Print-On-Demand Publishing: Helpful Tips for a First-Time Author

Having successfully self-published three books through a POD (print-on-demand) publisher, I believe I have gathered some valuable experience, and I will be happy to share it with those still considering the self-publishing / POD route. 

I had been planning to self-publish my adventure trilogy from the very beginning, for two reasons. The first one is the genre: Christian fantasy. Even now the Christian fantasy market is very limited, and back in 2003 it was virtually non-existent. My second reason for choosing the self-publishing option was not wishing to waste time on breaking the publishing barrier yet again. Even though I had been published in Europe, here in America I was still a new, unknown author. I figured that I would do much better if I spend a few years promoting my books rather than collecting rejection slips.

I have published my trilogy with Xulon Press, a Christian print-on-demand publisher. POD publishing has been growing fast, with more and more new companies showing up and offering their services. Choosing a good one is, of course, one of your keys to success. Some of the things I would recommend to keep in mind are: 

1)  The publisher must accept book returns

This is crucial. Most POD publishers do not take back unsold copies from bookstores, which will make placing your book into stores extremely difficult. My publisher accepts book returns, and I still had some hard time with bookstore managers for whom “POD” automatically means “non-returnable.” Without lifting a finger to check whether my books fell into that category, those managers would refuse to carry them, for that very reason: it is a non-returnable POD title.

So, here are two tips that I give you based on this experience: a) Choose a publisher that accepts book returns; b) Point it out in every promotional letter to bookstores that your titles are returnable.