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Writers have always wanted their creations to reach a wider audience. The printed word has been a great medium and has inspired authors to publish their creations. From the ancient times of bhoj-patra to the sophisticated offset and laser printers and modern day digital e-books, publishing has come a long way.

Traditionally, books have been published only through brick-and-mortar publishing channels. Modern technology, however, has ushered in a revolutionary new concept of self-publishing. And the technology thats driving this concept ahead is called print on demand (POD).

The Idea Behind
POD is not new in the digital world. Since 2003, a website called cafepress.com has enabled users to order customized coffee mugs, posters, t-shirts, and so on. The fun part is that you can even use your own designs and there is no minimum or maximum cap for order quantity. About three years ago, a new dimension got added to this technologyknown as self-publishingthat enabled ordinary writers to publish their work.

During 2006, when the popularity of photo sharing sites like Flickr was at its peak, websites such as Blurb came in with services that could convert your photo stream to a glossy coffee table book. Services like Lulu went a step ahead and started offering self-published books through on-demand publishing. And this step paid off. Last year alone, 98,000 books were published by Lulu using POD. Recently, the big daddy of online book selling, Amazon has also started its own self-publishing service through its subsidiary, CreateSpace.

Indian companies are also trying to catch up fast. As of now, CinnamonTeal (established in August 2007 by Goa based couple Quennie and Leonard Fernandes), and Pothi.com (established in July 2008 by IITian duo Jaya Jha and Abhaya Agarwal) are leading the pack. There are other players like DepotIndia.in, who impose some restrictions on the minimum number of copies that they can be ordered.

Jaya Jha says that the POD technology is being used extensively for corporate printing (variable data printing, short-run brochure printing, etc) and for personal gifts segment (poster, mug, t-shirt printing), but in book publishing it is still in an experimental phase. The potential is certainly huge, but the stakeholders in the system have to come together and accept the changes in the workflow it demands to be able to exploit this technology to the fullest. This includes everyone from the printers, publishers, authors, distributors, and retailers, she says. Leonard Fernandes is also very optimistic about the future of POD in India. The market potential is huge when one considers that about 80,000 titles are published in India by mainstream publishers and the industry is growing at a rate of about 10-12%. When one considers the scope of the application of POD in regional languages, the potential is enormous, he says.

In traditional publishing, books are printed in an estimated quantity and stored by the publishers, distributors and retailers. In POD, on the contrary, the digital copy of the publication is stored in a computer along with its design, layout and content and its printed and dispatched whenever the publication is ordered. Using POD its affordable to even print a single copy. The best part is, there are no inventory to manage and no headache of keeping track of unsold copies. A major reason behind the growing popularity of POD is the growing awareness on environmental problems associated with ruthless printing.

Vanity Affair?
If you are an author and wish to get your work published, you will first have to search a publisher who would be interested in your work, and if you are lucky enough, also pay you a royalty. Not surprising, a lot of authors fund publishers to get their work published. Obviously, you would find it hard to market such books; the best you can do is distribute the copies to your friends and reviewers. Self-publishing makes this task painless and you can achieve similar results without spending a fortune. If you know how to operate a computer, then you can even save on the cost of typing and composing. Your work can be ordered by anyone with an Internet connection. Websites like Pothi.com help you track the sales of your book, and the royalty you earn. There are also discounts on bulk and self-purchase.

But doesnt that make self-publishing vanity publishing? Fernandes explains the difference, We have never asked authors to print 500 books and go market them. We ask authors to print just five books (or may be even lesser) at a go for private circulation, or to have the books reviewed and then let the market determine the demand. We are still in talks with three distributors for sales in physical bookstores, but presently we do list the books online on our bookstore books.dogearsetc.com and on Indiaplaza.com. Jha clarifies that POD is not for mass markets. POD is meant for niche publications and thats where it works best. And, as is the case with any product, those who are able to market are able to sell. Passive authors are not able to sell, she informs.

And one could find proofs of POD slowly moving from vanity publication to mainstream publication as well. Cambridge University Press sold 10,000 titles recently using Lightning Source. Even big publishers nowadays consider POD for printing old, out-of-print books. The newer publishers, on the other hand, prefer POD technology to evade the high costs associated with traditional printing, warehousing and unsold books.

Who Should POD?
If self-publishing is no more vanity publishing, then what kind of authors go for it? A lot of people coming to our website have absolutely no idea about how to go about publishing their books. They recognize the value add POD (and our whole platform) brings to self. This leads to lower upfront investment, no headaches of inventory management, shipping, collecting payments, etc. POD is also suitable for people looking for publishing books as memorabilia. Personalized books form very attractive and value-for-money gifts. Books of collections of writings are also popular, says Jha.

Fernandes narrates the case of a college in Pune that had a class size of four and an ever-changing syllabus. They chose POD for their textbooks so that they could print only four copies and change them the next year if need be, he says. Then, there was one gentleman from Bengaluru who published his grandfathers poems for circulation within his family, he adds. Both Jha and Fernandes mention that POD can be used to test the market and get feedback before hitting the market with bulk production.

Marketing Dynamics
When you are the publisher of your book the onus of marketing the work lies on your head too. Fernandes suggests, There is no point marketing a book in places where its not related to. For example, a souvenir for an alumni meet cannot possibly be sold outside the alumni circle. POD publishers should create awareness about the concept of POD and be imaginative about where this concept can be applied, Jha believes that the best place to market POD books is online. The book should be an extension of authors online presence through blogs, social networks and other social media outlets. He has to pique readers curiosity so that they buy the book. It is important to communicate clearly as to what this new book will give them which they did not have earlier, she says.

Self-publishing through POD technology is an attractive option gaining ground among authors, not only in English, but in Hindi and regional languages as well. It opens new doors for budding authors who are unable to find publishers, and for writers who only want to reach out to a close circle of readers.

Ravishankar Shrivastava and Debashish Chakrabarty
The authors are freelance writers
maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in

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