The new definition of "Traditional" Publisher

Publisher’s Weekly reported that in 2008 “On-Demand” books outpaced “Traditional” book production. 275,232 titles were produced and warehoused while 285,394 titles where produced and stored digitally.

A little history on book production technology: Print-On-Demand (POD) is a technology where a digital copy of the book is stored and used to print an original book when an order is placed. It’s like Wendy’s making your burger for you when you order it instead of making them hours earlier and keeping them lined up and waiting for customers. And this weekend at BEA in New York, the "Espresso Book Machine" will show how these POD titles can be printed in a bookstore when a customer requests it.

From the news release from Bowker, I’m guessing that they define "traditional publishers" as those that print and warehouse books. Now, I know that books keep longer than burgers, but the longer they’re warehoused, the more it costs the publisher, and eventually an author who doesn’t sell big in the first few months, has his books pulled from the distribution channels – the title is then out-of-print.

More publishers are seeing the benefit of POD technology and the savings in warehousing costs. Although the per book print costs are more, I'm surprised that "traditional publishers" haven't switched. The just-in-time model has been used in other industries for over 25 years. For authors, the books digital storage fees are small enough that the title can stay in print for years without having to achieve a profit in the first few months.

These statistics show that in order to survive, publishers are dropping the warehouse and moving to the technology of the 1990s -- finally. I know that both publishers of my books have used POD. They are "traditional publishers" that employee editors, graphic designers, marketers, pay royalties and pay advances, but they are also technology savvy.

A snide swipe at technology can be found in the reporting of POD produced books by the old guard of publishing since the innovators in most industries are the small and new players looking for ways to enter the market at a lower cost. Early POD publishing focused on short-run books, self-published books. That’s no longer the case with many small, independent, and boutique publishing houses using the technology.

As the report shows, POD publishing has become the popular majority in book production, so we need a new term for "Traditional Titles" -- how about "Warehoused Titles"??

POD titles are the new tradition.

BAM, BAM to Small Publishers

Here's a bit of advice to authors and small publishers and readers who appreciate the innovation of the independent presses: Stay away from Books-A-Million.

After over a month of sending e-mails and making phone calls, I finally was able to talk to "Kim" at Books-A-Million. She said that unless a book was in their warehouse, the stores could not sell it or have the author in for a book signing.

So, I asked, how do you get into the warehouse? She was sketchy, but looked up my three books. Then said they didn't warehouse them. Why? Because the independent publishers use Print-On-Demand (POD).

A quick word on POD: This is the technology of the future for publishing. And most small and independent publishers use it because there is no inventory to warehouse (or destroy if sales lag). POD is more expensive per book for the publisher, but the inventory costs are zero.

Both my publishers (Regal Crest Enterprises: Fingering the Family Jewels and Devil's Bridge, and Cherokee McGhee: Under a Copper Moon) use Ingram's POD printing company.

I couldn't get Kim to say why they wouldn't take a POD book -- they are returnable if books are left after the book signing. Amazon sells a lot of these books, and returns them if they get too many at their warehouse.

So, if you want to help out independent presses and authors, ask for the books at your local independent bookstore, Amazon.com, or Barnes & Noble. These companies want to give you the full spectrum of books available.

"Books-A-Million" doesn't mean that they have millions of books to choose from, but that they only stock books that can make them millions.