This page includes the following things:

- Links to a series of articles dealing with a number of issues that should probably be considered before choosing a POD publisher.
- A head to head comparison of the services and fees of a number of publishers. The information presented here links to a more detailed review of the srevices provided by each publisher.
- My personal choices of the best and worst deals when it comes to POD publishers, with an explanation of how they got there.

You may notice that some publishers are marked with a 2+2=5 warning. This means that something, somewhere in the publisher's page doesn't add up (usually with the contract). These instances are explained in the publisher's specific review. Those reviews also include links to the publishers' sites.

Most of the articles presented here have been edited, expanded and updated, and they were compiled as a book. A number of articles dealing with subjects such as e-books, books that are likely to benefit from the use of POD technology, self-editing, copyright, cover design and interior layout among others are exclusive to the book. The unedited verisons of the articles that were originally featured here remain available, and new articles will continue to be added to this site.
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POD related articles
What is POD?	A brief introduction to Print-on-Demand.
Is POD for me?	A sort of "User's Guide" that may help you evaluate the pros and cons of using this new technology, and it will also give you a clear idea of what to look for when choosing a specific publisher.
Best deals, side by side	A direct comparison of the four top rated publishers in this guide together with an explanation of their pros and cons.
Royalties, the "R" Word	This will help you understand and compare the different systems used by publishers to describe what you can expect when it comes to royalties
Fee or Free?	An article in which I explain what are the pros and cons of paying a fee.
Beware Treacherous Clauses Ahead	Attempts to explain some of those dark clauses you may find lurking in some publisher's contracts (those that have earned them a 2+2=5 warning here).
Great Expectations, Big Disappointments	A few warnings about unrealistic expectations and misleading advertisement relating to POD. If you are looking for a positive outlook, you won't find it here, but it may save you a disappointment
From the Press to the Reader	An extremely oversimplified comparison of how traditionally published books, and POD published books are marketed.
Measuring a Publisher's Current Health	A few tips that may help you determine a publisher's current "health" at any given time.
Library of Congress 101	A quick overview of how the Library of Congress works.
The Bouncing Numbers of Sales Rankings	An explanation of how the sales ranking systems of major online retailers are supposed to work.
POD Publisher or Self-publishing?	An analysis of the pros and cons of self-publishing when compared with hiring a POD publisher, as well as some suggestions on when it could be described as a good or bad idea.
Balancing a Promotional Budget	A very simple introduction to what it takes to organize a promotional budget intended to help you figure out what your real costs are likely to be.
Should Your Book Be Returnable?	A quick look at the pros and cons of returnability within the context of POD.
Beware of...	A list of things that may be trouble when it comes to choosing a POD publisher.
Do's and Don't's 101	A guide to dealing with a POD publishers before and after you sign that contract.
Glossary	An overview of some technical and not so technical terms that may seem daunting to those approaching a POD publisher's site for the first time.
POD-FAQ	Some questions that keep popping up are addressed here.
Additional resources
Web Design	A series of articles on web design that were written with authors in mind.
	The Author's Pack, an affordable design package intended for self-published and POD published authors.
POD Forums	The forums are back and better than ever!!!
POD Links	Direct links to the publishers' sites.

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And the publishers are:
Publisher	Manuscript Selection	Kind of Contract	Distribution	Price range*	Royalties & Discounts
AuthorHouse was 1stBooks Library	No	Non-exclusive 2+2=5	Through their site and on-line retailers mostly.	$698.00, plus lots of extras.	Royalties range between 5-15% on external sales, and between 10-50% on direct sales. Discount equals royalties on direct sales.
Authors Online	No	Unknown 2+2=5?	Through their site and on-line retailers mostly.	£550.00 or £1,292.50 plus extras (non EU residents pay only £468.00 or £1,100.00)	Royalties are 60% of net receipts. Authors can purchase their books paying printing costs + 25% of retail price.
Aventine Press	Limited (basic quality standards)	Non-exclusive	Through on-line retailers mostly.	$349.00 plus extras.	Royalties are 80% of net receipts, authors can purchase their book paying printing costs plus 10%.
BiblioBooks	No	Non-exclusive	Through their site and some on-line retailers mostly.	$1,450.00 plus extras.	Royalties are 20% on direct sales and 10% on external sales. Authors can buy their books paying the wholesale price (lots of at least 10)
BookBooters	As of July 2003 this company has suspended its publishing activities.
Booklocker	Yes	Non-exclusive	Through their site and on-line retailers mostly.	$217.00 plus extras	35% of the list price when bought through their site. 35% basic discount. Royalties on books sold through third parties are 15% of list price.
BookPublisher	No	Non-exclusive	Through their site and on-line retailers mostly.	Quotes are calculated on a case by case basis. On average they range between $2,000.00 and $4,000.00 for an average length book	20% of sales proceed. 40% author's discount.
BookSurge Publishing was Global Book Publisher was GreatUnpublished	No	Non-exclusive 2+2=5	Through Booksurge.com and a few online retailers (and even this is a complicated affair)	$498.00 plus extras unless you can provide a ready to print PDF.	25% of retail price on all books sold through their website and 10% of retail price as listed on their website for external sales. Basic authors' discount is 30%.
Cork Hill Press	No	Non-exclusive	Through their site and on-line retailers mostly.	$500.00 plus extras	Royalties are 10% on external sales, 30% on direct sales. Basic author's discount is 40%.
eBook Stand	No	Non-exclusive	Through their site and on-line retailers mostly.	Between $499.00 and $1,179.00 plus extras (depends on page count)	Royalties are 30% on direct sales and 15% on external sales. Authors can purchase copies of their books paying the wholesale price.
Equilibrium Books	Yes	Non-exclusive	Through their site and some local efforts mostly (in Australia)	AUD $169.00/ AUD $229.00 depending on word count (US $133.00/180.00 approx.). Fee-free publishing by purchasing 25 copies available.	13.5% of net sale price. Author's discount is 27.5% of retail price (plus royalties).
	This publisher is not accepting submissions for the time being.
FirstPublish	This publisher is now officially gone, and its site has disappeared.
Foremost Press a.k.a. Action Tales	Yes	Non-exclusive	Through their site and on-line retailers mostly.	$197.00 plus some mandatory extras for a real world total of about $800.00.	Royalties are 20% in direct sales and 10% on external sales. Author's discount is 50% of retail price.
Golden Pillar Publishing	No	Exclusive 2+2=5	Through their site and on-line retailers mostly.	$500.00, plus extras.	70% of net receipts.
				$1,500.00, plus extras.	80% of net receipts.
				$3,500.00, plus extras	90% of net receipts.
Gom Publishing	Yes	Non-exclusive	Through on-line retailers mostly	$499.00	10% of retail price. Author's discount is 55% of retail price.
			Through their site and on-line retailers mostly.	$899.00
	This publisher is not accepting submissions for the time being.
Heliographica	Yes	Non-exclusive	Through their site (?) and on-line retailers mostly.	$299.00/$499.00 plus extras depending on the program	Royalties are 10% of retail price on external sales and 35% of retail price on direct sales. Author's discount is 50%
Inkwater Press a.k.a. First Books	No	Unknown 2+2=5	Through their site and online retailers mostly.	$899.00 plus extras	Royalties are 50% of net receipts, basic discount is 40% of retail price.
Indy Publish	For all intents and purposes this publisher is dead. They have been under a moratorium since March 2001. No new books have been released in that period. Their site remains unchanged but that is likely to change if they ever emerge from this moratorium.
Infinity Publishing	No	Non-exclusive	Through their site and some online retailers mostly. Distribution via Ingram available for an additional $95.00.	$499.00 plus extras	20% of retail price on retail sales, 10% of wholesale price on wholesale sales (they reserve the right to set the wholesale price).Author's discount is 40% plus wholesale royalties.
InstaBook	No	n/a	n/a	$150.00 (this fee includes ten copies of your book)	You pay only your printing costs.
	It is important to remember that this is a printer, not a publisher. It has been included here as a reference for those publishers that enable you to buy your book paying only your printing costs.
iUniverse	No	Non-exclusive	Through their site and on-line retailers mostly.	$459.00 plus extras	20% of sales proceed. 20% basic author's discount.
Llumina Press	Yes	Non-exclusive	Through their site and on-line retailers mostly.	Paperback $599.00	Royalties are 10% on external sales, 30% on direct sales. Basic author's discount is 30%.
				Hardcover $659.00
				Paperback & Hardcover $799.00
Lulu	No	Non-exclusive	Through their site only.	$34.95	Royalties are 80% of net receipts.
			Through their site and on-line retailers mostly.	$149.95
Outskirts Press	Unknown	Non-exclusive	Through their site and on-line retailers mostly.	$399.00 plus extras.	Royalties are determined by the author by choosing an amount on top of a base price. Authors can purchase copies of their book paying only the base price.
PageFree	No	Non-exclusive	Through their site and on-line retailers mostly.	From $299.00 to $419.00 depending on your word count, plus extras.	Royalties are 75% of profits. Author sets the bookstores' discount.
Pleasant Word	Christian books only	Non-exclusive 2+2=5	None	$599.00	Royalties are 22-30% of net receipts (depending on the package), author's discount ranges from 32% to 62% depending on the package (discount increases by 10% with each package).
			Through online retailers.	$899.00
			Through their site, online retailers and Christian retailers as well as through their catalog	$1,299.00
				$1699.00.
Prairie View Publishing	Yes	Non-exclusive 2+2=5	Through on-line retailers mostly.	$600.00 plus extras	Royalties are 40% of net receipts. Author's discount is 40%
Protea Publishing	No	Non-xclusive 2+2=5	Through their site and on-line retailers mostly.	"Free" but you have to buy a number of copies of your book (the fee varies depending on the number of copies and the book's page count)	Royalties are 50% of net receipts, and the author's discount is 50%.
Trafford	No	Non-exclusive	None	$699.00	60% of gross margin. The author can buy his/her book paying only the printing cost (but they charge a $10.00 handling & packaging fee for orders of fewer than 50 copies).
			Their site	$999.00
			Through their site and on-line retailers mostly.	$1,399.00
Universal Publishers	Technical books only	Non-exclusive	Through their site and on-line retailers mostly.	$495.00, plus extras.	20% on books sold through other channels, 40% on books sold through their site, after the sale of the first three books on any calendar quarter. Authors receive a 40% discount.
Unlimited Publishing	Yes, for unpublished works	Exclusive 2+2=5	Through their site and on-line retailers mostly.	$500.00 plus layout fee (for a total close to $900.00)	50% of net revenues, authors can buy their books paying only printing costs plus an administrative fee.
VirtualBookworm	Yes	Non-exclusive	Through their site and on-line retailers mostly.	Softcover $360.00, plus extras (or minus $100.00).	50% of net receipts. Authors get a 30% discount.
				Hardcover $430.00, plus extras (or minus $100.00).
				Combo $590.00, plus extras (or minus $100.00).
Wide Thinker Books	No	Exclusive 2+2=5	Through their site and on-line retailers mostly.	$399.00 ($299.00 for books under 40 pages)	10% of retail price on external sales, 20% on direct sales. Basic author's discount is 30%.
	This publisher seems to be dead. Most links appear to be broken.
WingSpan Press	Yes	Non-exclusive	Through online retailers mostly.	$399.00 plus extras	Royalties are 100%, authors can purchase copies of their book paying only printing costs.
The Writers' Collective	As of February 2005 this company no longer offers POD services, insisting instead on authors paying for an offset print-run of several thousand copies and with a price estimate approaching $20,000.00. In spite of the fact that this no longer qualifies as a POD publisher I believe a warning is warranted concerning the fact that while the information at their site tries to dazzle you with an awful lot of numbers, the logic behind their reasoning is flawed and some of their assertions are downright ridiculous .
WritersWorld	No?	Unknown 2+2=5	Through on-line retailers.	£750.00 or £1,150.00 plus extras.	Royalties are 100% minus £1.00 per copy. Authors can buy their book paying printing costs plus 15% of retail price.
Xlibris	No	Non-exclusive	Through their site and on-line retailers mostly.	$500.00, plus extras.	Royalties are 10% on books sold through other channels, and 25% on direct sales. Authors get a 40% discount on paperbacks and a 35% discount on hardcovers.
				$900.00, plus extras.
				$1,600.00, plus extras.
Xulon Press	Christian books only	Non-exclusive 2+2=5	Through their site and on-line retailers mostly.	$999.00	Royalties are 20-30% of something (not entirely clear as to what, discoun depends on the package), author's discount ranges from 20% to 50% depending on the package (discount increases by 10% with each package).
				$1,499.00
			Through their site, on-line retailers,their catalogue and their stand at their CBA.	$2,199.00
YourBookPublisher	No	Non-exclusive 2+2=5?	On-line retailers mostly.	Production plan: $3.50 per page of the final book ($1,050.00 for a 300 pages book).	15% of retail price. Authors get a 50% discount when ordering more than 10 copies.
	Yes			Custom plan: Production plan plus lots of extras. A $150.00 reading fee applies (this fee is refundable if you sign a contract).

* For the most part, the prices listed here represent the least expensive option by each one of these publishers. More expensive (and comprehensive) packages may or may not be available.
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"Marrying" a POD publisher?
4 better deals (best first)
Publisher	Why are they here
VirtualBookworm	They screen manuscripts, a reasonable setup fee, good distribution, offer a lot of flexibility and a fair contract, the only problem is that their author's discount is a little low. This is the only publisher that actually met all of the criteria outlined in the "What to look for" section of the Is POD for me? guide.
Llumina Press	Their setup fee is a moderately expensive (as it relates to their royalties, they are affordable in terms of dollars and cents), but they screen manuscripts, they have good distribution and a fair contract.
PageFree	A publisher that doesn't screen manuscripts but gives authors a great deal of control over the whole project and has a lot of flexibility when it comes to format and marketing. The main problem has to do with a basic package that may be a little toobare bones for some authors' needs.
Aventine Press	They don't screen manuscripts, don't offer a choice when it comes to trim size, authors have little control over a couple of aspects and readers can't buy the books directly from the publisher's site, but they are reasonably priced, they offer great royalties, you can buy copies of your own book paying little more than printing costs, they have good distribution and their books seem to have a competitive retail price.
4 worse deals (worst first)
Publisher	Why are they here
The Writers' Collective	As of February 2005 this company no longer offers POD services, insisting instead on authors paying for an offset print-run of several thousand copies and with a price estimate approaching $20,000.00. In spite of the fact that this no longer qualifies as a POD publisher I believe a warning is warranted concerning the fact that while the information at their site tries to dazzle you with an awful lot of numbers, the logic behind their reasoning is flawed and some of their assertions are downright ridiculous .
Protea Publishing	They offer good royalties, but there are some pretty serious problems with their contract (if you can call it a contract) and some of their retail prices are downright ridiculous (their longest book, at 728 pages, has a minimum retail price of $59.90... and that's a paperback)
BookPublisher	They will work with the authors to publish works that have a complicated layout requirements, but they are extremely expensive and they offer very low royalties.
Booksurge Publishing was Global Book Publisher was GreatUnpublished	This publisher used to be GreatUnpublished, then in a matter of months it became first Global Book Publisher and now BookSurge Publishing, these frequent name changes can be an extremely troubling sign. They are the most affordable option if you can supply a ready to print PDF but they have limited distribution options, an unfair contract and their author's discount is extremely low for a company that offers few distribution options. Their regular fees are not particularly attractive unless you can provide your own layout.

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A fair warning, the information presented here was gathered from the publishers' sites. It tells you what each one of them has to offer,what kinds of fees they charge, which are their distribution channels and how their contracts work. This guide does not take into account the quality of the finished product (though for the most part there are no major differences in that regard, go to the FAQ section to understand why), or whether or not some authors have had bad experiences with them.

©Clea Saal, 2001-2005. All rights reserved
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