Somehow, the term POD has become synonymous with the way certain publishing companies operate their business. Publishing companies who solicit manuscripts from authors, have those manuscripts processed into book format, pay the author for the work, market the book, etc., etc., etc., (i.e. Authorhouse, Random House etc. ) should not be confused with printing methods. POD is a printing technique, a system of getting the manuscript from the word processor into a physical book.
For those of you out there who are not familiar with the way printing works, let me give you a brief overview. Traditionally, there was one way of printing books: by use of the offset printer. These are the big printing presses seen in the old movies and magazines. Offset printers are tedious and time consuming to set up, but once rolling, an extreme number of books can be spit out in record numbers at economical prices. The biggest flaw to this method is that it is expensive to set-up, thus it is only cost-effective to print a large number of books. Over the years, printing presses have undergone many changes and improvements and are still around and utilized routinely. It is still the most cheapest way of printing large quantities of books.
POD printing involves taking the book from digital format to print using an laser or inkjet printer. I am not an expert on the subject, but there are several methods of doing this. The initial set-up is very little compared with offset printing, but the cost-per-book is greater.
Now let us consider a scenario. Two publishing companies acquire a manuscript from a writer, polish it up and are now ready to send it to the printer. Let's say that both have done an analysis, gathered pre-orders and determined that each will sale about 3,000 copies of their book in the next year. Using the traditional, offset printing method, a publisher will pay more for the initial set-up, but less per book and all 3,000 copies will need to be printed at one time. With the print-on-demand procedure the publisher will pay less initially, yet more per book and can print copies per order.
Let's say publisher #1 goes with the offset printing. He places the order for the 3,000 books (remember, it cost a great deal to set-up, but once it's rolling, the cost per book is cheap, so he will want to print as many copies as possible or necessary) and when the order is ready, has it shipped to his warehouse. Here it is unloaded and shelved for storage. When orders come in from wholesalers, distributors, bookstores, etc., the books are reboxed and shipped to the customer.
Publisher #2 chooses the POD printing system. He will order a few books to have on hand and wait until orders arrive from the wholesalers, distributors, bookstores, etc. As the customer's orders flow in, he places the orders to the POD company and has the POD company ship the orders directly to the customer.
In the first scenario the publisher may get a cheaper print run per the 3,000 books, yet consider all the cost he will have that publisher #2 will never have to face:
- shipping cost for transporting the 3,000 books to his warehouse for storage
- labor cost for unloading the 3,000 books
- labor cost for shelving the 3,000 books
- cost to rent or purchase the land
- cost for building or renting the warehouse
- cost of utilities for maintaining the warehouse
- cost of insurance;
- the list goes on and on.
Now, let's figure in the worry factor:
- worry that the 3,000 books will get damaged in transit (the books will be moved from the printer, off the truck, onto the shelves, back off the shelves, back into boxes and either through the mail or back onto a truck)
- worry about damage due to mold, mildew, mice and rot
- worry about hiring and maintaining labor
- worry about fire
- the list goes on and on
Even if publisher #1 has the printing company ship the books directly to the wholesaler, distributor, etc., someone will be storing those 3,000 books. Now, let's multiply the cost and worry factors by the number of books a big publisher or distributing company will handle.
In today's world of rising cost, the print-on-demand method of printing is most feasible. By utilizing smaller orders based on sales, eliminating or reducing the need for storage, decreasing the opportunity for damage, and cutting unnecessary transportation and handling, the overall system is more cost-effective and efficient. While offset printing will have a place in the publishing system for years to come with large orders, publishers, distributors and wholesalers need to take a hard, accessing look at the benefits of the print-on-demand system.
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