Quote:
Originally Posted by binaryhermit
I mean, isn't there a higher per-book price for POD copies rather than traditionally printed books made in large batches...
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Not that it makes a difference.
Things have changed and today's POD is a lot cheaper than just a few years ago.
Try some numbers here to see how it plays out:
https://myaccount.ingramspark.com/Po...6-40cfdfdc5a80
Yes, the per book price on POD is higher but there is no warehousing cost with POD. And shipment is faster and cheaper from the Ingram plants to the retailer than from China, where most print runs come from.
The flexibility of POD (and, yes, the ability to retain copyright forever) outweighs the differential. Today publishers still do the first print run in batch because they bake in the delay and the price *is* lower, but after the launch window, it's virtually all POD. In fact, publishers are doing smaller first runs counting on POD to backfill any shortages. It means less returns and less books getting pulped.
It took tradpubs a while but they finally figured out POD.