Gather any group of writers together and you’ll often hear conversation eventually turn toward annual income, infrequency of royalty statements and payments. Get them in full blow and you’ll find complaints about lack of promotion from their publishers, difficulties with book signings, gripes about contracts, and unreliability of agents. The list can be as impressive as the rejection slips the writers accrued along their way toward publishing success.
Enter the burgeoning world of Print on Demand Publishers (PODs).
Much in the same manner as downloadable music gave listeners the opportunity to listen to the music they wanted, without being filtered by megalithic distributors and recording labels, PODs are allowing writers, and readers, to take control of their literary destinies and choices. For the consumer this revolution means greater selection, in that what is available in the marketplace is no longer juried and vetted by a few. For the producers of print and music, it means a fair shot at the marketplace.
If you’re a writer considering self-publishing through a POD, do your homework. Some companies, masquerading as PODs, in fact are little more than vanity publishers, charging their clients enormous sums of money for print runs of up to 3500 books, without the opportunity to purchase any sort of distribution agreement that will assist you in getting your books before the public and into stores.
And PODs vary widely in the quality of the books they provide for their clients, how much they charge for those all-important distribution contracts, and the support they offer along the way toward the final publication.
Why is a distribution agreement important? It’s a major marketing tool that gets your book information out to retailers.
One of the best, in my opinion, PODs in today’s market is Lulu Publishing (www.lulu.com). Unlike most PODs, Lulu offers, for a fee, a distribution service to its authors which opens the door to potentially enormous global markets. Lulu’s data-feeds cascade to international bibliographic databases as well as leading wholesalers and retailers including Chapters, Indigo, Coles, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, W.H. Smith and For Borders.
What this means for the author is that as Lulu continues to expand on an international scale, markets such as the Netherlands, Japan and Germany, as well as the already existing markets in North America and the European Union, are open for business. In essence, Lulu has created a revolution in print media in the manner of other online services for downloadable music. Despite nay-sayers this is a burgeoning phenomenon and a savvy business decision on the part of any serious writer looking toward a career and publication.
In fact, the POD revolution has gained enough momentum that Chapters/Indigo/Coles recently announced a partnership with iUniverse (another POD), which will, for a fee of up to $1400CDN, get you the same distribution package Lulu offers for about $100CDN.

What’s involved in Self Publishing through a POD?

It would perhaps belabour the obvious to say first you must have created a literary work, whether it be fiction, non-fiction, or cookbook. It should also be your very best work. Self-publishing shouldn’t be an excuse for shoddy workmanship; check your spelling, grammar, references. If you wish to be treated as a professional, conduct and present yourself as a professional.
Choose your POD. In my case, I chose Lulu, even though I have two other books published through Boston Mills Press. Lulu provides excellent step by step guides toward publishing, and also offers real-time chat help as well as forums.
Once I was ready to publish, and was sure all my formatting was compatible with Lulu’s requirements, I uploaded the document in Word format to their system. The document was converted to a .pdf file, and made available for review. Having made sure my typesetting and content were perfect, I approved the content for publication, chose Lulu’s distribution agreement, and then set to creating a cover.
I could have opted to use some of Lulu’s online artwork for the cover of Recipes of a Dumb Housewife, but instead chose to create my own, which I uploaded to their cover wizard. Once there the details of title, spine and back cover were completed. I should note for any Canadian writers that if you wish your books to be picked up by the Chapters/Indigo chain, you must be sure to have the price of your book printed either on the back or front cover. Lulu’s system provides the bar code and ISBN.
Once these steps were completed I was able to determine the cost of my book, set my profit (royalty), see the exact amount of Lulu’s commission (20% of your cost plus profit), and approve the final retail cost of the book.
Just as a matter of prudence, despite having proofed the galleys, it’s a good idea to order a ‘proof copy’ of your book, as I did, before releasing the book for distribution to the public. At this stage you can also order extra proofs for distribution to reviewers whose comments you can then use as promotional blurbs on your revised back cover and in any promotional material you send out.
Then, for me, it was simply a matter of approving the proof and releasing the book for distribution. Six to eight weeks later Recipes of a Dumb Housewife showed up in the online catalogues of Amazon, Barnes and Nobel, For Borders, and W.H. Smith throughout North America and the EU. I missed out on Chapters/Indigo, not knowing at the time about their price printed on the cover requirement. I won’t be making the same mistake twice when I release And the Angels Sang, a short story anthology, later this summer.

Promote, Promote, Promote

The hard work, which would be yours regardless of whether you went with a conventional publisher or a POD, unless you’re a huge known name, is getting your books into bricks and mortar stores and creating media recognition. Research local papers, television and radio. Find out which conventions or trade shows might be good venues for the promotion of your work.
Lulu provides you with all manner of marketing and promotion tips from writing press releases and media kits, to the forums where book signings and convention tips are discussed. They also provide you with a storefront on their website which allows visitors and other Lulu users to view and purchase your work. But ultimately the success, or failure, of your book, just as its creation, is entirely in your hands.

About Lorina Stephens, author of Recipes of a Dumb Housewife

Lorina’s career as a writer spans 27 years, with Recipes of a Dumb Housewife being her third book publication, the previous being Touring the Giant’s Rib: A Guide to the Niagara Escarpment, and Credit River Valley, both published by Boston Mills Press.
She has had several short fiction pieces published in Canada’s acclaimed On Spec magazine and Marion Zimmer Bradley’s fantasy anthology Sword & Sorceress X.
She has worked as editor, freelance journalist for national and regional print media, been a festival organizer, publicist, lectures on many historical topics from textiles to domestic technologies, teaches, and continues to work as a writer and an artist and textile conservator.
Lorina lives with her husband of three plus decades, and two cats, in a historic stone house in Neustadt, Ontario.