0 you can reach, and connect with, a global audience.
Just like blogging software made it simple for anyone to run a website, so POD allows anyone to publish a book. Soon there will be 100 million self published authors touting their books all over the internet. However this is good news as the cream will rise to the top just as with blogs and a new enthusiasm for books, physical or electronic, will be born.
SLN on March 28, 2009 at 09:00 AM
"Dr Dalim," that's something you need to take up with your national legislature. It has nothing to do with purposefully denying you availability, it has everything to do with CASH. "Elizabeth Burton" touched on some of the economic factors, but there are also different copyright laws in different countries, and they may not give the author the right kind of protection.
Kartik on March 28, 2009 at 12:28 PM
Why was Wil Wheaton 'struggling'? He was a semi-major character on one of the most successful TV shows ever. They should have made Wesley a character on ST:Voyager rather than create the redundant Tom Paris character, as the tie-ins to TNG would have been easier (and boost Voyager's ratings with the of Beverley Crusher and Picard cameos). But I digress....
But I agree. Someone who is already famous will find distribution easy through PoD. Someone who is not famous will find the rise to the top easier.
But the pool of money being divided up is still the same percentage of the economy, and most of the gains will accrue to a very small percentage of the content producers.
Sgt. Mom on March 28, 2009 at 01:09 PM
The POD/Indy author revolution has been building over the last year or so. The current state of the mainstream book-publishing industry has gotten to be so risk-adverse, so unwilling to take a chance on new authors, quirky books, regional or niche-appeal books, that many authors who are good writers and have written excellent books are giving up on getting the traditional book deal and going straight to POD; it is possible to have their book edited, get an attractive cover designed, get reviews, get it distributed and marketed... for comparatively little. About a year and a half ago, a group of us frustrated and independently published authors clubbed together, to do joint marketing and share tips about where to get reviews and technical expertise. Many of our members had put up our books for the Writer's Digest contest for POD books this year - and many of the news releases from Writers Digest were marveling about how there were so many, many excellent books submitted. (the group is the IAG - the Independent Authors' Guild, at www.independentauthorsguild.com, BTW)
Granted, there is a fair percentage of awful POD books out there - but no more than the percentage of awful books put out by mainstream publishing. Commercial success is probably still slanted towards the big publishing houses, and established writers, but with POD, at least a new author can have a chance at acquiring readers and fans with their manuscript, instead of just adding another layer to the literary-industrial complex's slush-pile.
I've got four POD books out there now - all historical novels about the American frontier. "To Truckee's Trail" is selling quite steadily, mostly to museums, even though I am not really doing much to market it. The "Adelsverein Trilogy" just came out in December, and it is selling like hotcakes, in that part of Texas where it is set - it's about the founding of the German settlements in the Texas hill country, and as near as I can tell, a lot of people in Gillespie County are buying it to see if I have mentioned their ancestors. (I probably have...)
Seriously, it is a great time to be an author now - what with POD technology, and having the ability to market through Amazon, and through websites, and even find groups of people who might be enthusiasts for your particular book. Certainly beats moping at home, with a garage-full of unsold printed copies of your book...or putting together another round of submission packages, hoping that SOMEONE will notice your book, this time!
Jon on March 28, 2009 at 03:41 PM
I can't wait until POD gaming comes into its own. 'course that would probably put game resellers out of business.
Ray on March 28, 2009 at 05:51 PM
POD in the monochrome (B&W) space is much more common than most people think. We have a customer who prints books for at risk youth through us in Qty's of 50-250 depending on the title. They are all high quality paper with full color laminated covers. Some are perfect bound and some are coil bound. They order these qty's every 30=90 days. The reason they don't order smaller qty's is because of there in house fulfillment needs.
The big issue is no longer quality I just placed to 60K Xerox 4112's that mimic are offset presses in almost all halftone work. The big issue as another poster said is color. a single full color digital press is often to expensive to do a lot of monochrome work on and collating material form a Mono and a color press together is complex and expensive.
Even with all of the advances in digital tech traditional sheetfed presses will be around throughout my lifetime. Even if in a diminished capacity. There are times when they are the best tool for the job. Heck I have a company down the street from me that does nothing but letterpress work. They have Niche and fill it.
Looking forward to new toys at OnDemand
Janet Elaine Smith on March 28, 2009 at 06:43 PM
What an encouraging article. Thank you. As the author of 20 published POD books, I have been thrilled with the whole POD route. My books sell very well (one of them even was a No. 1 bestselling Scottish book on Amazon, out of over 8000 competing titles for almost 3 months), and they have won quite a few major awards, some right alongside Nora Roberts and John Grisham. The best part to me is that they don't disappear from sales possibilities in the matter of a few weeks or months, but as long as I want them to be available, they will be.
The big challenge is to get them out where people know they exist, but unless you are one of the top 10 or so authors, that's no different from "the big boys'" books. For you fellow POD authors, I have a book called Promo Paks that is available on amazon (or most anyplace else) that might help you market your books. Most of the things in there don't cost you anything to put them into use.
Jay Hudson on March 28, 2009 at 10:17 PM
Wil, it took me a few seconds to remember you.ST Voyager re-runs are not currently being shown in my area, but my copilot-wife said "engage," and I remembered.We think Voyager was the best of the ST series.
It's good to see you have grown up to be a Captain in your own right.
I love your blog comments about POD, and self-publishing in particular.
Traditional publishers have a vested interest in trying to muddy the waters and give POD a bad rap,but the numbers tell the tale.
POD is the future of publishing, and the future is here NOW.
The author who is willing and able to market their books will amost always succeed to some degree.
An author has a greater chance of being struck by lightning than being published by a traditional publisher.
Thanks for a nice blog,
Jay Hudson
Jay's Writer's World
jake3_14 on March 28, 2009 at 11:53 PM
I love being a buzzkill: http://www.sfwa.org/BEWARE/printondemand.html
Justin Stanchfield on March 29, 2009 at 01:00 AM
Great article and nice to hear Warner Bros is making their archives available on a pick and choose basis.
I've had several novels published, one POD, the other via traditional publishing, as well as appearing in numerous anthologies, many of which are avialable POD. As a new (read that unknown) writer I definitley like the traditional method better, as the publisher pays me up front and is able to promote my book. But, I absolutely agree that POD has potential we haven't even guessed at yet.
Thanks again for the great article!
Patrick Lawrence on March 29, 2009 at 06:38 AM
We are huge fans of POD. My wife's tea room in the small town of Newcastle, CA has sold about 10,000 copies of her cookbooks. We originally started with a local printer but we had to order in quantities of 500 or more. That was a good chunk of cash to have to put out and hold in inventory. We then switched to POD and haven't looked back. Sure, if we got the books printed in China, we could get them cheaper. But the ability to keep inventory low and sell through other book sellers is awesome.
Arty on March 30, 2009 at 05:46 AM
Print on Demand has gotten so popular that even the treasury has started doing it. Oops, wrong blog.
Chandler Hill on March 30, 2009 at 09:28 AM
Those barriers whose demolition you celebrate are what maintained a level of quality and assured some degree of information integrity. POD books will simply extend the effect of the blog which is to give any thought expression and validation. This is populism run amok. I like my information to come from experts, not from someone who has an internet connection or a few dollars to print their own book. When all we do is chat on mobile phones, pontificate on blogs, preen on Facebook, and pass on our thoughts on Twitter...then we trivialize discourse. Publishing one's own book because one can is nothing more than arrogance and hubris.
Dennis Bates on March 30, 2009 at 10:07 AM
Sorry Chandler, I couldn't disagree more. Full disclosure first. I have published two books using lulu.com. It, or something like it is the wave of the future, in my opinion. They are wonderful to work with and make the process quite easy. Publishing the traditional way does not necessarily assure you of anything, except that you are going to get a glimpse of an author's creativity as filtered and refined by agents and editors who are as much concerned about making a quick dollar as they are about quality writing. They are not the quality experts you make them out to be, espscially when it comes to fiction. They know what sells, because their system tends to define what sells. I know that is a bit of a generalization,but if you've ever seen what Hollywood can do to a book when they make it a movie, you have some idea what happens in the writing industry as well. To be fair there are houses that try hard to serve the author as well as the public, but even they are selling books using an out of date business model that will not stand up in today's fast paced world.
Shipping large quatntites of real books from coast to coast on what amounts to a consignment system is not cost effective anymore, if it ever was. Technology can do it jus as well and cheaper.
Dennis Bates
James Aach on March 30, 2009 at 10:53 AM
Having POD published the first insider account of the day-to-day workings of the US nuclear power industry, I have two comments:
1. To echo Mr. Bates thoughts above, one should be wary of what constitutes an "expert" as annointed by the media. Most published or quoted "experts" in my area have never worked a day at a power plant. To those of us on the inside they sound like someone who doesn't drive speaking with authority on the details of NASCAR. (Sadly, few outsiders will know that's the case.)
1. Publicity for an unknown is very hard to get, even if you have a "hot" topic and you actually know what you're talking about. Media folks with a big audience - TV, publishers, major blogs - seem most attracted to experts with prior media experience. We're all busy and have to put up filters, so in some ways that's understandable.
Dan Pacheco on March 30, 2009 at 10:53 AM
Great post, Wil!
Print on Demand is also moving into the the newspaper & magazine world. Check out our Printcasting project, currently being test marketed in Bakersfield with plans to market in more cities in the future: http://www.printcasting.com
Printcasting lets anyone turn a blog into a printable PDF magazine. We're in open beta and still finishing up some features, but you can play around with it now. We're in discussions with print service providers to let citizen publishers and subscribers sign up to receive copies by mail, pick them up at local print shops, etc.
Chandler Hill on March 30, 2009 at 10:59 AM
I agree that the gatekeepers have had undue influence over what we see and hear for too long. I simply do not accept the solution is to go so far in the opposite direction. There is a reason that it takes time and hard work to see the fruit of one's labors come before the public's eyes. Because otherwise we will be overwhelmed by the mediocre and the shoddy. Shall we let everyone write history? Is eveyone's scientific theories equal? Who checks the research? How do you tell accuracy froom agenda? Even Wiki is moderated. There must be some form of gatekeeper. You are correct that this is the wave of the future. That doesn't mean it is a good thing. It is a wave that will further accelerate the dumbing of America.