VMs: Print-on-demand (continued)...

[Nick Pelling <nickpelling@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi everyone,

At 09:21 04/03/2005 +0100, Elmar Vogt wrogt wrote:
> You pay a fee of a few hundred Euro/dollars to BoD, in return they will 
> get an
> ISBN, enter your publication in various catalogues, make it available with
> Amazon etc. etc. Once somebody orders a copy, the order is processed 100% by
> BoD, they will print this single copy (sic -- they're fully automated for
> this), send it out, collect the money, and transfer your royalties.

AFA print on demand goes, there are plenty other fish in this 
rapidly-expanding pond...
http://directory.google.com/Top/Business/Publishing_and_Printing/Publishing/Self-Publishing/On_Demand/

There's a kind of print-on-demand continuum, with traditional book 
publishers (supplying real bookshops, with real returns, to a real 
warehouse) on one end and virtual book publishers (like Lulu, BoD, etc) on 
the other. Quite a few of the American companies listed (like 
BookPublisher, AuthorHouse, Infinity Publishing, etc) try to give authors 
the best of both worlds - at a cost. Personally, although I love bookshops, 
the future seems to lie with Amazon & its ilk - and so with Lulu & BoD.

Interestingly, Lulu has a zero-royalty zero-commission publishing model, 
which may be a good way of getting a sort-of-facsimile edition out here 
(depending on what the Beinecke are comfortable with). However, for Lulu, 
[any page in colour] means [all pages are in colour], which they charge out 
at $4.53 (setup etc) + $0.15 per page: therefore, a royalty-free copy 220 
pages long = $4.53 + $0.15 * 220 = $37.53 + shipping. They offer 6x9, 
8.5x11, or 6.625 x 10.25 page formats - personally I'd prefer 8.5 x 11. :-)

FWIW, I'd also prefer a print layout whereby you are given scoring 
instructions to reconstruct (by physically cutting and pasting) the 
original foldout structure. A bit messy, but what's the alternative?

IMO, compared to the others, BoD really seems to rock (particularly for 
business transparency, and for page-by-page colour pricing) - but 
unfortunately I don't trust my second-rate German reading skills to figure 
out the various pricing tiers from its price calculator page correctly. :-(

Elmar, does BoD have print-on-demand partners outside Germany? They seem 
really clued up AFA German authors go, but not very accessible otherwise... 
and print-on-demand is what I'm thinking of doing ATM... :-o

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling..... 


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