Comments on: Is there ANY Print on Demand Publisher that you like or would recommend?

By: JJ

JJ — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:00:17 +0000

OK I understand the don’t of POD or Vanity press but I have a reputable publisher who has the distribution etc. and does hobbist books. We are talking about a specialized hobby book with a 1,000 or 1,500 initial print run. We know the market, etc. and have a reasonable idea of what will sell and the publisher has done similar books and has a good track record on sales to the people in the hobby. He gets them into Amazon, etc. and they get reviewed for people in the hobby.

Here’s the kicker. In this economy what he is proposing is an investment approach where the writers put up most or all of the money and get half the profits from the book sales.

Is that typical? Is 45-50% a good number or is this publisher being abusive? etc? What your experience????

A vanity press by any other name is still a vanity press. If you believe you have a book that will sell 1000 copies, you should publish it yourself and make 100%. With this other guy, you will overpay for all the services and then only make half the profit. Get away…. fast
Ron

By: John Festerbooth

John Festerbooth — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 13:55:42 +0000

Ron’s original article was from a LONG time ago. Those rankings have changed dramatically since Mark Levine published his new book in Sept. ’08.

Here’s a quick sampling of Mark’s new list.

OUTSTANDING PUBLISHERS:
BookLocker
Infinity
RJ

PRETTY GOOD:
Lulu
Outskirts

ONLY OK:
BookSurge
CreateSpace

AVOID:
AuthorHouse
iUniverse
Dorrance
Trafford
Xlibris
PublishAmerica

I wonder what changed so much that publishers that were once “Outstanding” are now ones to avoid.

By: Justin Bahimos

Justin Bahimos — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 13:39:19 +0000

Would you reccomend Dorrance? What are the pluses and minuses on Dorrance

By: Epstein LaRue, RN, BS

Epstein LaRue, RN, BS — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 18:00:07 +0000

First of all, I have two books published with Booksurge. Started with them way back when there was only about 100 authors. All I hear from them is “send me more money and we’ll make your books greater.”

My last two books have been published through Star Publishing (www.starpublish.com), and this is a FAR BETTER choice. No asking me again for money, only upfront costs that are would costs ALOT more if I had published these last two with Booksurge. I get great service for a reasonable price. Truly a honest publisher that won’t take you for a ride.

Honesty and integrity in self-publishing… where has it gone??

By: Kam Ruble

Kam Ruble — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 02:29:44 +0000

I enjoyed your article. Realiizing, of course, that I must purchase your book to read your recommend lists and those publishers to stay away from – I do hope to find you have named Global Authors Publications (GAP) as one of the good publishers. I have had three books published with this company and highly recommend them. They may charge a fee, but they give you professional editing, cover design, excellent formatting, the POD print process, distribution with both Ingrams and Barnes and Noble, an ISBN, listed in the Library of Congress, and the opportunity to receive 100% of your royalties.

By: Janet Elaine Smith

Janet Elaine Smith — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 18:46:30 +0000

I have been through 5 publishers and am now on No. 6. They all used print-on-demand printing for their books (and 2 of them were \”traditional\” publishers who didn\’t charge any upfront fee). I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. Still, I gained a lot of insight and information from each of them, both what to do and what not to do. Each of them made me a better writer, and a better marketer. Yes, most authors, unless you are one of the 12 top selling names, has to market their own books.
While this is basically very good sounding information, I have a couple of questions. (1)How does BookSurge rate so high when they have (from what I understand) basically no US distribution, as through Ingram, etc. This makes it nearly impossible to get their books into any bookstores. (2)Publish America claims to be a non-subsidy publisher, since they charge no upfront fees and even pay that whopping $1 advance!

Janet Elaine Smith

By: johnny moore

johnny moore — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 17:37:11 +0000

spent a fortune with corkhill and then they filed bankruptcy, then was promised graphic’s by booksurge, but it was all deception and prevarication’s after sending them monies. what is your take on tate publishing? nmoore5@cox.net johnny moore, author of shannon dollar and the magic of medicine rock, which consists of 6 books. 702 434 4253

By: Patti Harter

Patti Harter — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 03:09:14 +0000

I am getting ready to publish a non-fiction narrative titled, “A Divine Transition on Christmas Eve.” Its an extremely powerful, true story that takes the reader on a metaphysical journey. It has taken several years to complete.

I have been talking to Booksurge because of their offer to market the book alongside a better known author (their October Special) on amazon.com. Would you recommend a different course of action?

Appreciate your comments.

Regards,

Patti Harter

By: AGW

AGW — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 18:21:25 +0000

You don’t mention how difficult – or not difficult it is to go from POD to pubishing house like selfpublishing.com.

I printed a few dozen copies of my book through Lulu.com – which was great and gave me great control over the revision process, but I have not yet purchesed an ISBN or done an Amazon distiribution. Lulu has not sold any of my books – I have.

Can I now take my book to a place like selfpublishing.com and print larger runs of them, and still retain my full rights to the book? Or does Lulu now have some claim on the book? I’m also considering a digital protected E-book version of the book package because it is a book with accompanying workbook and audio files. It’s a fine line deciding if I want to make 3 or 4 different products or just one.

Thanks for any comments you have.

By: Jennifer Steward

Jennifer Steward — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 05:42:16 +0000

I have an offer for POD + all of the benifits offered by Dorrance Publishing. I didn\\\'t read any comments about Dorrance Publishing! Do you have any? There are WAY to many POD\\\'s out there, and I\\\'m getting confused. Author Comments: Dorrance is a true Vanity Press, by anyone\'s definition. I would steer clear unless you have money to burn. If your plan is to make a commercial go of it, you should look at traditional self-publishing. IE: You own the ISBN plus call all the shots. Start by visiting www.selfpublishing.com. If you are just looking for a few books to show your friends that you have been \\\"Published\\\", just shop price among the various POD Publishers you find on the Internet, and then resist all the various \\\"add ons\\\" that they will try to sell you.