Writers are confused and it’s not their fault. In searching for the best way to break into print, they come across self-described “self-publishing companies”. I get emails asking if I can self publish for writers. That is impossible—by definition.

The problem is that many POD vanity publishers are calling themselves “self-publishing companies.” They are trading on self-publishing’s good name to make their companies appear familiar and legitimate.

Self-publishing has early American roots and today there are more than 85,000 self-publishers in the U.S. Naturally, these dot-com, digital publishers want to use the name.

How to tell the difference. Some definitions.

Publisher: The person who puts up the money and make the book happen.

Vanity publishers are organized to sell books (and other services) to the author. They charge the author to publish the book. This is why they are also known as “subsidy publishers.”

Conventional publishers sell books to the public, usually through wholesalers and bookstores. They pay the author an advance and royalties for the right to produce and sell the book.

Would you write a book knowing that you would be the only purchaser?

How to spot scam vanity publishers. A literary attorney advises other lawyers.

According to Wikipedia, Self-Publishing is the publishing of books and other media by the authors of those works, rather than by established, third-party publishers.The only “self-publishing company” is you—by definition. If you pay a publisher, your book is not SELF-published.

Self-publishers, write, publish and promote their own books. We have been building name recognition for self-publishing for more than 35 years.

Self-publishing garners respect. Traditionally, when a book publishing CEO wrote a memoir, he or she would seek another publisher to release it so that the book would not appear to be a vanity work.

Times have changed. Self-publishing has become so recognized and legitimate that the vanity stigma from publishing your own Work has nearly disappeared.

Now that people know what self-publishing is, we find we have to reeducate the public to the fact that we are the real self-publishers and the other DotCom POD digital publishers are really just vanity publishers masquerading as us. They are trading on the good reputation we have built.

On the other hand, there are many digital printing companies. Most provide excellent prices, service and quality. They should refer to themselves as “book printers.”

For information on the choices for breaking into print, get the free Information Kit #2 on Publishing at http://parapublishing.com/sites/para/resources/infokit.cfm

Many of the DotCom vanity publishers help people to produce their books for a few hundred dollars. The low cost of entry attracts literary talent from the bottom of the barrel. With so little to invest, most of these authors don’t verify their research and don’t invest in editors, typesetters, book designers or cover artists. Both authors and publishers of these poor-quality vanity-published books give all book publishing a bad name.

These POD vanity publishers are leaving a trial of unhappy customers. See the list of unresolved complaints to the Better Business Bureau.

Due diligence. Writing a book is a creative act; publishing a book is a business. Before trying anything new, people should get educated.

Anyone who’s been in publishing for a while can share a number of stories of people who stumbled and blundered into the book game without getting sufficient information first. These pioneers have made just about every mistake imaginable. Profit from their (temporary) failures: don’t repeat their painful lessons.

Remember that in any new field, especially book writing and publishing, others have blazed the trail for you.

The book industry is full of helpful and supportive people. It may be unexpected because this kind of camaraderie does not exist in other industries. The reason that book people are so helpful, friendly and supportive is that every book is unique. There is little to no competition in book publishing. When it comes to marketing books, we are conspirators not competitors.

Let’s respect historical and common definitions. We can protect the newcomers to book publishing by helping them to understand the difference between conventional publishers, self-publishers, book printers and the vanity/subsidy publishers.

Dan Poynter, author of The Self-Publishing Manual, is the “Godfather” to thousands of books. He has written more than 100 books since 1969. Dan is a past vice-president of the Publishers Marketing Association. For more information on book publishing and promoting, see http://ParaPub.com.

The novice author looking to publish his or her book often finds that producing a book requires learning an entire new terminology, particularly in relation to what is or is not a self-publisher. Subsidy, vanity, self-publishing, and POD are terms often used interchangeably to mean the same or similar things, but these terms do have definitions that separate them.

Most authors dream of being published by a traditional publisher—one who pays to print the author’s book and then pays the author royalties. However, after months or years of mailing out manuscripts to publishers and literary agents, and piles of rejection letters later—if even lucky enough to get a response—many authors ultimately turn to self-publishing.

When self-publishing is first considered, the author finds that homework is required to understand the self-publishing industry. Various blogs and Internet forums about self-publishing will offer advice or commentary about staying away from POD publishers or subsidy publishers, or about the stigmas or pitfalls of self-publishing. These terms are used widely and interchangeably and can be confusing to new authors. Here are a few basic definitions to help authors understand just what these terms mean and a breakdown of what is really required to self-publish a book.

Traditional Publishing: As stated above, a traditional publisher will handle all the publishing and printing costs of the book. Authors will receive royalties for their book’s sales. Throughout the twentieth century, traditional publishing was viewed as the ideal situation for authors because traditional publishers have been viewed as the gatekeepers or judges of whether a book is worthy of publication. Also, traditional publishers would market the books and authors had no risk involved in the publishing costs.

Changes in the marketplace, however, have made it more difficult for traditional publishers to compete, and by extension, it is more difficult for authors to be selected for publication. While traditional publishing still provides a certain sense of legitimacy, self-publishing is a more viable option for most authors, and in many cases, it can also be more lucrative.

Self-Publishing: Self-publishing means, in a general way, that the author publishes the book himself, and he absorbs the cost of publishing the book. The advantage is that the author receives all the profit, but the disadvantage is that self-publishing has a stigma, largely because many authors have self-published poor quality books that could not compete with traditionally published books for a number of reasons from cheap paper and low quality printing to multiple typos.

Self-publishing itself has its degrees of what many consider legitimate self-publishing. A true self-published book, in many people’s opinions, is a book where the author oversaw the entire production from layout to printing and where the author owns the ISBN number, printing the book under his or his own publishing company’s name. While “vanity,” “subsidy,” and “POD” are terms often used in relation to self-publishing, they are more like half-sisters of self-publishing because another publisher besides the author is involved even though the author fronts the costs.

It should be noted, that traditional publishing has only been the dominant form of publishing in the twentieth century, and it is becoming increasingly less dominant in the twenty-first century. In the nineteenth century, most traditional publishers were smaller, some simply being linked to bookstores. Many authors, such as Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, and Ralph Waldo Emerson self-published their books.

Vanity Press: A vanity press is a publisher whom the author pays to publish his book. In the late twentieth century, horror stories were often told about authors who lost their life-savings by paying a vanity press $50,000 or some other outlandish amount to publish a book, only to have the book sell only a few copies. Deciding to self-publish by paying a vanity press was a serious risk because of the cost of publishing and a primary reason why most authors sought traditional publishers. Furthermore, the name suggests that the author was vain—believing his work was deserving of publication—even when the traditional publishers rejected his book. The term is rarely used any longer, largely because other terms have come into usage that better reflect the changes in publishing technology, which have resulted in self-publishing costs decreasing significantly.

Subsidy Press: A vanity press and subsidy press may be interchangeable terms. The difference is that the term subsidy is more commonly used now because it has less stigma. The author still pays the press to publish his book, but in the twenty-first century, the cost of publishing a book has dropped significantly due to digital or POD printing.

POD (Print-On-Demand): The self-publishing world frequently refers to POD publishers or companies, and it uses the term to mean “self-publishing companies” but POD actually means “print-on-demand.” Due to new printing technology—digital printing—it is faster and more cost-effective to print a book. Until recently, books were laid out with moveable type and the process was laborious, time-consuming, and expensive, and consequently, only large print runs were made because it would have been ridiculous to spend the hours or days required to prepare the moveable type to print only one book. Modern computers in the digital age, however, now allow for “print-on-demand” which basically means if someone wants one book, it can be printed almost instantaneously. The result is that printing is faster and cheaper. Many of the smaller traditional publishers use POD.

POD Publishers or Companies: Most references to POD Publishers, besides meaning that these companies use Print-On-Demand or digital printing technology, mean that these are larger self-publishing companies that an author can pay to handle all aspects of book production. These companies are relatively cost-effective. Packages to publish a book can run under $1,000, which includes all aspects of design and layout and usually a small number of printed copies such as 10-50. The author then purchases copies of his books from the POD company, and the more copies he orders, the less he pays. The difference is that these POD companies still mark up the cost of printing the books to make a profit. They make their money selling books to authors, not in selling the author’s books to the public. They still often function somewhat like traditional publishers, however, because they will sell copies directly to bookstores or book distributors, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble, or Ingram’s; these book sales result in royalty checks to the author. POD companies will also provide their own ISBN numbers and publish the book under their name rather than the author’s own publishing company’s name. Such companies, as stated above, are like half-sisters to both traditional publishing and self-publishing because they mix a little of both worlds.

Co-Publishing Companies: Because of the high costs of publishing, some smaller traditional publishers offer co-publishing.  As usual, the traditional publisher will handle all the publishing and printing costs of the book and authors will receive royalties for their book’s sales. However, the author is asked to purchase, for e.g., 500 copies of the book.

True Self-Publishing: Finally, for those splitting hairs about true self-publishing, the author who truly self-publishes will individually contract with (hopefully) an editor, someone to do layout, interior and cover design, and a separate printer. In this case, the author publishes the book with his own publishing company name he has created for himself, and he separately pays each individual entity—printer, cover design person, interior designer, editor. The author also purchases his own ISBN number and therefore has the book registered as being published by his own company. While this form of self-publishing is a bit more work, and it will probably cost an author more money upfront than using a POD company, the author will be able to print a larger number of books for less per unit (individual book), and the author will also be able to have more control over the ultimate look of the book rather than relying on a POD company, which may use more of a basic template approach to how the book looks.

Which to Choose?

Ultimately, each author must choose which type of self-publishing is best for him or her. To go the easy route, a POD Company might be good to get your feet wet, and then as you become more knowledgeable, you can experiment with true self-publishing by overseeing all aspects of the publication. A POD Company may be ideal for a small print run such as 100 copies for a book you don’t plan to sell or don’t think will sell well, such as publishing Grandpa’s memoirs or a family genealogy that only a small group of people will want, or a book for a specific company or organization. For a novel or non-fiction book with a wider audience, a true self-publishing process might be a better choice. Authors simply must weigh the advantages of both types of self-publishing to determine which is best for his or her special book.

Irene Watson is the Managing Editor of Reader Views, where avid readers can find reviews of recently published books as well as read interviews with authors. Her team also provides author publicity and a variety of other services specific to writing and publishing books.

When I went to publish my book, Planting Design Illustrated, I received lots of interest from traditional publishers. But they wanted to make a lot of changes including adding a co-author. These were changes that would have made me dislike my own book!

So, I turned to self-publishing. At the time, making a lot of money was not at the top of my priorities. I simply wanted to publish my own book, my own way.

Now that I have self-published my first books, things have changed.

Yes, I still want to have full control and yes I want keep all of my rights to the book. But now the royalty checks have become a top priority, especially with the economic climate that we’re in. That’s why, when I self published my second book, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) AP Exam Guide with Outskirts Press (a print on demand publisher), I took a different approach.

My book had the benefit of being published at the right time, at the right price. I earned over $30,000 in royalties ($31,207.68, to be precise) in one month. I earned even more the next month. Within six months I had earned over $110,000!

Here Are The 5 Steps I Took When I Self-Published My Second Book…

Self-Publishing Success Step #1: Write a Valuable Book

This step is easily overlooked, but it is Number One on this list for a reason. Your book must provide some sort of value or benefit for the reader. In my case, my books are non-fiction and leaders in their niche. LEED is currently revolutionizing the construction industry. In fact, I earn the lion’s share of my royalties from my LEED AP Exam Guide, which provides a mock exam, study guides, and sample questions for the LEED AP Exam. It is invaluable for those wanting to obtain the title of “LEED AP (Accredited Professional).

I don’t think I’m saying anything revolutionary when I say that publishing non-fiction is an easier proposition on the self-publishing front than fiction. But even fiction books are valuable if they provide the type of “escape” your reader is seeking. Whether you write non-fiction, fiction, poetry, or something else entirely, the book must deliver on its promise. You might do everything else on this list, and you might even find some short-lived success, but ultimately, the success of your book comes down to how valuable your book is to its readers.

Self-Publishing Success Step #2: Identify Your Target Audience

Who is your reader? If your answer is “everybody” you need to reevaluate your goals and recalibrate your expectations. In fact, the smaller your audience, the more success you will find. Look at my books: Planting Design Illustrated and LEED AP Exam. That small, target audience is precisely the reason my books are well-known in the proper circles.

Do I care that someone who reads Harry Potter has never heard of me? No. Is it incredibly important to me that students and professionals in the field of green building design and construction have heard of me? Yes.

Who do you think it is easier to find and market to—a person who reads Harry Potter, or a student/professional in the field of green building design and construction? Exactly! Remember, the smaller your pond, the bigger your fish.

Self-Publishing Success Step #3: Recognize the Type of Book You Are Publishing

You should be realistic about the type of book you are writing, and the type of publishing you are doing. If you are self-publishing your book (regardless of whether you are doing it yourself or through the publishing services of a POD company like I did), don’t try to force your book to be something that it’s not.

Your book is not a mass-market paperback like those you find in a grocery store. Nor is it the latest hardback, discounted 80%, like those you find at Costco. As a self-publishing author, both of those scenarios are too risky, and to be frank, you probably don’t possess the means to take on that kind of risk.

So why try?

Self-publishing authors publish trade paperback and hardback books that can be available regionally (perhaps), locally (probably), and online (definitely).

Self-Publishing Success Step 4: Price Your Book Appropriately

No, this does not mean you should simply make your book as affordable as possible. It means you should complete market research to determine the prices of similar books in your category. Look on Amazon.com for similar books (you’ll need to be aware of these books anyway, when it comes to marketing yours). Examine their page count and price point.

Now, make an honest assessment of your book in relation to the other books in your category. Does your content justify a higher price? Does your page count suggest a lower price? Your method of publishing should be considered but should not play a definitive role in the price of your book. The marketplace should.

It doesn’t matter where you publish your book if no one is buying it.

Self-Publishing Success Step 5: Publish Your Book Wisely

When I chose my POD publisher for my second book, I was not considering how much my royalties were going to be. That only became important to me after the book was published. But they say hindsight is 20-20, so I’m going to share with you one of the main reasons my royalties are so high. The publisher I chose, Outskirts Press, pays me 100% of the profits of the book and lets me set my own pricing. iUniverse pays 20% of the profit. Xlibris pays 10% of the retail price. But by paying 100% of the profit, Outskirts Press allowed me to set the retail price to whatever I wanted, and now I earn the entire benefit of increasing my price.

Here’s another way to look at it: If I had published my same exact book with iUniverse at the same exact retail price, instead of earning $31,207.68, I would have earned approximately $5,300. If I had published my same book with Xlibris, I would have earned approximately $4,600. Yes, without knowing any better, I would have still considered myself a successful self- published author, but probably not enough to write this article.

As you can see, self-publishing is working for me. I’ve made over $111,000 in six months. My royalties are increasing every month and I’m working on my third book, which I will also publish with Outskirts Press. If hindsight is indeed 20-20, I can only imagine what my royalties will be for book #3!

If you follow the steps above, you too can be on your way to earning $30,000 a month self-publishing!

Gang Chen is a LEED AP and a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). As the internationally acclaimed author of “LEED AP Exam Guide” and “Planting Design Illustrated,” Chen highly recommends self-publishing with Outskirts Press. Find out if your book is good enough to earn over $100,000 in six months with the 2 free e-book publishing guides available without obligation at: http://outskirtspress.com/ebook

Some call it just plain ”publishing.” Others claim to have self-published their books when they use Publishing on Demand (POD). Actually neither designation is completely correct. Yes, it is a kind of publishing, but a very special kind. It is not self-publishing, a process that differs substantially and requires far more expertise and involvement.

POD is an outgrowth of the huge changes that occurred in printing technology when digital printing was developed. For the first time, authors were not forced to use offset printing with its minimum press runs of 1500 to 2000 books. For the first time, an author could order only the number of books he/she needed with this new technology, and was able to fill in small quantities as future needs arise. This was a great boon for beginners who were feeling their way in the publishing industry and for memoirists who wanted to distribute books just to family and friends.

The novice writer enjoys the advantage of having the POD house handle all of the prepublication work that is required to produce a book. And that service is available at a very minimal initial outlay of money for the services one receives.

For a production payment of as little as $300, the house will produce a finished book and in most cases do it extremely professionally. The high end of that scale—a ceiling of about $1,000—represents lots of bells and whistles that the house will try to sell you, but which frankly are of little or no value. You can receive a top quality book for an average investment of under $500, and that’s the level you should be at when dealing with this method of publishing. Use the company’s basic program, nothing more.

The Process
You turn your manuscript over to the POD house, along with an initial production check. In return, the house art staff produces a professional book cover. That alone would normally cost you anywhere from $300 to $600 if you were to hire a designer yourself.

The text that comes off the computer, of course, is not what appears in a finished book. It must be formatted to conform to the page size, produced in a type font that is conducive to easy reading and leaded (spaced between the lines). This requires a high level of skill. You can learn to do it, but I strongly recommend a professional formatter. The cost depends on the length of the book. Formatting a 300-page volume, for example, can cost between $800 and $1200.

Every book requires an ISBN number if it is to be sold to bookstores or libraries. This is an identification number that is assigned exclusively to a single book. Barcodes are needed to accompany the ISBN. In addition, Library of Congress Cataloguing is a necessity if you plan to tap into the huge library market. All of these are obtained for you by POD staffers.

The POD House will then print your book, bind it and register it with a major wholesaler (usually either Ingram or Baker & Taylor), a requirement if you are selling to libraries and bookstores. The book will also be placed on Amazon, Barnes & Noble.com and Borders.com. Further distribution and promotional activities are your responsibility.

Be Aware
Two words of caution: Most houses do not obtain a copyright for your book. But that’s not a serious problem. You can do it yourself for just a few dollars. Search for “Copyright” on the Web. The government’s copyright web site will come up and explain each step you must take. It will also supply you with a formal application form. Completing everything is perhaps a 15-minute task and very easy to accomplish.

The second matter you should be aware of is that when the ISBN is ordered by most POD houses, it is listed in the house’s name. You must understand that the entity that owns the ISBN controls all of the finances of the book. So when you read in the publicity, “You control the book. All decisions are yours,” it is a bit misleading. Don’t construe this to mean that you lose total control over your book. It is yours by copyright.

In fact, on the finance side, you do have the right to decide how much of a royalty (percentage of the profit of the sale of the book) you wish. But the reality is that when it sells your book, the house will insist upon taking a certain flat amount, which is usually quite substantial. As a result, if you select a high royalty, the retail price will shoot up above the competition. With a lower royalty, you will make very little money. Nonetheless, at any level of royalty, you have managed to publish your book with no more money out of your pocket than the initial production fee. That’s a pretty fair deal for what you’re getting in return.

The only negative, aside from the minimal compensation, is that there is still some reluctance to handle POD books on the part of the better book reviewers and some book sellers. This a carry-over from the old days of the vanity press, when the level of quality was so poor and from the sloppy, haphazard work y turned out by the charlatans who infected the POD world when it first began.

Today most of the reticence has faded. People judge POD books not by the publisher that produced them, but by the quality of the book itself. POD creations have reached the best seller lists in some cases, and they are available through the majority of bookstores. Even if they are not stocked on the store shelves, they can be ordered quickly.

Finding a POD House
Most POD publishers maintain web sites. Click onto “POD Publishers,” and you will find a number of them. Read their sites carefully, and discount the meaningless extras (the bells and whistles I spoke of above). Be extremely careful if you go to contract. Study the document before you sign or better yet ask a literary lawyer to review it. Think ahead. What impact will each of the conditions of the contract have on the sales of your book. How easily can you leave the POD house and either self-publish future editions or contract for them with a traditional publisher?

While I am reluctant to evaluate the different houses that I have not used, I leave that task up to others. There are a number of sites that make these evaluations. The one I recommend most strongly is www.bookmarket.com/ondemand.htm. The site is owned by John Kremer, a highly respected publishing guru, and supplies information on a large number of publishing on demand houses.

Another site I recommend to you is www.sfwa.org. This extremely informative site is maintained by the Science Fiction Writers of America, but its information is applicable to all genres. Although I do disagree with the site’s contention that POD is not the best choice for a beginning writer, I find the rest of its counsel excellent.

Click on the site, scroll down to the box near the bottom that states “Writer Beware.” Click on it. Over on the left side of the next screen, you will find “Print-on-Demand, Self-Publishing Services.” Click on that, and read it carefully.

POD publishing may not be ideal for every author, but it is a worthy alternative for beginners, family memoirists and in fact anyone who strikes out with traditional publishers and and has a burning desire to make his/her book available to the public.

This column is an excerpt from the blog of Charles Jacobs, book coach and author of “The Writer Within You,” named a Best Book of the Year seven times and winner of both gold and bronze medals. The book can be ordered at www.retireandwrite.com. For coaching, Charles can be reached at carosbooks@gmail.com.

I admit that in the fall of 2007 I was resistant to the entreaties of a colleague that I consider self-publishing my long-gestating novel MRS. LIEUTENANT.

But in December of that year I had an epiphany.  I was about to reach a “significant” birthday and I couldn’t wait any longer for someone to say yes to me.  And at that moment I was finally open to hearing what my colleague had been saying for months:

Self-publishing today takes many forms but it is definitely not restricted to the old vanity press model where you paid for thousands of books that you then stacked in your garage.

Today one of the easiest options is a print-on-demand (POD) publisher – only the books ordered are printed.  That’s right – even one book at a time I learned.

I signed up with BookSurge, the POD unit of Amazon, and away I went.

Now in fairness to the people reading this guest post, I’ve taught copyediting at the college level.  So I was pretty confident in my proofreading abilities.  But earlier I had hired a book consultant to find the missing element in my book.  (People read the manuscript and liked it but kept saying something was “missing.”)

He was expensive and worth every penny even though the basic problem was the confusion of the timeline of events.  I worked on fixing that, then rewrote once again, and proofread again.

The other advantage I had is that I’d studied advertising design a long time ago.  Thus I knew how important the cover would be.  And while I paid to have a cover designed by BookSurge, I had very strong opinions which were honored.  I wanted the faces of four very different women on the cover representing the four protagonists of the novel.

If you don’t have the background for your own proofreading and cover design, I strongly urge you to get professional help in both these areas.  I’ve read self-published books that haven’t had professional editing – and you can really tell!

Next then comes perhaps the hardest part – marketing your book.  I was lucky in this arena because, while my book was going through the BookSurge stages, MRS. LIEUTENANT was named a semi-finalist in the first Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.  We were each given a page on Amazon, and I spotted that another semi-finalist had a blog on her page.  I wanted one too!

That started my intensive quest to learn everything I could about internet marketing.  And the result of that intensive quest led me to becoming an internet marketer and sharing what I’ve learned with others.

And FYI – while some book reviewers still treat self-published books as a stepchild, other reviewers have embraced the wider diversity now available.  Plus the proliferation of blogs that review books means that there’s so much more opportunity to get your book reviewed than there was when print media controlled which books got reviewed and which didn’t.

If you’re a book author and you truly want to see your book published, do consider self-publishing – as long as you have your book professionally edited, get a good cover design, and are prepared to learn how to do the marketing yourself.

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is a National Internet Business Examiner at http://budurl.com/internetbusiness as well as a book author, and her company http://www.MillerMosaicLLC.com provides internet marketing information with easy-to-implement solutions to promote your brand, book or business. On July 1st her company launched the Miller Mosaic Internet Marketing Program.

As a writer there are certain accomplishments that feel like no other and having a book published is certainly one of them. There is nothing so gratifying as holding your own book in your hands and the satisfaction of knowing that others will be reading your work. Years ago, many thought that the only respectable route to achieve that accomplishment was to have your manuscript accepted by a traditional publishing house. For many, that would only ever be a dream.

Sure, there was self-publishing, but it was viewed as an alternate route. Many perceived it poorly and saw it as the last resort of authors who had tried the traditional way of publishing and failed. Little did they realize that self-publishing is actually an excellent first choice for authors. It would take time before self-publishing would finally gain a certain amount of respect and people would begin to see the benefits that it has to offer.

As technology advanced the world of self-publishing also evolved. Self-publishers formerly had to hire a printer and have thousands of dollars worth of books printed in the hope that they would earn back their investment. This was quite a gamble that didn’t pay off for many. Now, however, self-publishers can have their book in print with a minimal investment thanks to print-on-demand. Many, however, now have the same poor opinion of print-on-demand that self-publishing formerly suffered. The naysayers, however, haven’t stopped to realized just how beneficial print-on-demand can be for those hoping to have their title published.

Even today, some might wonder why an author wouldn’t just try to go the traditional route and opt for print-on-demand when all else fails. Well, there are two very excellent reasons why authors should avoid both the traditional publishing route and standard self-publishing in favor of print-on-demand. Those two reasons are control and profit.

Let us first examine why print-on-demand trumps the traditional publishing houses. If you go the print-on-demand route, then you will remain in complete control of your title. Can you say the same thing if you sell your manuscript to a publishing house? For example, if a traditional publishing house feels that sales of your title are languishing, then they have every right to cease publishing your title. Alternatively, as a print-on-demand publisher your title will never go out of print unless, for some reason, you decide to stop selling it. Also, the royalty that you will receive from a publishing house will be a pittance compared to the amount of money that you receive on the sale of each title as a POD publisher.

Now, what about standard self-publishing? Why should you choose print-on-demand instead. The answer is easy. With print-on-demand the investment required to get started is minor compared to self-publishing. As was mentioned, to begin self-publishing you would have to invest thousands of dollars in inventory. That is not the case with print-on-demand. Also, as a self-publisher you have to handle distribution. Conversely, print-on-demand companies deal with all of those headaches for you. Those are just two of the many reasons why print-on-demand is so much more attractive than going the standard self-publishing route.

When all of the pros and cons are examined print-on-demand really is a no lose option for authors who want to see their book in print.

(Excerpted from POD Publicity: How to Take a Print-on-Demand Book From Obscurity to Profitability) Print-on-demand success isn’t an impossible dream. In her book, POD Publicity, Heather offers information from her own firsthand experience with publicizing and marketing print-on-demand titles. Visit The Original Copy Shop to learn more about transforming your book from unknown to both well-known and profitable.

Heather Wallace is a writer, blogger, author, and web developer. She always knew that the 9-5 life wasn’t for her and it was for that reason that she set about to earn a living on her own terms. At Heather’s blog, The Original Copy Shop, she plans to teach readers all that she has learned throughout her journey.

Ebooks are more popular than ever, with the Kindle, iPhone and other ebook readers being adopted by more people every day. The amazing growth in the ebook market presents authors and publishers with opportunities to reach new customers with their content, sometimes with little or no investment.

ePublish: Self-Publish Fast and Profitably for Kindle, iPhone, CreateSpace and Print on Demand is a comprehensive yet consise guide to epublishing. Author Steve Weber explains:

• how to create and sell ebooks from your own web site;
• ebook formats and how to convert your files to ebooks;
• how to reach the more than 300,000 Kindle ebook readers by publishing in Kindle format;
• how to reach the mobile market, including more than 13 million iPhone users;
• how, when and why to take your book from ebook to print book.

Weber provides lots of tips and help for do-it-yourselfers, and also shares resources for those who would prefer to outsource some of the technical details.

In addition to the specifics of how to publish ebooks, Weber identifies many ways authors and publishers can promote their ebooks online, including blogging, podcasting, advertising, affiliates, Google Book Search and more.

Some authors and publishers may be interested in converting their print books to ebook formats; however, it can go the other way, too. Authors may choose to publish ebooks first, then offer a print edition. Weber explains how to use Print on Demand to create a print book from your ebook.

ePublish: Self-Publish Fast and Profitably for Kindle, iPhone, CreateSpace and Print on Demand is an easy to use guide to producing ebooks in multiple formats, and successfully promoting them. Whether you are planning to convert existing print books to electronic formats, or launch your publishing career with ebooks, you will find the information you need.

As you move through the publishing process, there are several key areas where being surprised will be unpleasant rather than exciting. For example, if you plan to work with a publisher, here are three key points where you want to know every detail before you move forward.

1. Is There a Cost?

Is there any cost involved at all? While most authors probably think this information would be obviously disclosed on a company’s website, it doesn’t always work that way.

Case in point: A company I considered partnering with promotes itself essentially as a traditional publisher. Their website even states there’s no cost to publish your work.

However, I found out a little further into the process that there is a cost involved. If accepted, an author must agree to buy X number copies of their books over the term of their contract. That’s not a huge deal for some people and it didn’t completely turn me off either.

The problem arose however, when I was told about the requirement of a five-thousand dollar deposit against those purchases. It truly caught me off guard. I thought I’d done my homework, but now I know to ask directly, “Do I have to pay anything to work with you?” no matter what I have or haven’t discovered on my own.

2. How Long is Your Commitment and What if You Want Out?

If a publisher finally says “yes” to you, one of the last things you’d probably think about is the length of the contract term or how you’d get out of it if need be. However, you definitely want to give yourself some time for the initial excitement to wear off so you can consider the seriousness of the commitment you’re about to make.

It is imperative to know what happens if things don’t work as anticipated from your perspective. What does it take to get out and move on?

This information is vital, especially if you intend to write more than one book. You don’t want to be stuck in a nightmarish situation without choices should your life or work take you in another direction. You never want to make a decision today without knowing how it will impact tomorrow.

3. What About Other Editions of Your Work?

This is a critical concern if you intend to capitalize on your content by releasing it in as many formats as possible. For example, if the publisher doesn’t produce e-books, are you allowed to do so? What about audio or condensed versions like booklets? As you delve into or negotiate these details, you absolutely want to make sure there aren’t any illogical or unfair limitations. You worked hard to create your product, but you also need to work hard to help it become a success. Be reasonable as you consider the issues we’ve discussed, but also be ready to walk away from a company that isn’t on your side.

I now invite you to learn more about how you can publish successfully at http://publishinganswers.com Sign up for my free newsletter or check out the blog today! You can publish with less stress and more success.

Cheryl Pickett has been a freelance writer for nearly a decade. Her new business focuses on educating other writers and helping them achieve their publishing goals.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Cheryl_Pickett
http://EzineArticles.com/?Book-Publishing—Dont-Be-Surprised&id=1746690