Fern Reiss (whose five books have been successfully self-published)
points out that using a POD subsidy publisher precludes many sales or
makes them difficult: "by the time you pay the POD/subsidy company, and
factor in the wholesale discount that the middlemen require, the price
points are too narrow for most bookstores or libraries." (Bookstores
generally want a 40% discount and the right to return books.) POD
subsidy editing is substandard and although major review media such as
Publishers Weekly and Library Journal occasionally review self-published
books, they never review POD subsidy books. Digital printing may be a
good idea in some circumstances, but you don't need to "sign with" a POD
subsidy publishing to do digital printing.
What you want to do is arm yourself with enough knowledge that you can
take advantage of POD printing if it makes sense for you, but not if it
doesn't. One way to use it, for example, to create an early version of a
book to test on readers, get reactions, and then improve the book (it's
like asking people to read a manuscript, but making it more readable
and portable for them). Maybe do this more than once. Then use POD to
create a test run of the book. Then, if the book seems to have
potential, do a regular print run with an offset press. Be sure to
protect your rights and weigh the economics of each approach.
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