Amazon’s New POD Policies Unmasked
April 1, 2008 by Jacqueline L. Jones
Amazon.com has changed its policy for print-on-demand (POD) books, and small publishers across the land are understandably upset. One blogger has started a petition. I signed the petition, but then I decided to give the company a chance to explain its official position.
Amazon now requires that all P.O.D. books sold directly through its site be printed by its Create Space or Book Surge divisions, or that publishers store at least five copies of their books with the Amazon Advantage program. Contrary to popular belief, Amazon is not trying to run other printers out of business. The company simply wants to provide faster service to its customers.
Since P.O.D. eliminates the need for an inventory in most cases, books printed through Amazon fulfillment centers can be printed and shipped within two hours. P.O.D. books now will be eligible for free Super Saver shipping and the Amazon Prime program, which provides unlimited express 2-day shipping for an annual fee of $79 and overnight shipping for an additional 2.99 per order, with no minimum total for the order. In today’s microwave society, where everyone wants everything yesterday, this can only be an advantage for small publishers.
Those who want to remain with their current printers are free to use the Amazon Advantage program and their customers will still have access to Super Saver and Amazon Prime rates. The annual fee is just $29.95 for an unlimited number of titles. Publishers keep 45% of the list price for each book sold on a consignment basis. Any further discounts are subtracted from Amazon’s portion.
Publishers who have their own ISBNs also are free to sell their products through other online retailers, such as Barnes and Noble, while maintaining full privileges at Amazon. In addition, publishers can chose to sell their books through Amazon’s extensive network of resellers, but those who chose this option lose the previously mentioned shipping advantages. Create Space provides a free ISBN to books that don’t have one, but limits sales of those books to Create Space E-Stores and to Amazon.com’s U.S. site.
Click this link for more information. I’ve already told the company they need to do better PR on this matter and offer some cheaper publishing packages.
Maybe this is a desperate move to improve the company’s profit margins. I watch the Nightly Business Report on PBS, and the company’s stock has been down almost every day for weeks.
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