Amazon's upsetting the publishers again

[BeccaPrice]

http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/the-o...int-on-demand/

Amazon apparently wants publishers to let them PoD books rather than buying and warehousing them. Makes sense to me, so of course the publishers are against it.

[CommonReader]

I want to sell Toyotas but I want to produce them in my own factory instead of getting them from Toyota.
Being able to sell paper books via Amazon will often be the decisive factor if a new print run is economically viable. Print on demand by Amazon itself might often leave Amazon as the last retailer able to sell paper copies of a certain book. Why should publishers put so much additional power into the hands of Amazon?

[BeccaPrice]

maybe because it's more efficient and less wasteful? I wonder how many tons of stripped books are pulped each year because they didn't sell? What happens to the paper? is it reclaimed for printing more books on? I doubt it.

going POD has some legal implications, though. A lot of contracts (I think) say that an author can reclaim his/her rights to the book when it goes out of print - but POD books are never out of print. Going POD could open a huge can of worms.

[fjtorres]

Uh, they're asking for *backlist* titles.
Not sure a kneejerk rejection is wise.
Some may be out of print or close to it.
It might actually benefit the publishers to PoD those titles instead of firing up the presses for a batch run that might takes years to move. And with backlists coming to ebooks...
Amazon may indeed become the last retailer able to move those titles in dead tree format... by default.

[charmian]

I don't really understand why the publishers (except one) refuse to use the Espresso Book Machine (with this attitude, it's easy to see why it hasn't caught on). It even seems like PoD may result in immediate cost savings.

[BeccaPrice]

If you'll read the article linked in the OP, they make the case that legacy publishers have a huge investment in paper book infrastructure, from printing to storage to shipping, and all that would go away if they went PoD - or at least they wouldn't need as much. Price of printing might go up, because there wouldn't be the economies of scale. Going PoD would only benefit Amazon, and other internet/mail order companies, and would cause problems for b&m book stores, especially indy book stores.

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by charmian

I don't really understand why the publishers (except one) refuse to use the Espresso Book Machine (with this attitude, it's easy to see why it hasn't caught on). It even seems like PoD may result in immediate cost savings.

May also have something to do with the fact that the books are second rate quality... tried and rejected...

[flipreads]

There are nuances to POD, digital printing, and offset printing.

The claim that big publishers should automatically switch to POD is ridiculous, especially when it comes to economies of scale and the quantities of books they move around.

Authors and small presses who move a relatively small quantity of books however have some advantages in going the POD route.

[AnemicOak]

IIRC many pubs are already doing POD for some of their backlist stuff, just in a way that it's more under their control than if they were to let Amazon or B&N handle it.

[sabredog]

This sounds a great idea. Many is the time I have had to ring around to used book stores in an increasing radius to track down an out of print title. Be great if a facility was in place to order a print on demand of a wanted out of print book with some funds going to the author.

Unfortunately the BPH's will only see this as another roar from the dreaded Bezosaurus Rex as they cower at the back of their caves. Forward and creative thinking are not strong points for the BPH's and has not really been since the introduction of moveable type.

[RainingLemur]

Originally Posted by sabredog

This sounds a great idea. Many is the time I have had to ring around to used book stores in an increasing radius to track down an out of print title. Be great if a facility was in place to order a print on demand of a wanted out of print book with some funds going to the author.

This would be a godsend. I hate having to play the telephone game to find a single book.

[Rob Lister]

I've never seen a print on demand book. What is the quality? Are their differences from original layout and design; margins, fonts, cover? What kind of spine? What kind of paper!?

[Ninjalawyer]

Originally Posted by Rob Lister

I've never seen a print on demand book. What is the quality? Are their differences from original layout and design; margins, fonts, cover? What kind of spine? What kind of paper!?

According to the linked article, the POD book is indistinguishable from other books in the case of large print-run paperbacks.

This piece of the article seems to sum it up nicely (as well as the entire state of the current publishing industry):

And so it is that big publisher reluctance to cede Amazon control, or otherwise to change the way they currently do business, is tying up money supporting legacy infrastructure. This increases the costs to publishers and Amazon alike, and keeps costs higher for consumers. With print on demand, paper books could see a lot of the same benefits as paper [sic] books, but publishers would rather keep on doing things the way they’ve always done them.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer

This piece of the article seems to sum it up nicely (as well as the entire state of the current publishing industry):

Uh-huh.
As I said, publishers can benefit from PoD if they use it wisely. And using it for portions of the backlist is pretty much a clear win for *them*.
But if their Amazon phobia keeps them from taking advantage of a useful tech...
Well, it's *their* market share that'll get degraded.
(shrug)

As they say; "You can lead the horse to water..."

[Rob Lister]

Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer

According to the linked article, the POD book is indistinguishable from other books in the case of large print-run paperbacks.

This piece of the article seems to sum it up nicely (as well as the entire state of the current publishing industry):

If Amazon they can print back list titles (where are they getting the source data for that?) then they can print new books just as easily. I can see where the publishers might have a few reservations with ceding that responsibility; they become dependent on Amazon.

Additionally, if Amazon can print the back-list books, why can't the publishers print them just as easily...cheaper, since they have the existing infrastructure? Many of them don't even copy-edit the ebooks correctly. Wouldn't they have to do the exact same copy-editing for PoD?