Fwd: NYTimes.com Article: Got a Book in You? More Companies Than Ever Are Willing to Get It Out

[Guest guest]

jprior@... wrote:From: jprior@...

jprior@...

Subject: NYTimes.com Article: Got a Book in You? More Companies Than Ever Are

Willing to Get It Out

Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 08:19:22 -0500 (EST)

This article from NYTimes.com

has been sent to you by jprior@....

FYI

jprior@...

/-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\

THE DREAMERS - NOW PLAYING

Set against the turbulent political backdrop of 1968 France when the

voice of youth was reverberating around Europe, THE DREAMERS is a story

of self-discovery as three students test each other to see just how far

they will go. THE DREAMERS is released uncut with an NC-17 rating.

Watch The Dreamers trailer at: http://www.thedreamers.com

\----------------------------------------------------------/

Got a Book in You? More Companies Than Ever Are Willing to Get It Out

March 1, 2004

By GAYLE FELDMAN

Since September, the nation's second-largest bookseller,

Borders Group, has quietly been conducting an experiment in

six Philadelphia-area stores, not as a bookseller, but as a

publisher.

" It's easy to publish your own book! " the " Borders Personal

Publishing " leaflets proclaim. Pay $4.99. Take home a kit.

Send in your manuscript and $199. A month or so later,

presto. Ten paperback copies of your novel, memoir or

cookbook arrive.

Fork over $499, and you can get the upscale " Professional

Publication " option. Your book gets an International

Standard Book Number, publishing's equivalent of an ID

number and is made available on Borders.com, and the

Philadelphia store makes space on its shelves for five

copies.

Borders is the latest traditional bookseller or publisher

to branch into self-publishing using print-on-demand or

P.O.D. technology. P.O.D., inheritor of the vanity press

and survivor of the dot-com implosion, makes it feasible -

technologically and economically - to produce one copy of a

book.

Unlike e-books, which also appeared in the late 1990's,

P.O.D. self-publishing has developed into a real business,

attracting involvement from the likes of Random House,

& Noble and now Borders.

" We wanted to learn about the market, " said Phil Ollila,

Borders's vice president for book marketing, in explaining

the chain's experiment. The company approached Xlibris,

based in Philadelphia, one of the big three of P.O.D.

self-publishing, together with 1stBooks and iUniverse, all

formed in the late 1990's. Xlibris is 49 percent owned by

Random House Ventures; 1stBooks, based in Bloomington,

Ind., is privately held. & Noble owns 25 percent of

iUniverse, based in Lincoln, Neb., and Warburg Pincus holds

the other 75 percent.

These more established publishing businesses decided to

invest in P.O.D. to diversify and expand their role. " There

was the farm team idea - could we find authors? " said

Sarnoff, the president of Random House Ventures.

" As niches get smaller, is it a model for the future? "

Steve Riggio, the chief executive of & Noble, said,

" Self-publishing, previously viewed as a means of last

resort, is increasingly seen as a first step. "

Thoughts of the future aside, there is the matter of the

current market. The three companies combined have produced

more than 45,000 titles so far, at a cost to authors of

from $459 to $1,900. (Some Borders packages are more

limited, and thus cheaper.)

The real challenge is not to produce books, it is to

achieve all the goals of publishing - to get the books

edited, distributed, noticed and, above all, bought. That

is no easy feat: in the United States, 150,000-160,000 new

titles were published last year, according to R.R. Bowker's

Books in Print. On average, the P.O.D. titles sell just 150

to 175 copies, the companies say. Many authors are happy to

pay for 50 or 100 copies of their magnum opus to give or

sell to family, friends and business contacts. Others,

though, confuse production with publication and end up

disillusioned.

To address that problem, all three companies emphasize

marketing, promotion and publicity options, either bundled

into the packages or sold separately as add-ons.

The majority of sales of self-published books occurs

online. According to Driscoll, iUniverse chief

executive, 40 percent are sold directly to authors and the

other 60 percent move through retail channels.

Feldcamp, the chief executive of Xlibris, like his

colleagues, maintains that book sales " are colossally

important; they are more profitable than the services. " But

the add-ons generate cash and pull in authors.

At iUniverse, the " Star " program is another important hook.

If a title sells more than 500 copies its first year, the

company may invest in marketing the book and invite the

author to become a Star.

But of iUniverse's 17,000 published titles, the authors of

only 84 have been chosen as Stars, and only a half-dozen

have made it to & Noble store shelves.

An exceptional seller is a book like " The Sweater Letter,''

a true-crime story from iUniverse, which has sold about

10,000 copies. Its author, Dave Distel, who worked for The

Los Angeles Times for 23 years, said he " didn't want to go

through the song and dance " of finding an agent and

publisher. But he said he was " unaware of the stigma "

associated with self-publishing and did not understand that

booksellers expect discounts and also expect to return

unsold copies. iUniverse worked with him, and Mr. Distel

said he was satisfied.

The fundamental difference between P.O.D. publishers and

old-style vanity and subsidy presses is cost. Traditional

vanity houses like the 55-year-old Vantage Press charge on

average $8,000 to $10,000 - and sometimes as much as

$50,000 - to produce copies that an author then owns.

Subsidy publishers own the copies, but give the author a

" royalty, " actually a rebate, for each one sold.

Last fall, Patty Yoder, who lives on a Vermont sheep farm,

paid Ivy House Publishing $27,900 to subsidize 2,000 color

copies of " The Alphabet of Sheep,'' a 64-page hardcover

with her memories and her 26 handmade hooked rugs depicted

inside. " For years I kept running into a wall looking for

an agent or publisher, " Ms. Yoder said.

It is unlikely, however, that Ms. Yoder will recoup her

investment in the book. For selling about 800 copies of the

book herself, she received only about $7,000 in royalties.

Occasionally, a P.O.D. or other self-published title is

discovered by a traditional house. Philip , dying of

Lou Gehrig's disease, wanted to see his words in print

quickly. He turned to Xlibris, which published several

thousand copies of his memoir, " Learning to Fall: The

Blessings of an Imperfect Life,'' in 2000. The book was

received to critical acclaim, and was republished by Bantam

Books in 2002. Mr. died last July.

Mr. Feldcamp said that conventional publishers had acquired

about 20 Xlibris titles. An iUniverse author, Laurie

Notaro, even made the paperback best-seller list with " The

Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club, " and received a

two-book contract from Random House.

But these are far removed from the experiences of most

authors. The odds are stacked against such books reaching

the shelves of the chains or the attention of news media.

Mr. Riggio of & Noble cautions, " Writers should have

no delusions it's a fast way to get into bookstores. "

Whatever method of self-publishing an author chooses, one

factor is the same: the author is the only one driving the

sales. " The bottom line, " as Ms. Yoder has learned, " is

promoting yourself. When push comes to shove, it's your

money. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/01/technology/01pod.html?ex=1079147162 & ei=1 & en=f0\

693f8a8ee4aebc

---------------------------------

Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine

reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like!

Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy

now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here:

http://www.nytimes.com/ads/nytcirc/index.html

HOW TO ADVERTISE

---------------------------------

For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters

or other creative advertising opportunities with The

New York Times on the Web, please contact

onlinesales@... or visit our online media

kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo

For general information about NYTimes.com, write to

help@....

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

F. Prior jprior@... Chicago, IL 60656-1639

Calendar: http://calendar./j_prior

Cell: 773/230-5825 Fax: 781/459-8592

: 22:36-40 (In case you are curious, Jesus quotes two verses from

Torah: Deut 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18)

[Guest guest]

jprior@... wrote:From: jprior@...

jprior@...

Subject: NYTimes.com Article: Got a Book in You? More Companies Than Ever Are

Willing to Get It Out

Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 08:19:22 -0500 (EST)

This article from NYTimes.com

has been sent to you by jprior@....

FYI

jprior@...

/-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\

THE DREAMERS - NOW PLAYING

Set against the turbulent political backdrop of 1968 France when the

voice of youth was reverberating around Europe, THE DREAMERS is a story

of self-discovery as three students test each other to see just how far

they will go. THE DREAMERS is released uncut with an NC-17 rating.

Watch The Dreamers trailer at: http://www.thedreamers.com

\----------------------------------------------------------/

Got a Book in You? More Companies Than Ever Are Willing to Get It Out

March 1, 2004

By GAYLE FELDMAN

Since September, the nation's second-largest bookseller,

Borders Group, has quietly been conducting an experiment in

six Philadelphia-area stores, not as a bookseller, but as a

publisher.

" It's easy to publish your own book! " the " Borders Personal

Publishing " leaflets proclaim. Pay $4.99. Take home a kit.

Send in your manuscript and $199. A month or so later,

presto. Ten paperback copies of your novel, memoir or

cookbook arrive.

Fork over $499, and you can get the upscale " Professional

Publication " option. Your book gets an International

Standard Book Number, publishing's equivalent of an ID

number and is made available on Borders.com, and the

Philadelphia store makes space on its shelves for five

copies.

Borders is the latest traditional bookseller or publisher

to branch into self-publishing using print-on-demand or

P.O.D. technology. P.O.D., inheritor of the vanity press

and survivor of the dot-com implosion, makes it feasible -

technologically and economically - to produce one copy of a

book.

Unlike e-books, which also appeared in the late 1990's,

P.O.D. self-publishing has developed into a real business,

attracting involvement from the likes of Random House,

& Noble and now Borders.

" We wanted to learn about the market, " said Phil Ollila,

Borders's vice president for book marketing, in explaining

the chain's experiment. The company approached Xlibris,

based in Philadelphia, one of the big three of P.O.D.

self-publishing, together with 1stBooks and iUniverse, all

formed in the late 1990's. Xlibris is 49 percent owned by

Random House Ventures; 1stBooks, based in Bloomington,

Ind., is privately held. & Noble owns 25 percent of

iUniverse, based in Lincoln, Neb., and Warburg Pincus holds

the other 75 percent.

These more established publishing businesses decided to

invest in P.O.D. to diversify and expand their role. " There

was the farm team idea - could we find authors? " said

Sarnoff, the president of Random House Ventures.

" As niches get smaller, is it a model for the future? "

Steve Riggio, the chief executive of & Noble, said,

" Self-publishing, previously viewed as a means of last

resort, is increasingly seen as a first step. "

Thoughts of the future aside, there is the matter of the

current market. The three companies combined have produced

more than 45,000 titles so far, at a cost to authors of

from $459 to $1,900. (Some Borders packages are more

limited, and thus cheaper.)

The real challenge is not to produce books, it is to

achieve all the goals of publishing - to get the books

edited, distributed, noticed and, above all, bought. That

is no easy feat: in the United States, 150,000-160,000 new

titles were published last year, according to R.R. Bowker's

Books in Print. On average, the P.O.D. titles sell just 150

to 175 copies, the companies say. Many authors are happy to

pay for 50 or 100 copies of their magnum opus to give or

sell to family, friends and business contacts. Others,

though, confuse production with publication and end up

disillusioned.

To address that problem, all three companies emphasize

marketing, promotion and publicity options, either bundled

into the packages or sold separately as add-ons.

The majority of sales of self-published books occurs

online. According to Driscoll, iUniverse chief

executive, 40 percent are sold directly to authors and the

other 60 percent move through retail channels.

Feldcamp, the chief executive of Xlibris, like his

colleagues, maintains that book sales " are colossally

important; they are more profitable than the services. " But

the add-ons generate cash and pull in authors.

At iUniverse, the " Star " program is another important hook.

If a title sells more than 500 copies its first year, the

company may invest in marketing the book and invite the

author to become a Star.

But of iUniverse's 17,000 published titles, the authors of

only 84 have been chosen as Stars, and only a half-dozen

have made it to & Noble store shelves.

An exceptional seller is a book like " The Sweater Letter,''

a true-crime story from iUniverse, which has sold about

10,000 copies. Its author, Dave Distel, who worked for The

Los Angeles Times for 23 years, said he " didn't want to go

through the song and dance " of finding an agent and

publisher. But he said he was " unaware of the stigma "

associated with self-publishing and did not understand that

booksellers expect discounts and also expect to return

unsold copies. iUniverse worked with him, and Mr. Distel

said he was satisfied.

The fundamental difference between P.O.D. publishers and

old-style vanity and subsidy presses is cost. Traditional

vanity houses like the 55-year-old Vantage Press charge on

average $8,000 to $10,000 - and sometimes as much as

$50,000 - to produce copies that an author then owns.

Subsidy publishers own the copies, but give the author a

" royalty, " actually a rebate, for each one sold.

Last fall, Patty Yoder, who lives on a Vermont sheep farm,

paid Ivy House Publishing $27,900 to subsidize 2,000 color

copies of " The Alphabet of Sheep,'' a 64-page hardcover

with her memories and her 26 handmade hooked rugs depicted

inside. " For years I kept running into a wall looking for

an agent or publisher, " Ms. Yoder said.

It is unlikely, however, that Ms. Yoder will recoup her

investment in the book. For selling about 800 copies of the

book herself, she received only about $7,000 in royalties.

Occasionally, a P.O.D. or other self-published title is

discovered by a traditional house. Philip , dying of

Lou Gehrig's disease, wanted to see his words in print

quickly. He turned to Xlibris, which published several

thousand copies of his memoir, " Learning to Fall: The

Blessings of an Imperfect Life,'' in 2000. The book was

received to critical acclaim, and was republished by Bantam

Books in 2002. Mr. died last July.

Mr. Feldcamp said that conventional publishers had acquired

about 20 Xlibris titles. An iUniverse author, Laurie

Notaro, even made the paperback best-seller list with " The

Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club, " and received a

two-book contract from Random House.

But these are far removed from the experiences of most

authors. The odds are stacked against such books reaching

the shelves of the chains or the attention of news media.

Mr. Riggio of & Noble cautions, " Writers should have

no delusions it's a fast way to get into bookstores. "

Whatever method of self-publishing an author chooses, one

factor is the same: the author is the only one driving the

sales. " The bottom line, " as Ms. Yoder has learned, " is

promoting yourself. When push comes to shove, it's your

money. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/01/technology/01pod.html?ex=1079147162 & ei=1 & en=f0\

693f8a8ee4aebc

---------------------------------

Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine

reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like!

Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy

now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here:

http://www.nytimes.com/ads/nytcirc/index.html

HOW TO ADVERTISE

---------------------------------

For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters

or other creative advertising opportunities with The

New York Times on the Web, please contact

onlinesales@... or visit our online media

kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo

For general information about NYTimes.com, write to

help@....

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

F. Prior jprior@... Chicago, IL 60656-1639

Calendar: http://calendar./j_prior

Cell: 773/230-5825 Fax: 781/459-8592

: 22:36-40 (In case you are curious, Jesus quotes two verses from

Torah: Deut 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18)

[Guest guest]

jprior@... wrote:From: jprior@...

jprior@...

Subject: NYTimes.com Article: Got a Book in You? More Companies Than Ever Are

Willing to Get It Out

Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 08:19:22 -0500 (EST)

This article from NYTimes.com

has been sent to you by jprior@....

FYI

jprior@...

/-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\

THE DREAMERS - NOW PLAYING

Set against the turbulent political backdrop of 1968 France when the

voice of youth was reverberating around Europe, THE DREAMERS is a story

of self-discovery as three students test each other to see just how far

they will go. THE DREAMERS is released uncut with an NC-17 rating.

Watch The Dreamers trailer at: http://www.thedreamers.com

\----------------------------------------------------------/

Got a Book in You? More Companies Than Ever Are Willing to Get It Out

March 1, 2004

By GAYLE FELDMAN

Since September, the nation's second-largest bookseller,

Borders Group, has quietly been conducting an experiment in

six Philadelphia-area stores, not as a bookseller, but as a

publisher.

" It's easy to publish your own book! " the " Borders Personal

Publishing " leaflets proclaim. Pay $4.99. Take home a kit.

Send in your manuscript and $199. A month or so later,

presto. Ten paperback copies of your novel, memoir or

cookbook arrive.

Fork over $499, and you can get the upscale " Professional

Publication " option. Your book gets an International

Standard Book Number, publishing's equivalent of an ID

number and is made available on Borders.com, and the

Philadelphia store makes space on its shelves for five

copies.

Borders is the latest traditional bookseller or publisher

to branch into self-publishing using print-on-demand or

P.O.D. technology. P.O.D., inheritor of the vanity press

and survivor of the dot-com implosion, makes it feasible -

technologically and economically - to produce one copy of a

book.

Unlike e-books, which also appeared in the late 1990's,

P.O.D. self-publishing has developed into a real business,

attracting involvement from the likes of Random House,

& Noble and now Borders.

" We wanted to learn about the market, " said Phil Ollila,

Borders's vice president for book marketing, in explaining

the chain's experiment. The company approached Xlibris,

based in Philadelphia, one of the big three of P.O.D.

self-publishing, together with 1stBooks and iUniverse, all

formed in the late 1990's. Xlibris is 49 percent owned by

Random House Ventures; 1stBooks, based in Bloomington,

Ind., is privately held. & Noble owns 25 percent of

iUniverse, based in Lincoln, Neb., and Warburg Pincus holds

the other 75 percent.

These more established publishing businesses decided to

invest in P.O.D. to diversify and expand their role. " There

was the farm team idea - could we find authors? " said

Sarnoff, the president of Random House Ventures.

" As niches get smaller, is it a model for the future? "

Steve Riggio, the chief executive of & Noble, said,

" Self-publishing, previously viewed as a means of last

resort, is increasingly seen as a first step. "

Thoughts of the future aside, there is the matter of the

current market. The three companies combined have produced

more than 45,000 titles so far, at a cost to authors of

from $459 to $1,900. (Some Borders packages are more

limited, and thus cheaper.)

The real challenge is not to produce books, it is to

achieve all the goals of publishing - to get the books

edited, distributed, noticed and, above all, bought. That

is no easy feat: in the United States, 150,000-160,000 new

titles were published last year, according to R.R. Bowker's

Books in Print. On average, the P.O.D. titles sell just 150

to 175 copies, the companies say. Many authors are happy to

pay for 50 or 100 copies of their magnum opus to give or

sell to family, friends and business contacts. Others,

though, confuse production with publication and end up

disillusioned.

To address that problem, all three companies emphasize

marketing, promotion and publicity options, either bundled

into the packages or sold separately as add-ons.

The majority of sales of self-published books occurs

online. According to Driscoll, iUniverse chief

executive, 40 percent are sold directly to authors and the

other 60 percent move through retail channels.

Feldcamp, the chief executive of Xlibris, like his

colleagues, maintains that book sales " are colossally

important; they are more profitable than the services. " But

the add-ons generate cash and pull in authors.

At iUniverse, the " Star " program is another important hook.

If a title sells more than 500 copies its first year, the

company may invest in marketing the book and invite the

author to become a Star.

But of iUniverse's 17,000 published titles, the authors of

only 84 have been chosen as Stars, and only a half-dozen

have made it to & Noble store shelves.

An exceptional seller is a book like " The Sweater Letter,''

a true-crime story from iUniverse, which has sold about

10,000 copies. Its author, Dave Distel, who worked for The

Los Angeles Times for 23 years, said he " didn't want to go

through the song and dance " of finding an agent and

publisher. But he said he was " unaware of the stigma "

associated with self-publishing and did not understand that

booksellers expect discounts and also expect to return

unsold copies. iUniverse worked with him, and Mr. Distel

said he was satisfied.

The fundamental difference between P.O.D. publishers and

old-style vanity and subsidy presses is cost. Traditional

vanity houses like the 55-year-old Vantage Press charge on

average $8,000 to $10,000 - and sometimes as much as

$50,000 - to produce copies that an author then owns.

Subsidy publishers own the copies, but give the author a

" royalty, " actually a rebate, for each one sold.

Last fall, Patty Yoder, who lives on a Vermont sheep farm,

paid Ivy House Publishing $27,900 to subsidize 2,000 color

copies of " The Alphabet of Sheep,'' a 64-page hardcover

with her memories and her 26 handmade hooked rugs depicted

inside. " For years I kept running into a wall looking for

an agent or publisher, " Ms. Yoder said.

It is unlikely, however, that Ms. Yoder will recoup her

investment in the book. For selling about 800 copies of the

book herself, she received only about $7,000 in royalties.

Occasionally, a P.O.D. or other self-published title is

discovered by a traditional house. Philip , dying of

Lou Gehrig's disease, wanted to see his words in print

quickly. He turned to Xlibris, which published several

thousand copies of his memoir, " Learning to Fall: The

Blessings of an Imperfect Life,'' in 2000. The book was

received to critical acclaim, and was republished by Bantam

Books in 2002. Mr. died last July.

Mr. Feldcamp said that conventional publishers had acquired

about 20 Xlibris titles. An iUniverse author, Laurie

Notaro, even made the paperback best-seller list with " The

Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club, " and received a

two-book contract from Random House.

But these are far removed from the experiences of most

authors. The odds are stacked against such books reaching

the shelves of the chains or the attention of news media.

Mr. Riggio of & Noble cautions, " Writers should have

no delusions it's a fast way to get into bookstores. "

Whatever method of self-publishing an author chooses, one

factor is the same: the author is the only one driving the

sales. " The bottom line, " as Ms. Yoder has learned, " is

promoting yourself. When push comes to shove, it's your

money. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/01/technology/01pod.html?ex=1079147162 & ei=1 & en=f0\

693f8a8ee4aebc

---------------------------------

Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine

reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like!

Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy

now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here:

http://www.nytimes.com/ads/nytcirc/index.html

HOW TO ADVERTISE

---------------------------------

For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters

or other creative advertising opportunities with The

New York Times on the Web, please contact

onlinesales@... or visit our online media

kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo

For general information about NYTimes.com, write to

help@....

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

F. Prior jprior@... Chicago, IL 60656-1639

Calendar: http://calendar./j_prior

Cell: 773/230-5825 Fax: 781/459-8592

: 22:36-40 (In case you are curious, Jesus quotes two verses from

Torah: Deut 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18)

[Guest guest]

jprior@... wrote:From: jprior@...

jprior@...

Subject: NYTimes.com Article: Got a Book in You? More Companies Than Ever Are

Willing to Get It Out

Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 08:19:22 -0500 (EST)

This article from NYTimes.com

has been sent to you by jprior@....

FYI

jprior@...

/-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\

THE DREAMERS - NOW PLAYING

Set against the turbulent political backdrop of 1968 France when the

voice of youth was reverberating around Europe, THE DREAMERS is a story

of self-discovery as three students test each other to see just how far

they will go. THE DREAMERS is released uncut with an NC-17 rating.

Watch The Dreamers trailer at: http://www.thedreamers.com

\----------------------------------------------------------/

Got a Book in You? More Companies Than Ever Are Willing to Get It Out

March 1, 2004

By GAYLE FELDMAN

Since September, the nation's second-largest bookseller,

Borders Group, has quietly been conducting an experiment in

six Philadelphia-area stores, not as a bookseller, but as a

publisher.

" It's easy to publish your own book! " the " Borders Personal

Publishing " leaflets proclaim. Pay $4.99. Take home a kit.

Send in your manuscript and $199. A month or so later,

presto. Ten paperback copies of your novel, memoir or

cookbook arrive.

Fork over $499, and you can get the upscale " Professional

Publication " option. Your book gets an International

Standard Book Number, publishing's equivalent of an ID

number and is made available on Borders.com, and the

Philadelphia store makes space on its shelves for five

copies.

Borders is the latest traditional bookseller or publisher

to branch into self-publishing using print-on-demand or

P.O.D. technology. P.O.D., inheritor of the vanity press

and survivor of the dot-com implosion, makes it feasible -

technologically and economically - to produce one copy of a

book.

Unlike e-books, which also appeared in the late 1990's,

P.O.D. self-publishing has developed into a real business,

attracting involvement from the likes of Random House,

& Noble and now Borders.

" We wanted to learn about the market, " said Phil Ollila,

Borders's vice president for book marketing, in explaining

the chain's experiment. The company approached Xlibris,

based in Philadelphia, one of the big three of P.O.D.

self-publishing, together with 1stBooks and iUniverse, all

formed in the late 1990's. Xlibris is 49 percent owned by

Random House Ventures; 1stBooks, based in Bloomington,

Ind., is privately held. & Noble owns 25 percent of

iUniverse, based in Lincoln, Neb., and Warburg Pincus holds

the other 75 percent.

These more established publishing businesses decided to

invest in P.O.D. to diversify and expand their role. " There

was the farm team idea - could we find authors? " said

Sarnoff, the president of Random House Ventures.

" As niches get smaller, is it a model for the future? "

Steve Riggio, the chief executive of & Noble, said,

" Self-publishing, previously viewed as a means of last

resort, is increasingly seen as a first step. "

Thoughts of the future aside, there is the matter of the

current market. The three companies combined have produced

more than 45,000 titles so far, at a cost to authors of

from $459 to $1,900. (Some Borders packages are more

limited, and thus cheaper.)

The real challenge is not to produce books, it is to

achieve all the goals of publishing - to get the books

edited, distributed, noticed and, above all, bought. That

is no easy feat: in the United States, 150,000-160,000 new

titles were published last year, according to R.R. Bowker's

Books in Print. On average, the P.O.D. titles sell just 150

to 175 copies, the companies say. Many authors are happy to

pay for 50 or 100 copies of their magnum opus to give or

sell to family, friends and business contacts. Others,

though, confuse production with publication and end up

disillusioned.

To address that problem, all three companies emphasize

marketing, promotion and publicity options, either bundled

into the packages or sold separately as add-ons.

The majority of sales of self-published books occurs

online. According to Driscoll, iUniverse chief

executive, 40 percent are sold directly to authors and the

other 60 percent move through retail channels.

Feldcamp, the chief executive of Xlibris, like his

colleagues, maintains that book sales " are colossally

important; they are more profitable than the services. " But

the add-ons generate cash and pull in authors.

At iUniverse, the " Star " program is another important hook.

If a title sells more than 500 copies its first year, the

company may invest in marketing the book and invite the

author to become a Star.

But of iUniverse's 17,000 published titles, the authors of

only 84 have been chosen as Stars, and only a half-dozen

have made it to & Noble store shelves.

An exceptional seller is a book like " The Sweater Letter,''

a true-crime story from iUniverse, which has sold about

10,000 copies. Its author, Dave Distel, who worked for The

Los Angeles Times for 23 years, said he " didn't want to go

through the song and dance " of finding an agent and

publisher. But he said he was " unaware of the stigma "

associated with self-publishing and did not understand that

booksellers expect discounts and also expect to return

unsold copies. iUniverse worked with him, and Mr. Distel

said he was satisfied.

The fundamental difference between P.O.D. publishers and

old-style vanity and subsidy presses is cost. Traditional

vanity houses like the 55-year-old Vantage Press charge on

average $8,000 to $10,000 - and sometimes as much as

$50,000 - to produce copies that an author then owns.

Subsidy publishers own the copies, but give the author a

" royalty, " actually a rebate, for each one sold.

Last fall, Patty Yoder, who lives on a Vermont sheep farm,

paid Ivy House Publishing $27,900 to subsidize 2,000 color

copies of " The Alphabet of Sheep,'' a 64-page hardcover

with her memories and her 26 handmade hooked rugs depicted

inside. " For years I kept running into a wall looking for

an agent or publisher, " Ms. Yoder said.

It is unlikely, however, that Ms. Yoder will recoup her

investment in the book. For selling about 800 copies of the

book herself, she received only about $7,000 in royalties.

Occasionally, a P.O.D. or other self-published title is

discovered by a traditional house. Philip , dying of

Lou Gehrig's disease, wanted to see his words in print

quickly. He turned to Xlibris, which published several

thousand copies of his memoir, " Learning to Fall: The

Blessings of an Imperfect Life,'' in 2000. The book was

received to critical acclaim, and was republished by Bantam

Books in 2002. Mr. died last July.

Mr. Feldcamp said that conventional publishers had acquired

about 20 Xlibris titles. An iUniverse author, Laurie

Notaro, even made the paperback best-seller list with " The

Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club, " and received a

two-book contract from Random House.

But these are far removed from the experiences of most

authors. The odds are stacked against such books reaching

the shelves of the chains or the attention of news media.

Mr. Riggio of & Noble cautions, " Writers should have

no delusions it's a fast way to get into bookstores. "

Whatever method of self-publishing an author chooses, one

factor is the same: the author is the only one driving the

sales. " The bottom line, " as Ms. Yoder has learned, " is

promoting yourself. When push comes to shove, it's your

money. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/01/technology/01pod.html?ex=1079147162 & ei=1 & en=f0\

693f8a8ee4aebc

---------------------------------

Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine

reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like!

Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy

now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here:

http://www.nytimes.com/ads/nytcirc/index.html

HOW TO ADVERTISE

---------------------------------

For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters

or other creative advertising opportunities with The

New York Times on the Web, please contact

onlinesales@... or visit our online media

kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo

For general information about NYTimes.com, write to

help@....

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

F. Prior jprior@... Chicago, IL 60656-1639

Calendar: http://calendar./j_prior

Cell: 773/230-5825 Fax: 781/459-8592

: 22:36-40 (In case you are curious, Jesus quotes two verses from

Torah: Deut 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18)