What is Print on Demand? And How Does It Work?
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If you’re a self-published or hybrid author, you’ve probably heard the term “POD.” So, what is it?
POD stands for Print on Demand — a publishing model where books are printed as they’re ordered, rather than in large print run batches (like those offered through Friesens). The improvement of digital printing technologies enables POD printers to queue the books for the day through a computerized system, rather than scheduling out large offset print runs. Offset printing utilizes plates that need to be changed out for each new book that’s put onto the press. Not so with POD!
Both POD and offset printing systems are still very much in use in the publishing industry, so let’s explore the key differences — format, features, cost, and scale — and how you can best leverage POD to your advantage.
Format
For a long while, POD could only print paperbacks, making hardcovers a luxury item from vanity presses or traditional publishing only. Today, both POD and offset printing can now produce hardcover books in both the standard casebound (like a textbook) and dust jacket (hardcovers with a removable paper cover) variations.
POD also means if you get your first 20 books and realize you have a typo on page 54, no worries! You can easily update your print files so the next copies you order will be printed from the updated version.
Moreover, the quality of the paper, clarity of the print, and vibrancy of the colour (if printing a colour book) have all improved to the point that a professionally designed POD book is nearly indistinguishable from a traditionally published book (barring any fancy features, which we’ll discuss in a moment). You can even choose whether you want your POD cover to be printed with a glossy or matte finish to customize the final feel of your book.
There are still some limitations, however. POD can only do matte interior pages. For your standard text-based novel, this is exactly what you’d expect. But for cookbooks, nonfiction with photo galleries, or children’s books, this may not look the way you’re expecting. Glossy interior pages, provided only by custom print runs, can make artwork or photos pop and appear crisper and more vibrant.
Features
Glossy interiors require the additional labour and time of misting the pages with various finishes (not all of them glossy) to seal the ink and provide an extra oomph to any images. This process would bring POD production to a halt. Since this is counter to the purpose of its streamlined services, interior page finishing doesn’t appear to be feasible for POD any time soon.
Custom printing offers many other fancy features that POD cannot provide, including:
Gatefolds (pages that fold out of the book to provide a map or panorama photo full dramatic impact),
Spot gloss or foil for texture or glittering effects,
Die cut covers where a glimpse of an image underneath is seen through an artful hole in the cover,
Embossing or debossing to stamp raised or lowered designs on a cover, and
Variable data (such as numbered limited editions).
Other extras, like boxed sets or shrink-wrapped books, aren’t possible with POD. Basically, any feature that requires specialized craftsmanship from human hands doesn’t fit into the highly efficient production line that is POD printing.
Because the POD process is so streamlined, it’s also incredibly fast. Paperbacks can be printed in as little as 3 days; hardcovers in as little as 5. Most custom printing jobs need to be scheduled months or even years in advance.
There’s also no limitation on the quantity you order; you can buy just 1 POD book to take a look, or you can buy 500. These books might be printed in a queue of thousands of other books. If some of your order is printed on different machines in the production line, it can lead to minor variances in trimming on the cover or interior pages, or in the ways different printers’ ink captures the colours of your cover or interior images. You might also see subtle differences in the paper stock from one book to another, but typically the poundage (the weight and thickness) of the paper your book will be printed on will be disclosed before you order. These variances are normal side effects of providing you with such affordability and efficiency.
Cost
When comparing a single POD book to a single custom print book, you’ll find that POD is considerably cheaper. For example, a 288-page B&W (black & white) novel in POD might cost around $11.14 to produce, while the same book from a custom printer would be about $55. You might be asking “if it’s so much cheaper, why aren’t all books printed this way?” The answer is scale. POD is the same cost for 1 book as for 1000 because the printing process doesn’t change; the same materials and machines are used, no matter how many copies are printed.
For traditional printing, including offset presses, the more books they print, the more efficient that printing job becomes. This is because they need to set up the printer for each new book, including creating those offset plates we mentioned, aligning details, arranging the stock to print on large sheets, cutting them down into signatures (bundles of paper), collating them into the right order, and binding them together. If you do all that labour for a single book, there’s a lot of time and a lot of wastage (think of all that extra paper that gets trimmed off!). But if you do all that set up, and then print a thousand books, the cost of that labour and the planning on how to best use the materials becomes more and more minimized when spread out over a thousand copies. This means that if we compare pricing for that same 288-page novel at 1000 units, the POD cost is $11,140 but the offset cost drops to about $6.72 a book, or only $6,720.
Scale
The other challenge with printing at scale is storage. Sure, it might become more cost-effective to get a custom print run of 1000 books, but where will you keep them? It’s not just a matter of squeezing boxes into every cranny of your house; if you tuck them into the kitchen or bathroom, the humidity of those rooms can actually damage your books!
Traditional publishers rely on their existing relationships with bookstores and media outlets to be ready to stock and sell their books as soon as they’re printed. Release dates are crucial, and often the success of the book hinges on whether they sell enough copies in the first weeks to rank on bestseller lists. Unsold copies are managed to be marked down, or returned and destroyed, on certain pre-set schedules. Shelf space is valuable; if a book isn’t selling fast enough, bookstores will give that space to another book. The returns are shipped back to the printer on the author’s dime (through return insurance or deducted royalties), and those copies are mulched.
Most self-published authors don’t have the clout of traditional publishing houses and therefore need to manage all of these aspects personally, which usually means a smaller reach or a longer timeline. They might need to rent storage space in a suitably climate-controlled warehouse, or manage book returns, or supply bookstores directly on consignment.
With a publishing partner like FriesenPress, you don’t have to choose only one printing option. Our network of distribution partners relies on the POD model to deliver your book to over 50,000 retailers. But because we’re also part of Friesens, an award-winning printer with offset and custom printing options, you can have your affordable POD edition and your fancy custom print edition to sell at your signing events, too!
