Well, I did submit a manuscript to them a while ago (when I was sending out manuscripts to get an agent) and they contacted me afterwards saying they were interested. Thought I'd better follow it up. I dunno know. What if I sign and then find out I don't like them? I could be £3000 in debt.

oops, cross posted with you Dwriter - I've just added something to the bottom of my last post.

It's ok, I saw what you said. The figures are pretty good you mentioned. However, I think for me, personally, POD might be easier as I don't often have a lot of space in my house and would rather only order in what I think I needed. But that's just me.

What if I sign and then find out I don't like them? I could be £3000 in debt.

Again it simply comes down to the fact that all they are providing you with is the ms in book format. You have a simple choice of either going for one copy at a time via pod publishing, or hundreds (or thousands) of copies via vanity publishing. As soon as the copies are delivered to your door, then their job is done.
The question you need to ask yourself, is how am I going to shift hundreds (or thousands) of copies?

That's a good point. It's certainly something to consider. Thanks for your advice.

The other thing is that with POD, you can change/edit your book at any stage, so if you suddenly decided a bit needed a rewrite, you could do so.
Susiex

Good point, Susie, and I'm seriously considering putting my ms through Lulu when I've done as much editing as I can on screen, since errors tend to leap off the page of a book. And in Lulu you can set it to a private copy, so it doesn't count as publishing. Other WW members have suggested doing the same thing before sending their mss off to their readers.


- NaomiM

I'm not suggesting you need it at all Dwriter, but 3000 quid could instead be spent on an editorial report of your book to see maybe if there are reasons why you haven't got an agent via the usual route, or even a year's mentoring scheme with a writing tutor. It's a lot of money to spend.

Good luc with whatever you decide.

Thanks to both of you. You all made some very good points there. I'll let you know what happens.

Naomi's said everything I would say on this subject. There's nothing wrong with paying a company to print up a few books for you, so long as you know exactly what you're getting for your money. I'd just be as careful as I would with anyone else I employed to do a £3000 job - tile the roof, fit a kitchen, buy a 2nd hand car, whatever.

As someone who has worked in the industry and has experience of publishers, vanity press and POD I thought I would add my say.
A publisher naturally offers on much more that a vanity press set up. They will take your work edit it (structural ad copy), typeset, design the cover and pay for printing. This can run into the thousands. But this is just the start they will then organise marketing and perhaps most importantly distribution. For me this is the key - a traditional publishers will get you book in the shops (hopefully). In return they (and you) make money from the sales.
A vanity press make money by printing your book (plus any additional services they off). This does not mean they are cowboys, just that they offer a different route. They make their cash from you the writer not the reader. They provide none of the support services you get with a publisher. It’s down to the author to do the design and editing (or pay for it). It is also down to the author to sort the marketing and distribution. This means that beyond your local shop you can forget the bookshop route. This puts the pressure of the author to market and sell their own book. In addition, vanity press will look bad for any future work if you are approaching a traditional publisher,
My choice would be POD. You can approach a printer direct or opt for the LuLu route. Either way you are doing everything a Vanity Press is doing but at a fraction of the price. Once again marketing is down to the author. One other advantage is that a good, well marketed POD book will not necessarily put off a future publishers for your next book.

Gary at http://www.bubblecow.co.uk

I like the look of the LuLu website, and think it might be the way to go, as long as you have a very willing proof-reader or sub-editor to check and counter-check your writing for you. If you've that personal back-up in place, and if you can come up with publishable material, then I'd definitely give it a try!

James

Hey Gary. Very good advice there. You've given me some very good insight on what each do. Maybe the POD might be the best option. The only difficulty I guess is finding a good proof-reader. Thanks for your input.

The main problem with POD, Lulu or Vanity Press is that once you have the books how are you going to sell them? Friends and family may account for a couple of hundred (!) but anything more is going to need a more focussed approach. However, the internet is a wonderful place and it is possible for a writer to develop a following online.

I think the key is for a writer to build an online presence. This is done mainly through blogging. A good blog can become very popular and with the right approach you can build of fan base of thousands. If this is the case a POD demand run that’s goes onto sell a couple of thousand of suddenly very profitable.

As for proof-reading, email me off forum and I will give you some advice - gary@bubblecow.co.uk

Some good points, Bubblecow.
I have heard of fantasy writers building up a large fan-base of young readers on their Bebo, Facebooks, etc, pages. The writer needs to put a lot of time and energy into developing these fan bases.
Just setting up an online blog, per se, however, is no guarantee of sales.


- NaomiM

<Added>

Personally, I see such things as blogs based marketing as being fairly genre specific; targeting your niche market where they hang out, eg, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, YA chick-lit-loving teenagers on Bebo. Erotica, gay, lesbian novels also have a triving 'underground' audience.

If, however, you're trying to market literary fiction or straight contemporary fiction you're going to have problems doing it online unless you are very good at self-publicity.