Sticky Notes Blog

A blog of writing news, tips, and inspiration from Fat Plum

Walk in with a CD-ROM, walk out with ten bound copies of your book

Print-on-demand comes to an American bookstore for the first time:

Take a floppy disk or CD-ROM to Bookends in Ridgewood, N.J., or e-mail the store a file, and pow! - in as little as 17 minutes a perfect-bound paperback version of your novel, family memoir, or favorite Bulgarian desserts can be printed.

Every book comes complete with a customized cover chosen from among several thousand designs. For an additional fee, it can also be trademarked and registered with a machine-readable ISBN number, essential for any author hoping to get the work stocked by a major chain and on its way to becoming a best seller.

Several things distinguish this bookstore's approach to self-publishing from that of companies like Xlibris and iUniverse, most notably cost, marketing and selling assistance, and royalties. The bookstore's prices are lower, while the Internet-based companies offer marketing and distribution services in packages and a la carte. The bookstore takes no royalties, while the other print-on-demand companies do split royalties with authors. Thus, the bookstore is acting more like an enhanced printing company, while the Internet-based companies are a step or two closer to traditional publishers (although still substantially different from them, as they charge fees of their authors).

(Link via Maud Newton.)

Posted by Cindy on June 10, 2004
This entry was posted in the following categories: Publishing