“If I publish with you, how many free copies of my book do I get?”
This is perhaps one of the most common questions that print on demand book publishing companies must answer from anxious, and inquiring authors. What most authors don’t realize when hearing “yes we do” is that those copies are anything but free. The cost of your free copies are usually grossly inflated, and they’re factored into your initial setup fees. Some POD printers may even price those books higher than if you’d purchased them separately!
Publishing your book using print on demand technology is a great benefit to authors struggling to self publish, promote and distribute their books to online retailers and bookstores. But at the same time, you must compare and choose your book publisher wisely. When signing a new author, a POD publisher may offer tempting bells and whistles up front, hoping to get the author excited about signing with them. Although the “free” books seem like a great deal at first, you’ll find that you probably would have saved some money to put towards your marketing efforts by not signing with them.
Many POD publishers hope that you’ll sign on to claim your “free” books because while they HOPE you’ll buy copies from them later, there’s no way to GUARANTEE that you will (other than your “free” copies). Whether they offer you 5 “free” copies or even 50 “free” copies, the cost of those books are already included in your setup fee so in the end you are actually buying those 5 or 50 copies.
There are print on demand companies that offer a wide range of services, but take time comparing your options to find the publisher that will help you carry out your unique vision.
Filed under: Book Publishing | Tagged: Book Publishing, book publishing companies, on demand publishing, POD printing, POD publishing, print on demand publishing, publish your book, self publish your book, self publishing, self publishing companies
