Publishing houses constitute what's called traditional publishing. In our last chapter, I showed you examples of modern authors who defied the rules set by these hallowed institutions.

I mean, who'd want to subject their work to the scissors of an editor, be paid 5% or less of royalties, and then see their magnum opus languish in an obscure corner of a bookstore? Meanwhile, indie authors decide exactly what gets published – from front cover to back cover and including all the words between them – and they get paid up to 70% of their e-book royalties. Moreover, by 2016, 27% of books on Amazon's bestseller list came from indie authors*! Now, that's a feat.

*Note: This stat came from PublishDrive's article titled "Self-publishing Success Stories." 

Indie authors basically decided they would take the wheel of publication in their own hands and drive everything themselves. Simultaneous with the rise of connectivity via smartphones and online stores like Amazon, it was like indie authors gained superpowers. Almost overnight, they got the keys to an untapped market of hungry readers and the means to deliver their works to nearly every corner of the world from the comfort of their couch.

The superpower that twenty-first-century indie authors gained was: POD – another jargon from the esoteric world of publishing. It stands for Print on Demand. 

That's right, Dr. Stephen Strange. There are so many things around you you're not aware of. When you enter a bookstore, you only see through the eyes of a customer. You see the vast choices of literary treats neatly arranged on bookshelves. You see their cover, their spine, their categories; some on the center table, others on the top or bottom shelf where few readers venture. But what you don't see is space – the absence of a book – alternate possibilities and risks. 

What risk? you might ask. I hardly see any risk on the part of the bookstore or publishing company, especially if they're big.

Space in any store or any business for that matter must always be maximized. This means that by deciding to place a certain book at a certain spot, you're actually denying another book the same exposure, which could potentially lead to a loss of profit. What if the customer who just walked in actually preferred a title that didn't see the light of publication? Worse, what would happen to all the printed-out, cut and bound books if nobody bought them?

Well, you know what the book priest says:

Ashes to ashes, pulp to pulp.

What I'm trying to say is, as harsh as it sounds, writing isn't only all art. There's also a business side to it, albeit the dirty or dark side that few authors wanna hear. Publishing a certain title is an investment and a book that won't sell, well, that's what we call a bad investment.

When POD (Print-on-Demand) Publishing came, it just blew this whole predicament right out of the water. With the latest in book printing technology (gosh I sound like an infomercial), a perfectly-bound, high-quality book can be produced between 5 and 20 minutes depending on the number of pages. So, basically, you don't need to stock a whole store of stapled organic wood-stuff on the off-chance that they'd get sold out. You can now supply your imaginary warehouse with your goodies one by one, only as orders come. And if you decide to trade in e-books then, Holy Guacamole, the sky's the limit. Or the Data Cloud is, whatever.

This business model isn't really the greatest invention since pants. Amazon and POD companies like Lulu and CreateSpace (acquired by Amazon) have been doing it for years. And certain authors, whether indie, traditional or hybrid, have been earning boatloads of money riding on this click-and-mortar wave. 

But it hasn't been all rainbows and butterflies.

Up-next: I'll be talking about current issues bugging independent publishing.

Stay Phenomenal!

****

I'll try to update this story every day (whoa!)

But did you know? Aside from following me here on WP, you can also keep updated with me on my other social media channels. Go ahead and add me on:

FB: www.facebook/phenomenalpen

Twitter: @phenomenal_pen

Instagram: @phenomenalpen

See you there!