Bloggasm

As more and more vanity presses have adopted Print-on-Demand technology for their publishing ventures, fewer and fewer reviewers have been willing to even look at Print-on-Demand books, and most book-sellers refuse to even carry them, since POD companies usually don’t allow them to return unsold copies. POD-dy Mouth is a blogger who has decided to move past these industry taboos and review POD titles. She seems to have cornered a niche and at the same time became a champion for quality POD books.

Simon Owens: I guess the first question that needs asking is: Why did you choose to be anonymous?

POD-dy Mouth: Well, I get that question a lot, especially since so many people visit my blog now and I could really benefit from the exposure for selling my own books (over 600+ have offered to buy to date.) But the main reason for being veiled is to avoid getting vengeance reviews on Amazon and BN due to my not reviewing a particular POD title (I’ve had plenty of threats.) Plus, I don’t really want people showing up at my door with books in hand.

Simon Owens: Now, since your main focus is on POD books, does that mean you’re willing to review books that have been vanity-published by people like PublishAmerica? What are some of the best POD presses out there?

POD-dy Mouth: Yes, that is exactly what I do. I refer to POD books, but really I mean anything self-published. Most folks use the print-on-demand method these days because it is affordable (respectively) and fast (also respectively.) Most people drive cars but there are still a few who ride a bike to work. I’m willing to take a look at those books too.

As for rating POD presses, I try to avoid endorsing any one company, but there are a few that clearly stand out. iUniverse and Lulu are companies trying to progress the industry and are ones worth noting. One of the biggest factors in choosing a POD company (perhaps the biggest) is what the price of the books will be in the marketplace. I still to this day do not understand what makes people use a company like Xlibris, where the price of a paperback is $21-$24 and the cost to get the book set-up in the first place is pretty high. On the other end you’ve got PublishAmerica who charges nothing to get set-up but can have a cover price of near $30 in some cases. That’s just silly. And insane.

Simon Owens: Since most POD titles can’t be returned, many books stores refuse to order them. Is there a way to get over this hurdle for POD authors?

POD-dy Mouth: Not really. Book stores rely on the returns model (a bizarre way for publishers to do business) to keep costs (and risk) down. So for them to “invest” in a POD title is very unlikely. The only way around it is for the author to buy the books herself and get an indie bookstore to sell them on consignment. iUniverse and Authorhouse have a few scenarios where they will get some of their titles into various bookstores (Barnes and Noble and Waterstone’s respectively) on a returns basis, but there are qualifiers to what goes in.

Simon Owens: Why do the more-popular POD presses even bother with print-on-demand, when it’s much more economically sound to just have a straight print run?

POD-dy Mouth: Simple: money. The POD presses are making money off of the authors, as opposed to the consumers (readers) like a traditional publisher like Simon & Schuster. POD publishers take no risk. They get their money up front from the author and take a slice from each book sold. There is no risk on their end, though there is little return, too–which is why they need thousands of clients to turn a profit. The only exception I can think of is when iUniverse did a print run of Amy Fisher’s IF I KNEW THEN (and it was a good move since it became a NY Times bestseller.)

Simon Owens: What upcoming POD titles are you looking forward to the most?

POD-dy Mouth: The good ones (*rim shot*). And there are not many, believe me. It is a sad but true statement that 199 out of 200 self-published books are just terrible. But that one out of 200 is what I am blogging about, the ones that got overlooked by New York or were simply too edgy or “unclassifiable” or avant garde. The books I look forward to the most are the ones recommended by other authors. Last year John Mason Skipp, author of Conscience, recommended a POD book by a guy named Jeremy Robert Johnson, titled Angel Dust Apocalypse–and boy am I glad he did. The book (both, actually) were outstanding.

Simon Owens: What are the five blogs you’d recommend to supplement the reading of your own?

POD-dy Mouth: That’s a tough one but I would have to say, since most POD authors are using it as a means to landing a commercial deal anyway, some of the main publishing blogs are the way to go, those being: Any of the MJ Rose blogs, Miss Snark, Mad Max Perkins (now abandoned but the old stuff is worth reading), as well as author blogs like Max Barry, Lee Goldberg and Jennifer Weiner. The more stuff a writer can digest from the industry, the better off he or she will be–and so they will see going POD as an option and not a necessity, and certainly not the only way.