IN THE FUTURE OF PUBLISHING, I predict that nearly all books other than sure-fire bestsellers will start as POD books, initially printed in limited quantities, until actual commercial appeal is proven. Those that “Grow Legs” (demonstrate significant public demand) will then be printed in quantities of thousands. Over time, as books grow old, they’ll return to POD production instead of lapsing out-of-print, and stay in circulation indefinitely.
Note that this is nearly the same "life cycle" of a book that we see today… birth, maturity, and senescence … but with two important differences: avoiding costly overprinting at birth, and permitting indefinite “retirement” in old age, but not death.
This pattern is different today, as publishers revive worthwhile older books using POD for the first time. Some pose special challenges in the transition from conventional large-volume printing to one-at-a-time POD production. This report highlights just a handful of examples. Each case demonstrates different challenges, but they all have one thing in common: the kind of quality that justifies extra effort to keep a book alive.
Sure, publishing is a business, and any publisher who wants to make a profit must look at the bottom line. But let’s be frank: most publishers are in the business because we love books. The good news is that nearly any book that deserves a publisher's affection can probably show a profit.
Think of it this way: as a publisher of an older book, you've already invested thousands of dollars in acquisition, editorial, typesetting and layout, and other fixed costs. Perhaps your book now sells only a few hundred copies per year, not enough to justify printing thousands more. But what if you could keep it in print forever, regardless of volume, for an additional $1,000 or so? The following case histories from Unlimited Publishing LLC ("UP") illustrate the kind of win-win situation that makes it possible to keep worthy books in print profitably, whether in large quantities or small.
Let the Tail Go with the Hide
by Teresa Williams Irvin, with an introduction by Tom Lea, acclaimed western artist and author of The Wonderful Country and The Brave Bulls
In 1984, Mangan Books published the biography of Ben F. Williams, a seminal figure in the history of the American West. It was a leather-bound showpiece, with a real gold peso on the cover of each book, and sold out within a few years. (See slide.)
"I’ve already started to read it, and am enjoying it immensely," said Ronald Reagan in 1985. "Williams brings to the fore the vividness of life in a rough-and-tumble time with color, humor, and drama," wrote The Arizona Republic.
Long after the original sold out, the author continued to receive requests from teachers, students, librarians and researchers, year after year, because the book holds enduring interest in the history of the American southwest.
Unfortunately, copies of the first edition were hard to find (and very expensive, thanks to the gold peso on the cover!) until UP acquired the rights to release a POD edition in 2001.
The first production challenge was to preserve the original book’s look and feel, while making the POD edition affordable. The book block (interior text) could be scanned to retain Mangan’s layout… but the book was filled with halftones of historical photos that could not be scanned without serious degradation, so it was necessary to go back to the original negatives… which were fortunately available almost 20 years later. (See slide.)
Happily, line art (images entirely in black and white, without intermediate shades of grey) reproduces well in POD with toner in lieu of ink, and could be preserved intact. For example, see acclaimed artist Tom Lea’s rendering of the protagonist’s wife on page 102:
For many more examples from this book of what works --and what doesn't-- using POD for halftones, see:
http://www.unlimitedpublishing.com/bw.htm
Or, for a more technical discussion of POD pre-press, see the following primer by the designer of the POD edition, Charles King, arguably the world's leading POD pre-press specialist:
http://www.ckmm.com/dpi
In spite of the special challenges involved in re-purposing Let the Tail Go With the Hide for POD production, the 2001 edition from UP was released with a budget barely over $1,000. The new POD edition can now remain publicly available almost indefinitely, at a modest price of $15.99, even in small quantities, year after year.
UP is proud to bring back many venerable books that fell out of print between 1980 and 2000. The following case histories further illustrate the challenges, and benefits, of keeping worthy books in print.
Simulating Sex: Aesthetic Representations of Erotic Activity
by Steve Bachmann, co-published with The New Orleans Art Review
The New Orleans Art Review is a long established journal of fine art criticism, which has published scores of incisive and often provocative periodicals over the years.
In 2002, its editors decided to compile a collection of their best material in more lasting book form. As a non-profit enterprise, NOAR needed a challenging combination of high quality, low cost and longevity.
The first production obstacle arose in converting from aging periodicals dating from the 1980s to modern book format. The original data files, and even mechanicals, were lost long ago. Only a handful of printed copies survived. Additionally, the trim size would change from 8.5x11” magazine format to a 6x9” trade paperback, while maintaining aesthetic continuity, color scheme, etc. (See slides.)
To solve these problems, the selected articles were scanned from the old editions, processed with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software, and output in modern word processing format. Next, the output files were edited to correct OCR problems (such as confusion between the capital letter 'S' and the numeral '5') and finally a contemporary book design was executed with Adobe InDesign.
In spite of production challenges, Simulating Sex: Aesthetic Representations of Erotic Activity was released as a POD paperback with a budget well under $1000, yet yielded a quality book design, and practically indefinite public availability, in quantities large or small.
This case history illustrates challenges in preserving legacy content, file conversion issues, and ultimately producing a book that can remain in print for posterity… all within an extremely modest budget.
The Power of Character:
Prominent Americans Talk About Life, Family, Work, Values and More,
by Michael S. Josephson and Wes Hanson
co-published with the Josephson Institute of Ethics
The Power of Character was originally published in hardback by Jossey-Bass (an imprint of John Wiley & Sons) in 1998. It included essays by Harvard’s Alan M. Dershowitz; Daniel Goleman, whose training as a journalist and psychologist powered his Emotional Intelligence to the top of the best seller lists; CBS’s Dan Rather; no-nonsense radio host Dr. Laura Schlessinger; spiritual leader Marianne Williamson, and dozens of other prominent Americans discussing the role of character in work, community and family life.
Edited by Michael S. Josephson, founder of the CHARACTER COUNTS! Initiative, it lapsed out-of-print in 2002, but The Josephson Institute of Ethics continued to receive requests for it, especially from their national network of character development trainers. Demand was consistent but modest, making it impractical to do an offset printing of thousands -- but ideal for POD production.
UP was contacted about co-publishing a POD edition in 2004. Fortunately, robust design files were still available from the former publisher. However, the biographies of contributors needed updating, and the Institute wanted to make an economical paperback available.
Additional production challenges included adding a new introduction, new cover, and preparing a case laminate hardback, in lieu of a dust jacket, for use in schools and libraries. It was also necessary to adjust the photographs of contributors for printing with toner, rather than ink, in order to use POD printing for the new edition.
With a budget of $1,000, UP released a library-quality hardback and paperback late in 2004. Unlike the two previous case histories, this project involved substantial changes in content, as well as production methods. Rather than a goal of preserving an older work for posterity, the objective here was to update the book for a new generation of readers, while keeping pre-press costs remarkably low, and avoiding a large, costly press run.
Summary
In a perfect world, books would migrate seamlessly between conventional offset for printing thousands of books at a time, to digital short methods for hundreds, and POD for printing books one copy at a time. Unfortunately, this is not a perfect world! There are special challenges in working with old (or non-existent) data files, printing with toner rather than ink, and rendering artwork effectively with new printing methods.
Some POD publishers who bring back older books sacrifice quality by ignoring differences in production methods, with predictably marginal results. Yet it is possible to produce quality books with POD at a remarkably reasonable cost. UP is committed to keeping worthwhile books available to readers for years to come, with the kind of professional quality they deserve.
About the Speaker:
Danny O. Snow has been widely quoted about new publishing technologies by broadcast and print media across the nation, including the nationally-syndicated "Ask Heloise" radio program, AP, NRP, UPI, The Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, BookTech Magazine, and many others. An early proponent of e-Books and POD publishing, he is co-author with Dan Poynter of a book titled U-Publish.com: How 'U' Can Compete with the Giants of Publishing and works as a POD book publisher with Unlimited Publishing LLC.
