Customer Reviews

POD People: Beating the Print-on-Demand Stigma

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Kudos to Jeremy Robinson for drawing on his experiences as a successful POD author to help others navigate the maze of this new and often frustrating publishing process. I'm a writer with a novel in print from a small press that uses POD. The POD business model makes sense and will soon be used by many more publishers, increasing the numbers of POD authors in the book business every year. Robinson's guide does much more than recommend promotional strategies for these authors. It gives the beginner a terrific overview of the challenges inherent in the POD publishing process, then adds layers of information to help any author with a book in print effectively get the word out about his or her title.

Reviewers on cooking sites often add suggestions for enhancing a recipe. Robinson's recipe for success is a solid one that can be enhanced, too. Read POD PEOPLE and then read Carolyn Howard-Johnson's THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER, taking plenty of notes along the way, and you'll be armed with an arsenal of promotional strategies to help boost sales of your book. Even traditionally published authors are expected to self-promote. Guides like POD PEOPLE and THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER provide encouragement, insights, and detailed battle plans for any author determined not only to get a book published, but to get that book into the hands of as many readers as possible.

What I like most about this book is its brutal honesty, and the insistence by the author of how both important an author's professionalism and personal integrity is in gaining respect in this business. Far too many self published authors take these things lightly, and there actions make it even harder for those of us who are going about the pursuit of success in the right way to achieve respect in this industry.

In this book Robinson speaks with wisdom and authority, and I hope all authors pursuing a serious career as a self published author will buy this book and take what he has to say to heart.

I read the book in one weekend. I found Robinson's down-to-earth style and honesty addicting. The book is full of useful, hands-on information invaluable for anyone considering publishing by Print on Demand. He tells all from cover design to choosing to right font for your text to marketing to generate sales and recognition.

The beauty of this book is that Robinson tells you the pros and cons of POD publishing. When you finish reading it, you know for sure what aspects of POD publishing you should do yourself and what aspects you need to let the professionals do for you.

I highly recommend this book as a must-read before you publish anything by POD!
Anthony S. Policastro - author of Dark End of the Spectrum and Absence of Faith

I bought this book because of the overwhelmingly positive reviews. After reading the book myself I can only conclude the other 14 reviews are either friends of the reviewer or they read a different book. The premise of the book is "how to beat the print-on-demand stigma." In reality, this book demonstrates nearly every reason why POD books have a stigma.

1. It's under 160 pages even with generous spacing.
2. It uses non-standard fonts such as Impact instead of those used in professional publishing.
3. The cover is amateurish.
4. The last 30 pages of the book is a bunch of re-produced interviews (most of which cover the same questions).

The author explains it would have been hypocritical for him to not publish the book in a POD format even though he's signed with a traditional publisher and agent. In reality no traditional publisher would sign this book. Even if it had quality content, a book must be at least 160 pages to fit the profit model of most traditional publishers. It's more realistic that this book was pitched his publisher and rejected.

A large section of the book is devoted to getting reviews of your book. Although it's a long shot to have a POD book reviewed, it is possible. However, the author gives none of the proper guidance to having the book reviewed rather than simply "send it out." Your chances of having your book reviewed increase if you set up your own publishing moniker rather than simply publishing under the name of the POD service (such as LULU or Booksurge). But the author doesn't provide any of these steps.

I normally don't write reviews at all, but really got me typing on this one was the author's section on morality. I don't think anyone selling a book this light on content should be lecturing on honesty and integrity. Shame on you, Mr. Robinson. I'd return the book but I don't think it's fair for Amazon or Lulu to eat their share. I'll have to settle for the ten cents I might get at a yard sale.

If you're an author who's serious about POD publishing, check out the work of a legitimate expert on the subject such as Aaron Shepard. (I'm not affiliated with Shepard in anyway - I just know his books have helped me immensely.)

The author comes from the viewpoint of a single person publishing primarily through [...]. While it's primarily of interest to self-publishers, small presses that use POD technology will also want to take a look, as there's some very valuable information here.

Robinson does a great job of laying out the realities of POD self-publishing for the reader. He deflates common myths (my book will sell itself, I'll instantly get an agent, I don't need an editor, etc.). He also does a great job of debunking a lot of the stigmas associated with POD in general (all POD books are poor quality, etc.) and gives the reader good advice for overcoming the negative stereotypes.

He also emphasizes quality, whether it's covers, layout or editing. His philosophy is that in order to succeed, POD books need to be as good--or better--than traditionally published titles. This is also useful in that since POD books are often overlooked because of the aforementioned stigmas, showing that we can make quality products helps, again, to overcome the stereotypes. Robinson's writing style is excellent, very conversational while conveying the information in a concise but thorough manner. He even gave me some marketing ideas that I hadn't thought of, for which I am ever grateful.

I think my only complaints are the few typos I found (pobody's nerfect), and the layout of this particular book. The sentences seemed like they were spaced a little far apart, at maybe 1.5 lines instead of 1, which made it seem like it was just padding to make the book longer. And I wasn't too crazy about the font used for headers; it didn't seme to match the Garamond text well.

Still, these are tiny quibbles for what turned out to be a very valuable addition to my POD collection. I highly recommend this whether you're a self-publisher or a small POD press as a great guide to getting it right.

--Lupa, Promotions/Publicity Manager, Nonfiction, Immanion Press

Jeremy Robinson has written a useful and honest guide to self-publishing through Print On Demand. This excellent book will prove useful to any author trying to break into the POD business, and may just be the definitive work on the subject.

Ever been in the woods, you know, down where it's thick and hard to even walk. Occationally a brush with a briar draws blood. Finally you see a path that someone else has made. For me, Jeremy Robinson blazed that path and I say thank ya. POD People tells what worked for him in his success and what didn't. If you want to succeed, emulate success. Don't miss what he has to say.

I've read POD people covereth to covereth, and this book is a must for authors who may be publishing via print on demand technology. If you're self publishing or publishing with a smaller press that utilizes POD for their printing to avoid costly print runs, then this book will heap loads of valuable information in your lap, including the essentials to making your book successful, despite the great stigma against P.O.D. present in the publishing industry today. Jeremy Robinson has previously had great success himself as a self published author with his bestselling book The Didymus Contingency and he shares his sound wisdom and tricks of the trade as he guides you through publishing your novel and shows you key methods for beating the stigma against print on demand books. Mr. Robinson has packed a lot of gold in this one and I noticed he's now with a new publisher--Breakneck Books...Whoa, this stuff must really work!!

In the past five years, I have read 15+ books on self publishing (SP) and Jeremy Robinson's "POD People" is certainly unique and informative. Along with Dan Poynter's "Self Publishing Manual," "POD People" can help SP newbies figure out if SP is a viable option.

"POD People" frequently addresses the concerns of starving writers. Robinson found a back door into POD and you can benefit from his advice.

Believe me, SP is not for everyone, but these two titles will help you understand enough to make an informed decision.

"POD People" lives up to its title's promise, by isolating the elements that contribute to the ever-growing stigma of print on demand. If you take nothing else away from these books, just know that editing, page layout, and cover design must be outsouced to professionals. Moreover, an aggressive marketing campaign is a must, but you can do all that yourself. Otherwise, your book will join a zillion other titles in that massive black hole of publishing failures.

Finally, each SP book offers unique elements but also overlaps with other SP books. Interestingly, the overlaps are just as important because they drive home the essentials. Do yourself a favor and read more books than these, if you are dead serious about SP. If you choose wisely, 10 titles ought to do it.

Author, Jeremy Robinson has proven that you can be successful at using print-on-demand to launch your book publishing career. In his book POD People, he covers the stigmas of print-on-demand publishing and gives you some tips on how to avoid or rise above them.

The number one mistake that would-be successful authors make is publishing their books before they are ready. Robinson stresses the importance of quality throughout his book. Hire an editor to help you polish your story before it is published. Hire a designer for your cover if you don't have design background. He provides links to free photo editing software for those who simply can't afford to hire a designer.

In the marketing section of POD People, he talks about how he garnered author blurbs for The Didymus Contingency and suggests that you hold off publishing your book until you can get these blurbs. He suggests the same thing for reviews. The more reviews and blurbs you can get for your book, the higher your credibility will rise. This is solid advice that I plan to use for my upcoming novel.

The section on how to use Amazon and Barnes&Noble to market and sell your book is very useful, as is his book signing tips. These techniques not only earned him more sales, but helped him land an agent for his other books, Raising the Past and Antarktos Rising.

His conversational, get-to-the-point style makes this book an enjoyable and fast read. I started reading this book yesterday afternoon and finished it this morning. Don't even think about self-publishing until you read this book. Once you finish reading this, read other books on self-publishing and book marketing.