Should You Care About POD?

摘要

Whether POD stands for print on demand or publish on demand, it may be part of your future—and it might be part of your present, even without your knowledge. I've been writing about POD (both forms) for a decade or more and have used the second form for more than a dozen books since 2007. My May 2008 ONLINE column, "Publishing It Yourself: Experiences With PoD," discussed some of my early experiences with POD. That discussion—almost all of it still relevant, including the names of the two "pure plays" in POD self-publishing, Lulu and CreateSpace—was primarily from my perspective as a writer and self-publisher. This time around, I note other aspects of POD, including why you (as a reader and librarian) should care.