If you are new to the publishing world, you might be wondering just what POD and Offset Printing are and how it affects you. Let’s look at these terms to see which way you would like to go with the next step of being a published author. 

What is POD? POD stands for Print on Demand which means just that. Your book will be printed as it is sold, whether by one copy or a dozen or more. If your book is on Amazon, and it should be, then you can rest assured that it will be POD – Print on Demand. As each book is ordered it will be printed and shipped directly to the customer. Don’t worry, Amazon has this down to a fine science, making it worry-free on your part.

When you are doing POD, you, as the author, won’t receive as much money from the sale of the book but it is worry-free which includes the sale, printing and shipping. Your portion of the sale will be sent directly to your bank account or wherever you’ve authorized it to be sent, on a monthly basis. You can also follow your sales online through Amazon, but that is for another teaching. 

What about Offset Printing? Offset Printing means you order a specific number of books – usually in the 1000's. The books are less expensive to print by doing it this way so you will, in the long run, make more money on the sale of each book. However, you need a storage place that can handle such a large quantity of books. Most of us don’t have a home or garage big enough to devote that much space to storage. Moreover, when ordering books through an Offset Printer, you have to pay for the books in advance then it is up to you to sell them, ship them, store them.