Before I get into my post today, I want to send out a Hooray and Congratulations to my friend Tamara. She recently had something happen to her that every author dreams about: an agent read one of her short stories and contacted her to see if she had a novel or collection. AWESOME! She deserves it, of course, and I couldn't be happier for her. I'm also a little jealous, but I'll get over it!
OK, on with my post. As I mentioned yesterday, I was reading a discussion on the differences between traditional publishing and POD publishing. One individual was saying that POD is an alternative to traditional publishing because it isn't run by the big houses but by indie publishers, which gives authors another avenue to get their work out to readers. Another was arguing that POD publishing was just a step above self-publishing and repulsive to the rest of the industry. I think that both arguers had great points, and it got me to thinking about POD. My first novel, Coming From Nowhere, was published by a small press as a POD. I have nothing against them, but I would, some day, like to be on shelves of bookstores. BUT, with the way the industry is changing, who knows what the future will hold. POD publishers don't have as much risk as large publishing houses because they don't tie their money up in thousands of books that might not sell. But unlike the major houses, they don't have shelf space in bookstores.
That's not to say that indie publishers don't have risk, they do, but it's different than big publishers. They try to minimize that risk by printing on demand. Part of the argument was that reviewers like the New York Times won't look at POD books, but I think that is changing. It has to since so many people are foregoing the traditional route, especially when fiction is such a hard sell. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the future.