PRINT-ON-DEMAND
Producing a book used to be an expensive proposition. In order to make the final product affordable to the average reader, you had to manufacture it in mass quantities--and that meant a large publishing house, willing to risk a significant amount of money to print many thousands of copies to keep the per-unit price low. These high production costs were well beyond the range of the typical writer. But technology has changed that with two important innovations.
The first is print-on-demand (POD) technology. No longer do you have to typeset metal plates. Computerized typesetting and high-speed printing and binding techniques now make it possible to produce a single copy of a book--and the typesetting can be stored electronically until the next time a copy of that book is needed. It's still somewhat more expensive to produce a single book this way than tens of thouands at a time at a commercial printing house--but I'm confident that will change in the next few years.
One disadvantage right now is that the books have to be ordered in advance. There isn't the spontaneity of walking into a bookstore, discovering a book, and taking it home that instant to read immediately. There's an inevitable delay between the time you order a book online and when it's delivered. But even that may change. For years I've been hearing tales of POD presses small enough to keep in bookstores, so you can walk in, order your book, and have it ready to go quickly--just like a pizza.
Brick-and-mortar bookstores are dying left and right because of competition with internet outlets like Amazon. This sort of development might save them from extinction. The bookstore woouldn't have to store all those paper copies--just one sample for looking at, and then the sale copy would be printed to order. The stores wouldn't necessarily get smaller; they'd just be able to fit a much vaster selection into the same volume.
Print-on-demand publishing will eventually free the industry from the shackles of one of its greatest inefficiencies--the problem of returns. For decades, bookstore owners have been telling publishers that they must be able to return unsold books for full credit--otherwise, why should they bother stocking books by authors they've never heard of? Just order the known bestsellers, and beginning authors would never have a chance.
Because of returns, publishers must print far more books than they know they're going to sell, and the unsold ones get returned or pulped. A book that sells better than 50% of its print run is considered a marvelous hit. The result is an industry built on inefficiency and incredible waste. POD means that books won't be printed until they're actually bought. With less waste, the price of books may actually go down (or, more likely, just won't go up as fast any more).
I've wondered whether, at least with the few independent bookstores left, the author could arrange a PERSONAL returns policy with the stock he or she has at home.
ReplyDeleteMore authors may also try direct sales online, perhaps sweetening things with an autograph (assuming that means anything if you're not famous).
Sarah, I'm not quite sure I understand the return policy you're suggesting. Who would be doing the returning, and to whom? How would the details work? And who would be paying the postage for the return (always a large consideration)?
ReplyDeleteAs for direct sales, yes, many authors do this, including me. Usually, these are extra copies we've gotten from our publishers after they discontinued the book. Then the author has the problem of storing the copies and advertising them. Some authors band together in co-ops to share the costs and the effort--but so far, despite heroic efforts, this has never managed to cover more than a tiny fraction of the bookselling industry as a whole.