Found some new things, took some things off The Little Store.
So far, I've found one completely reliable ad site: Project Wonderful
I've found one absolutely reliable Print-on-demand company, that pays every single month, and passes along all savings in economies of scale: Lulu.com This is also my site for ebooks and downloads.
I only work with Booksurge because Amazon signed a contract with them for POD delivery and no one else, and they allow black-and-white and color pages in the same book.
I've found one reliable posting -- but not very good at the paying -- site: Webcomicsnation.com
I'll list anything else that's good if I find it.
My model for sending customers and retailers through a site, complete with ads, printing, shipping and free shopping cart: The Little Store.
Got questions? Just email me.
3 comments:
Those who set up to give advice to others should make sure they have the facts themselves.
Amazon doesn't have a contract with Booksurge. Amazon has OWNED Booksurge since 2004, and likely purchased it with the long-term goal of doing what it finally announced it would this past spring.
Which is to utilize print-on-demand technology as it was always intended: print books ordered online in their warehouses for immediate shipment instead of having to stock copies on shelves. To that end, they now require those using digital printing sign a contract with them--via their printing affiliate, Booksurge.
Furthermore, your post implies that Booksurge is somehow less prompt in payment than Lulu. I have no experience with the latter, but considerable with the former and their payments, as are all those coming from Amazon, are invariably prompt.
See? They still have the warehouses -- and warehouses and inventory are one of the very things POD should work without. It causes more shipping, more time, more expense for any customer.
Own, sign a contract with -- either way, Amazon is going to be using only ONE print-on-demand company -- so Amazon becomes the only POD printer you can work with on Amazon. All Amazon did was build another narrow gateway, instead of opening up the whole market. Amazon ceased to be a book catalog, and now becomes a printer.
They are slower than Lulu in delivery of BOOKS, and they often deliver poorly-printed or glued books. They WILL re-deliver to a publisher, or to a distributor if a publisher requests it -- but how does that help a customer? How does redelivery of product keep prices down for customers?
I use BOTH Booksurge and Lulu. Customers can go right onto Lulu and buy for little over wholesale. A book customer CAN't with Booksurge.
This is not how POD is supposed to work.
As a customer and not a self-publisher, I have to agree that Lulu's products are far superior to Booksurge's, especially in binding (the glue is always splattered hither thither along the spine and the pages detach with far too little pressure applied in three out of three Booksurge books I've ordered).
Not to mention the prices: they literally add two-thirds the printing price to the sale price, which places any book over a piddly 200-300 pages far outside an affordable price. (A 600-700 page book - not unheard of at all in mainstream or small press publishing - runs a customer $40-$45!!!)
Technically, owning a subsidiary/affiliate company IS having a contract with them, as it will forever be referred back to if one side claims they still own or are owed more. And what the heck difference does it make anyway? On a cause-and-effect level, how does stating "has a contract with" or "currently owns" make any difference to the argument at hand? None.
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