By John F. Harnish 

In the January 16, 2006, issue of Publishers Weekly, the Soapbox rant, The Problem with POD, is by Rudy Shur, founder and publisher of Square One Publishers.  Square One Publishers specializes in adult nonfiction books, including titles on self-help and inspiration, finance, writing, New Age, cooking, history, and more.  Ruby bemoans the increasing number of POD books that are beginning to find their way onto bookstore shelves, thusly displacing books published by small and mid-size traditional publishing houses.

He acknowledges that these books have “the look and feel” of professionally produced books, but then he attempts to assert the mistaken fact that these books are not actually published! He makes the assumption that these books do not receive anywhere near the level of attention that independent presses and major houses give their books, investing much time in editing, designing, marketing, and publicizing their books.  Many of our more successful authors have taken the time and effort to hire professionals to make their books the best they can be.  However, instead of the content editor working for the publisher – and looking out for the publisher’s investment – the editor is doing work-for-hire editing and working directly with the author.  With the current trend of mainstream houses down-sizing and merging into multi-national media corporations, there are suddenly lots of talented publishing professionals available for free-lance assignments from savvy authors on the path of author-originated publishing.

Mr. Shur cites the confusion POD books are causing because the public and some book retailers have begun to confuse them with books published by independent and niche houses.  I fail to see that as a problem; the consumer purchases the book that best meets their criteria.  I’m less than thrilled with how he casts the stigma of vanity house publishing on this evolving branch publishing that has incorporated print-on-demand methodologies with high-speed digital printers to produce quality books.  I see no vanity in an author creating and publishing a book that’s just as good as – or better than – other books with the clear intent to make a profit by making their book available for sale!

He rants about these evolving publishing houses offering steeply discounted books as incentives for buying their titles.  I don’t see how that’s possible when the Lightning Source/Ingram connection controls the pricing of the majority of the POD published books sold through Ingram.  There really isn’t much of a profit margin with which to go steep.  Infinity Publishing does give the incentive of guaranteeing all of our titles with our liberal return policy for booksellers along with our standard 40% off-cover discount.  Mr. Shur points out that some independent bookstores and regional chains have already started to stock and feature books in store displays by local authors – regardless of how they were published – which is squeezing books by traditional publishers off the shelf.  I’m sure those local authors being available for book signings and in-store events played a big part in the local managers’ decisions to stock their books.  Nothing brings out the customers like a home-town author doing a reading from their newly published book in a neighborhood store.

I fail to understand his insinuation that author-originated publishing isn’t a legitimate and acceptable form of book publishing.  This is more author-friendly because the publisher is producing and distributing the author’s book with the complete agreement and authorization of the author, and, in exchange for those granted rights, the publisher pays the author monthly royalties on all books sold.  The royalty is frequently higher than what’s paid on many traditionally published books secured with an advance.  Our titles are released for sale with Infinity Publishing identified as the publisher of record, with Infinity’s ISBN, and listed accordingly in Books-In-Print.  However, the author owns all rights to the book that we are publishing under a non-exclusive publishing agreement.  We provide marketing and promotional assistance, but we won’t formulate and implement marketing plans for our authors.  When we notice an author’s efforts are producing steadily increasing sales, then we look to see how we can help in supporting the author’s successful efforts.  We maintain a micro on-shelf inventory of all our 3,000+ titles and most orders are shipped within 24 hours of the order being received, and our Just-In-Time book publishing system is scheduled to replenish inventory as needed.

The January issue of The Author’s Advocate recounted our efforts of knocking on Barnes & Noble’s door.  We have consistently encouraged our authors to visit local bookstores as the first step to getting some attention for their books.  And according to Rudy’s bemoaning, it’s working, as more and more of your books appear to be making it onto those relished shelves!!! I regret that there’s limited shelf space – that wouldn’t be the case if so many independent bookstores hadn’t been driven out of business by the deeply discounted books on sale at the big chains.  The personal touch of knowing just where the book you’re looking for can be found has been replaced by stacks of mass marketed books controlled by the dictates of the bean-counters.  Deep discounts might produce a few more sales in a limited window of opportunity, but it greatly devalues the creative efforts of the author who wrote the book.

Thanks to your continuing efforts as Infinity authors, we are creating a positive presence in the marketplace by earning our acceptance through the quality of our books.  We will continue to overcome the lingering barriers within the industry as more authors join the ranks of those who know the joys of successful author-originated book publishing.  The playing-field is leveling.