Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #196977 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-13
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 156 pages

Synopsis
POD People. Seems like they're everywhere all of a sudden. Thousands of authors are publishing their books via print-on-demand, but only a very small percentage of them find any kind of success. Why? POD People must not only act as author, but also publisher, advertiser, editor, agent and graphic designer. The sad truth is that many POD People don't know what to do when they're starting out and plunge blindfolded into the publishing world. Most POD books fade into obscurity, selling only a few copies and leaving the author disappointed and in many cases, broke. This failure is due primarily to the negative POD stigma. Many people avoid self- published books and loathe POD books even more. It's a harsh reality, but there is hope. Bestselling POD author, Jeremy Robinson, reveals how to beat the POD stigma and make your book stand out. "Robinson has penned the essential guide to self-publishing success in today's market. If you're looking for a way to traverse the challenging world of print-on-demand, consider this book a Hummer with a full tank of gas." - POD-DY MOUTH

Customer Reviews

Like the curate's Egg
While this book is good in places, I felt rather unfulfilled about what I had learnt after reading it. It's not actually that long a read and there does seem to be a lot of repetition all based around his one print-on-demand successful book. I was also not very impressed that once he has had this one success, he left the POD route and went mainstream!

I guess the one saving factor is the Americanised marketing speak, as his confidence in himself and his work gives many self-marketing tips you can follow, so it does complement what I had learnt from other titles.

But if you want better advice, try the "Print on Demand Publishing Guide" by Morris Rosenthal or "Aiming at Amazon" by Aaron Shephard. I don't know either of these authors, but every time I read those books I find some new points I can apply to my own self-publishing site adpublishing.eu.

A Good Starting Point, but....
I really wanted to like this book and the author is obviously enthusiastic about his subject and makes several good points about self-publishing, and his opinions on the importance of a good cover are particularly insightful, but at the end of the day the question that haunts every independent publisher, be they one-book POD people or directors of small companies like myself, remains completely unanswered. How do you persuade bookstores to stock your titles if they consider you to be a nobody?

Distribution is the key to success, advertising and marketing is pointless if the buying public cannot fall over your product, and good design is wasted if your book is not being seen.

If you are an author contemplating self-publishing your work this is a great place to start. If you are an independent publisher you might do better with Aaron Shepard's (appallingly designed) Aiming at Amazon although both books seem to feel that it's OK to design a book interior with Microsoft Word. (Get real guys!)

There are better marketing tips in John Kremer's 1001 Ways to Market Your Book, but all of these works do nothing to address the overwhelming screams of indifference that will greet your independently published work.

The issue of staying motivated in the face of this, along with the eternal conundrum of cracking Borders and Waterstones, remains unaddressed.

This book is a brave effort and well worth buying, but it will not provide you with all the answers that you need to succeed as an independent publisher.

A useful primer for poddies
The author's enthusiasm for his subject is evident, and I wish him every success with his POD novels. There were some very useful tips on getting the most out of Amazon, and also with the ever-difficult interface with the book shop acquisition staff.

The main problems I had were:

I felt on a few occasions the author was rather gloating about his POD success.
Several tips are repeated, wasting book space.
The book was entirely dedicated to the self-publishing route, with nothing specifically for the small-press author like me.

Nonetheless, the Amazon tips and several other promotion tools make the book a very useful addition to the bookshelf.