From: Stan <ecfield at comcast.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] POD service
Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2007 17:13:35 -0400
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

> Changes in the book biz.  The rise of Amazon has made it possible for a
> small press title to have equal footing with anything from Random House
> or Simon & Schuster.
>
> Another change is in priniting technology.  In particular:
> Print-On-Demand. This enabled a lot of people to publish their own
> books.  Are they any good?  Well, I suspect YMMV.  And don't forget to
> invoke Sturgeon's Law.  Maybe twice.

I've had a couple of friends tell me they are investigating Lulu POD.

http://www.lulu.com/

They are one of the ones with links to Amazon and seem to offer a wide range
of options. Every format from Comics, through trade paperbacks to
coffee-table hardbounds are available.

Two very real problems with these efforts are the lack of an editor and the
realities of self-promotion.

Riding the fence between self-published POD and the big houses, we see the
hundreds of webpublishers in every genre you can imagine (and some you'd
rather not).

A very good friend publishes romantica for several, different webfirms. She
has 30 novels to her credit at the moment and does a dog-and-pony show at
five or six cons a year. She's making a living, but is NOT rich and is
constantly under the gun to produce the next tale and hunt down the next
check.

Stan