Print on demand - the industry's saving grace

The blog of literary agent and author advocate Richard Curtis has an interesting article today regarding print on demand and how it could prove to be the publishing industry's saving grace, something that I have stated for a long time.

What he has to say makes interesting reading, for he suggests that contrary to popular belief, there is nothing wrong with the publishing industry, despite its current decline, that a different form of distribution would not solve. The different form of distribution that he proposed has nothing to do with wholesalers, but is rather, a different printing method - namely, print on demand.

To those who are not in the know and do not understand why this would be so, it may seem like an extravagant statement, but the reasoning behind it will be clear to those who understand how it works, and there are some statistics to back this theory up, recorded in an interview conducted by Liz Thompson for Bookbrunch, with David Taylor, President of Lightning Source in the UK, the largest print on demand operation in the world. Lightning Source have printed 70 million books in the ten years since their operations began, and their facilities in Tennessee and Pennsylvania hold almost one million digital files.

While the rest of the industry is in the doldrums, Taylor claims that their business has grown by 20 to 30 percent in the last six months alone. Lightning Source print, bind and ship 10,000 books each day on machines that run around the clock. At their plant in Milton Keynes, they are building new, improved facilities the size of a football pitch. Lightning Source continues to thrive at a time when the industry is reeling from an epidemic of returns, with a system based on the exact opposite.

As Taylor told his interviewer, "the recession is focusing publishers' minds on cash, on the amount of inventory they have sitting in warehouses, on the cost of transporting stock. Most global publishers in the academic and STM (scientific, technical and medical) markets are saying they want to get out of inventory, and some pretty radical discussions are now taking place which will allow publishers to do just that. Believe me, it's an exciting time to be part of the business."

The most obvious solution to this problem is not to print so many books in the first place, and to ensure that those that are printed are sold - the best way to ensure that both of these happen is through print on demand, for you know that the books that are printed have already been sold.

In the future Taylor sees the creation of vast digital warehouses, which are in essence a network of servers containing vast archives of POD files linked to Espresso machines, which Blackwells are currently trailing in their Charing Cross store. These are like miniature print on demand machines (known as ATM's for books) that enable books to be printed and bound in a matter of minutes, the time it takes to have a cup of coffee, hence their name.

There is no reason in the future, why such machines should be confined to book shops; they could be set up anywhere, and could be particularly beneficial in developing countries that do not have the same infrastructure and distribution channels in place that we do in the west.

The full article can be read here.

Curtis also provides a useful and interesting link to You Tube where you can see the Espresso Machine in action.

Amazon and Lighthing Source unveil plans for expansion

There has been no more news to report at all this week regarding the big Amazon debate, with everything on both sides of the pond suddenly going very quiet indeed. Business for them must be booming though, as a report on the online edition of today's Daily Mail states that Amazon are opening their biggest warehouse yet in Swansea, which is set to be the size of ten football pitches.

The depot will be literally crammed full with not just books, but with every conceivable product, from trainers to lawnmowers to bread makers. There will though be no friendly and helpful shop assistants, just an army of unsung and no doubt underpaid, workers whose sole aim will be to pick and pack goods to be shipped throughout Europe.

Reporter Julie Mount states that yesterday she got her first glimpse of the facilities when First Minister Rhodri Morgan MP lined up alongside local dignitaries to welcome in the new way forward. Morgan declared that "At a time when there's a lot of doom and gloom around, this is a shaft of light for Wales. Amazon is an iconic global company right at the forefront of the e-economy and one of only a handful of truly world brands that have emerged since the Internet changed the way we live our lives. This is one of the biggest investments announced in Wales since devolution began nine years ago. It is a powerful shot in the arm for the Welsh economy and the Swansea Bay area in particular. I am proud of the role that the Assembly Government has played in attracting Amazon to Wales."

I wonder if he would say the same if he were a US or for that matter, UK based print on demand author. Somehow I think not! Global brand my foot - as this comes at the expense, like so many others before them, of all the little ants that they have trodden on and squashed.

Amazon estimates it will take on 1200 employees in five years in order to cope with their ever increasing demand, with many more taken on as seasonal Christmas temps.

While it may appear to be good for the Welsh economy, one has to wonder at the wider implications regarding the rise in the Internet, as it will undoubtedly lead to the demise of many more small independent, and even larger chains, as they simply cannot compete with Amazon's low prices and aggressive marketing. Even my employer, as the UK's largest and arguably most successful electrical retailer are threatened, as there is due to be a big announcement made to the city and the company's staff on May 15th. Rumours are rife within the company regarding store closures, and it seems that my own job may be threatened, as High Street stores like mine will if the rumours are true, be amongst the first to go.

Over reliance on service sector jobs such as those provided by Amazon can be a dangerous thing, as it is pretty much a dead end job, with little skill and no career development. As manufacturing union Unite warned, "These jobs do not provide the foundations for young people to flourish and play a full and constructive role within their communities." At least retail gives you the opportunity to develop skills and interact with people by not just selling, but also providing customer service. Picking things off a warehouse floor and placing them in boxes is just a means to an end.

The second story, from Publishers Weekly, which is somewhat ironic really, concerns print on demand printer Lightning Source, who like Amazon are also opening larger premises.

The report states that they are expanding their current facilities in Milton Keynes from 12,000 to 60,000 square feet. The new plant is due to open later this summer, and will enable them to add 12 more print lines. Managing Director David Taylor described it as a long term strategy for the future. He went on to explain that the UK division printed a staggering 2 million books in 2007, a number which is set to increase this year by a further 25 percent.

Reading this, and bearing in mind that print on demand is even bigger business in the United States, it really does make one wonder once again, what the hell Amazon think they are playing at.

UK authors safe from amazon's threat - for the moment ...

British based print on demand authors can for the moment at least, breath a collective sigh of relief, as after almost a weeks silence, Amazon have finally confirmed that they have no plans to implement their controversial print on demand policy within the UK.

Graeme Neil reports on The Bookseller, that the decision to tell publishers of such titles in the United States that their print on demand titles would have to be printed at Amazon's own facilities in order to be directly available on amazon.com has caused a storm, raising fears that Amazon are trying to squeeze competitors out of the print on demand market.

He goes on to say that "one observer said that the move could be seen as 'the thin end of the wedge'. 'Will they eventually say to HarperCollins for example 'We don't want your physical books anymore. Instead we will print them at our centres'? If you look at what they have done with e-books, they are selling them in their own format. Where do you draw the line?"

Angela Hoy, co-owner of print on demand services company BookLocker, who raised the first objections, said: "From the p.o.d. publishers we've talked to, and from our own experience at BookLocker, we could all be looking at a dire and immediate threat of revenue cuts if we refuse to sign the Amazon/BookSurge contract. 'PublishAmerica said that it had been told that if it did not comply, the "Buy" button would be removed from all of the publisher's listings. This demand would force PublishAmerica to submit 60,000 separate book files (text and cover), and redo each of them in order to conform to Amazon's complicated technical specifications."

Graeme goes on to cite the now notorious open letter from Amazon, before confirming that the company has no plans to implement this strategy in the United Kingdom. No mention however is made of his this impact print on demand books by British authors which are printed by Lightning Source in both the UK and US for these respective markets, and whether the US editions will be withdrawn from their sale. At the time of writing my own book is still live, and until I hear any differently I can assume that these titles too are safe.

In the meantime, Jerry Simmons has dedicated his entire newsletter this week to the unfolding events, which are rapidly becoming well, the biggest thing since print on demand first came to the UK.

I print his newsletter here in its entirety for the benefit of those who are not on his mailing list, and with the recommendation that you consider joining.

"Due to recent events I’ve decided to focus this entire newsletter on the Amazon situation. In my opinion, this is the first step toward the complete elimination of the books by self-published, print-on-demand, and small publishers that refuse to use Amazon’s BookSurge and largely depend on Amazon for sales. This is vertical integration at it’s worst and illustrates what big companies can do when they are allowed to strong arm the smaller ones. It’s time to take a stand, now or forget about it. Forever remain at the mercy of the big booksellers.

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IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T HEARD -

POD Publishers Told to Sell Directly Through Amazon, They Have to Use Booksurge.
Amazon has tried a number of tactics to push the print-on-demand services of their Booksurge subsidiary and now the company is using its leverage in the marketplace to drive that business. For the past month the e-tailer has been explaining their new policy to publishers who use print-on-demand: To have a direct "buy" button that lets customers purchase POD books from Amazon rather than from third-party sellers featured on the site, those books must be printed and fulfilled by Booksurge. Spokesperson Tammy Hovey tells the WSJ, "It's a strategic decision. What we're looking to do is have a print-on-demand business that better serves our customers and authors. When we work with some other publishers, it's not truly a print-on-demand business." She "declined to provide specifics," according to the Journal, but "said she doesn't consider the move an ultimatum.

"The new policy was first brought to light through a coordinated blogging effort by some of the affected POD publishers. Co-owner of POD publisher BookLocker.com Angela Hoy has the longest post on her WritersWeekly zine. She reports on a conversation with a Booksurge salesperson who "admitted that books not converted to BookSurge would have the 'buy' button turned off on Amazon.com, just as we'd heard from several other POD publishers who had similar conversations with Amazon/BookSurge representatives."There are no accounts yet of the policy being imposed on traditional publishers that also use Lightning Source or other print-on-demand vendors; by the current accounts the moved is aimed at independent publishers whose focus is POD books as well as self-publishing competitors to Booksurge such as Lulu.com. (Separately, Amazon has been working since mid-2006 to get mainstream publishers to use Booksurge for print-on-demand books sold through the e-tailer, for traditional purposes out of print books; large print; etc.--as well as to fulfill "demand spikes" when a regular title is temporarily out of stock.) Ingram and their Lightning Source operation have worked closely with Amazon in the past in a variety of ways, including packing orders with Amazon packages and labels.

MY REACTION AND QUESTIONS -

This is an outrageous strong arm tactic by the largest online bookseller in the world. There are forces at work behind the scenes that will only complicate this for anyone that doesn’t buckle under to the demands of Amazon.

Why haven’t the same demands been made of traditional publishers?
Because they all subsidize Amazon through a variety of fees and discounts, completely outside the ability of the small publishers and authors, it’s about money.

What happened to the free market concept of price, service and reliability?
Why bother when you have the muscle to force this upon your customers.

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More From Amazon on POD, and Toasters
Amazon's Patty Smith spoke to Computerworld further about their new requirement that POD-based small publishers and self-publishing companies print their titles through Booksurge if they want the books sold directly by Amazon. "When we publish a print-on-demand title in our own fulfillment center, we can then marry that on-demand book with a regular book, or a toaster, if that's what the customer ordered in the same box and ship it the same day to the customer. And that print-on-demand book that we printed is also eligible for free shipping."She reiterated that companies that don't wish to use Booksurge can still sell their POD books through Amazon's Advantage program ($29.95 per year plus 55% of the list price of the book) and other third-party marketplace seller programs.BookLocker.com Angela Hoy says she will not use Booksurge. "We would [rather] take an initial significant hit to our revenues, and we estimate that Amazon comprises about 30% of our revenues."

MORE REACTION AND A QUESTION -

First of all the excuse that marrying titles to other products is the reason behind this move is ludicrous, it’s an excuse.

If marrying products with books is the reason behind the move why not impose the same on traditional publishers who use offset printing?
Because Amazon doesn’t own an offset printing company, YET!

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Ingram on Amazon
Ingram chairman John Ingram issued a brief statement on Amazon's recent move to drive POD publishers to use Booksurge if they want their books sold directly by the e-tailer, noting "it clearly is alarming many of our publisher partners." At the same time, Ingram reports that "so far we've been unable to get a response directly from Amazon.com."He says, "We all live in a world where decisions are made about insourcing and outsourcing, and free choice is important. At Ingram Book and Lightning Source, we are going to work really hard to continue to be the compelling choice as publishers make their outsourcing decisions.... At Lightning Source, we produce a great product and thus do justice to our publishers' valuable titles. There is no question that we provide the highest print quality, the fastest turnaround speeds, and the most comprehensive portfolio of channels for a publisher's books."

FINAL REACTION AND QUESTION -

I find the lackluster response by the Chairman of one of the largest print-on-demand facilities puzzling and at the same time alarming.

Why do you find the response alarming?
I worked in New York with big publishers long enough to know that John Ingram’s reaction to Amazon’s move is entirely too nonchalant and basically it was a non-reaction. That smells of collusion to me and you can bet, Ingram isn’t budging an inch when it comes to the demands of Amazon. They need each other!

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QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK -

The following interview was conducted by Author Marketing Experts for their blog post which can be found at their web site http://www.amarketingexpert.com/ .

AME - What’s the real outcome going to be from this Amazon decision?

JDS - The publishers impacted will follow the demands of Amazon and print their books with Book Surge. The wider implication is that Amazon strengthens their position with these publishers and creates a monster with their vertical integration. This leaves each one of those publishers vulnerable to new demands by Amazon. What’s next? Higher discounts. Right now these publishers have been forced to change vendors, it might have cost them a bit more money, but remember, they market to writers not consumers. So if they are unable to place their authors’ books on Amazon, it looks bad in the eyes of their customers, the writers. These publishers don’t have the courage to say no and take a stand. And it’s not about the fact they sell a ton of books on Amazon, it’s about their customers’ view of them and their ability to market their own books.

AME - How do you predict the long-term effects of this as it relates to the small author and publisher?

JDS - The long-term effects for the author and publisher are devastating. With Amazon strengthening and securing their place in the distribution and sales channel, they can do anything they want. The next move will be to squeeze these small authors and publishers for placement fees, advertising fees, and eventually higher discounts. When you give in once, it never stops, this is the way of the publishing world and booksellers. It will get to the point where they start to lose money on each book sold. Only then will Amazon back off, but you can bet they are going to push authors and publishers to the wall and take every possible nickel out of the equation.

AME - What can an author/publisher do to “fight back?” -

JDS - Draw the line with this decision, pull their books from Amazon, create a new online market for selling their books, a central location for all self-published, print-on-demand books that has no alliance with any publisher or printer. Again, it’s not about selling books, it’s about how they are seen in the eyes of their customers, the writers. They are concerned about their own pipeline for new business drying up and that is much more important than giving in to Amazon’s demands. Each one of these publishers could switch all their allegiance to B&N.com today, but they haven’t, and the reason is that in the eyes of the writer, they feel they must be on Amazon to be successful. Short term it hurts business and they are more concerned about that than the longer term impact which is going to be a continual erosion of their profit margin.

AME - What alternatives do authors and publishers have besides selling their books on Amazon?

JDS - It’s time for the self-published, print-on-demand companies and small publishers to begin creating their own marketplace, totally and completely separate from all the online platforms that sell their books. I strongly believe that the website http://www.nothingbinding.com/ is a solution, and for full disclosure, it is a site that I founded. But here is the key, if you are not part of the traditional world of big New York publishing, from which I spent 25 years, then authors must realize it is fruitless to continue to struggle to become part of something dominated and controlled by the largest publishers in the world. Amazon is clearly inside the traditional world, and they are setting restrictions on anyone outside that wants to be part of their world. This will never end! It’s time now to create your own community and establish a voice in the marketplace. I’m confident that Nothing Binding can fill that void, becoming the community and voice for Independent publishing. The name alone signifies a non-alliance with any publisher or printer. A social networking website that allows authors free placement of their books with links to outside sources is a perfect way for authors to separate themselves from the traditional world of big publishing; in fact, it’s the only way to create a market and achieve increased sales they so desperately want and need.

AME - Do you think this was a bad decision on Amazon’s part and if so, why?

JDS - Obviously Amazon weighed the profit from the sales of all these POD books versus the additional revenue of printing AND sales. They made a calculated gamble and it appears they have been right. Now there is no stopping them on their demands. It won’t happen overnight, but they will make new rules and continue to do so until it negatively impacts their own revenue stream. Giving in is a monumental mistake for the author and publisher, if the POD companies had taken a stand against the decision and risked short-term profits, they would have been much better in the long term and more respected by their own customers in the marketplace. Why do you think Amazon did this only for the print-on-demand books and not books that are offset printed? They claim they did this so it would be easier for them to marry books with other products that customers wanted, combine the package and shipping for convenience and cost savings. What about all the other books that are offset printed? They have the same problem with marrying books and products, but they don’t own an offset printing company, yet! If I was running any company that does a substantial amount of business with Amazon and saw what they were doing with books, I’d keep a close eye on what other parts and manufacturing companies they purchase. Vertical integration in this case is good for Amazon, no, great for Amazon, but bad for the publishing business and possibly very bad for other product lines sold on Amazon.

AME - Since AuthorHouse/iUniverse and Lulu have signed the contract with Amazon, does this change the playing field for the other publishers, or is it irrelevant (and if so, why)?

JDS - With Author House and Lulu agreeing to Amazon demands, it puts pressure on the other companies to follow suit. None of these companies can risk their own business drying up and even though it’s doubtful they lose a ton of sales if they dropped from Amazon, it would be the negative perception their own possible customers would have, i.e. the writer, and of course their competition would use this as leverage in their own marketing as “being the one company still doing business with Amazon.” These writers don’t really understand the implications, yet, all they see is that their books are or are not on Amazon for sale; that’s all they care about.

In the survey of writers I completed long before NB was started, I found that virtually 98% felt they must have their books on Amazon, and clearly 70% hated the fact they had to give a 55% discount to them. When asked if Amazon went away tomorrow, how much would it impact sales, only about 15% felt they sold enough books on Amazon to make a difference. They must be there, they hate being there, yet it doesn’t really make a big difference, so what’s the point? Once Amazon raises the effective discount, or asks for ad or placement fees, and the publisher passes this along to their authors, they might wake up. But who knows, right now, all the author cares about is making sure their books are still listed and for sale on Amazon.

Fighting back should be done gradually and not a knee jerk reaction. I think if these authors and publishers set a deadline for Amazon to reverse their decision or else they would pull all books, they could get positive media attention to this, they will have capitalized on this in a way that would draw attention to them and their books, and in the long run they would be out from under the thumb of a very big online retailer. The analogy I use is that if the U.S. had been serious about alternative fuels back in 1973 during the oil embargo, we wouldn’t be in the mess we are today, 35 years later. Of course you can’t compare oil to books, but the fact remains, this cave in to Amazon is a very steep and slippery slope and it won’t take anywhere near 35 years for them to realize their mistake, maybe 35 months!

AME - If authors seek out other platforms to sell their books – how will they compete with the “comfort level” consumers feel with Amazon?

JDS - There is no way to compete with the comfort level of Amazon and that of course is a problem, but a short-term one. Solutions will create short-term discomfort, but I strongly believe people buy books on Amazon because it’s all they know. If there was a viable alternative, then I think consumers would welcome it. The responsibility is on the shoulders of the publishers to counter this strategy with cover price discounts, until the consumer starts to feel comfortable again and then you can readdress the price issue. These publishers will have to make some short-term concessions to attract their consumers, but it beats what they are going to have to endure when they cave to Amazon. There is no easy solution, there is no silver bullet that will make everything okay tomorrow, there will be some issues that have to be worked out, but if all these authors and companies would combine forces, create a new online market for themselves and their books, in 35 months they will be glad they did. Eat it in the short term for long term gain—that is the answer to the Amazon problem. Because Amazon is going to do nothing in the future to help the POD companies’ bottom lines, they are going to continue to eat away at their margins in a number of ways while at the same time squeezing them on price and discount. It’s a no win situation for the authors and publishers and it doesn’t appear that they really realize the situation they put themselves in by giving in to Amazon’s demands.

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MY PRESS RELEASE RESPONSE –

An Amazon Monopoly?
Authors shut out of Amazon; one site offers a solution

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – The little guy has lost another battle but this time, it’s the book industry that’s taken a hit. It was a shot heard round the publishing world in record time when Amazon announced that any small press or print-on-demand publisher doing business with them would need to print books through their publishing arm: BookSurge. Insisting it’s just “good business,” the terms of this deal feel more like a monopoly to those affected.

Jerry D. Simmons is a former Executive with the Time Warner Book Group who left there in 2003 to build one of the leading social networking sites for Independent authors, NothingBinding.com, says: “The long term effects for the author and publisher is devastating, with Amazon strengthening and securing their place in the distribution and sales channel, they can do anything they want. The next move will be to squeeze these small authors and publishers for additional fees and eventually higher discounts. When you give in once, it never stops.”

So what can an author or small publisher do? Penny C. Sansevieri, President and CEO of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., whose company specializes in Internet promotion says: “It’s time for authors to realize that Amazon is not the only game in town. They need to expand their online marketing to include social platforms like http://www.nothingbinding.com/. A site that can give their book exposure and then link the book to a store other than Amazon will help them fight and hopefully win this new war Amazon has decided to wage against the little guy.”

Can Amazon be stopped? “It’s doubtful,” says Simmons, “the wheels are already in motion, now the only thing the smaller publisher and Independent author can do is look for alternatives. This is a sad day for Independent publishing. Now it’s time to show Amazon they can’t win.”

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AMAZON DISCUSSION ON BLOG TALK RADIO -

You can hear my new blog talk radio show hosted by myself and Penny C. Sansevieri of Author Marketing Experts, Inc. Friday 10:00 am MST, Noon CST, and 1:00 pm EST. Simply cut and paste the link below to your web browser and tune in:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ThePublishingInsiders

If you would like to listen to last weeks’ show, cut and paste to your browser or click the link below:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ThePublishingInsiders/2008/03/28/The-Publishing-Insiders-1

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SUBSCRIBE TO MY BLOG -

Beginning yesterday April 2nd, I’ve started my blog on Nothing Binding. You can subscribe via rss feed at the site, here is the link:

http://www.nothingbinding.com/blog/jerry

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A RECOMMENDATION FROM OUR FRIENDS IN THE UK -

From Author June Austin, April 1, 2008

I would not normally do this, but some issues are just too important to ignore, and this is one of them. I and others in the publishing industry, are calling on as many people as possible to boycott amazon.com (and co.uk if they copy what .com are doing). The following article, which I posted on my blog site yesterday, explains all, and more to the point, why. THIS IS NOT A HOAX.

To read what I have to say, go to http://juneaustin.blogspot.com/

In short though, amazon.com are trying to force print on demand authors and publishers in the United States to switch printers, from market leader Lightning Source, to Amazon’s own recently acquired operation, Boksurge. They are threatening to remove any books printed by Lightning Source from their website if they do not sign agreements with Booksurge by tomorrow. This is no April Fool, but deadly serious.

Please circulate this to as many people as possible on your own mailing lists, as the more people that know about this the better. At the moment I am unsure as to how this will impact authors and publishers outside the US (Lightning Source also have a printing plant in Milton Keynes where my book is produced along with millions of others). My editor has today emailed their CEO and is awaiting a reply.

This is not a hoax, but a very real threat facing all publishers and authors who use print on demand methods, whether through self publishing or otherwise. Don't take my word for it though, but see for yourself here:

http://www.thebookseller.co.uk/news/55688-amazoncom-tightens-printing-rules.html

http://writersweekly.com/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/004597_03272008.html

In the meantime, I would urge you all NOT to order any books from Amazon at all until this is resolved satisfactorily.

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FINAL COMMENTS -

I spent 25 years in New York publishing, I’ve seen just about all there is to see. I’ve personally experienced the pressure a large bookseller can apply to a publisher for more money. The first time you give in to those demands, it’s over. These companies will continue to apply pressure in a number of ways to get what they want.

In the case of Amazon, I predict that this is just the first step. I realize that publishers have caved to the demands, but as authors you still have an opportunity to take a new direction. Create your own online marketplace for your books! This is the only chance you have to be successful via the web. A single location where you can direct traffic away from Amazon is your only hope if you ever want to maintain an online presence and have any chance of selling books in numbers that will make a difference.

Amazon was never your solution, they are part the traditional world of publishing, and will always be a part of that world. You aren’t invited and they don’t want you, they’ve made that obvious by their actions. If you don’t start a movement now, today, this weekend, away from Amazon onto another completely free and unaligned website, you are going to be stuck in the mire and deceit of someone like Amazon until the day they kick you to the curb.

Make your move to http://www.nothingbinding.com/, before it’s too late!

Jerry D. Simmons
April 3, 2008"

The boss at my own publishing company, Authors OnLine Ltd said in an email to me this morning that he is somewhat concerned at the lacklustre response to this threat that has been made by Lightning Source, and I have to say that I agree. It makes one wonder if there is more to this than meets the eye. He goes on say "I have to say I haven't got to grips with the complete story of this. The reason I say that is we don't actually deal with Amazon at all. It's Lightning Source that deal directly with them, we don't even know what Amazon have bought from us until after the event! And LS are saying in their statement (now on our front page) that "All your titles continue to be available to all of our channel partners, including Amazon.com, with immediate availability for shipment within 24 hours." Now that is a very understated response to say the least and, unless I have totally misunderstood the situation, rather odd for a company who's basic business is directly threatened.

Take the small self-publishing guys like us out of the equation for the moment and look at LS's core business. Most of it comes from making traditional publishers books into POD, their main client being Cambridge University Press. They print over a million books a year for them alone. Now are Amazon going to refuse to sell such mainstream publishers POD titles only through BookSurge. Now that would be interesting! Ok AuthorHouse and Lulu are big players but minnows compared to the amount of POD done by traditional publishers - and increasing very steeply annually."

A statement from Ingrams and Lightning Source

The Amazon debate shows no signs of diminishing yet, with further links to various articles and discussions being added to Angela Hoy's website on an ongoing basis.

Amazon made their by now, infamous statement yesterday, but I see from Mick Rooney's blog, that Ingrams (who of course own Lightning Source) have also added one of their own, which Mick summarised as follows:

John Ingram said, while “the questions that are being raised about Amazon.com and its Booksurge division don't directly relate to Ingram - either Lightning Source Inc. or Ingram Book Group - it clearly is alarming many of our publisher partners.” John Ingram goes on to say, “publishers are telling us they feel Amazon.com’s actions are not appropriate.”Amazon have yet to directly respond to Ingram, and it remains to be seen if they will. John Ingram continued, “We all live in a world where decisions are made about in sourcing and outsourcing, and free choice is important. At Ingram Book and Lightning Source, we are going to work really hard to continue to be the compelling choice as publishers make their outsourcing decisions. Our breadth of distribution channels including the online retailers remains the same, and Ingram still provides one day turnaround in the fulfillment of orders for books including print on demand titles.”

John is of course absolutely correct, Lightning Source do offer a far superior service in every way possible. How can they not do when they are part of the US's largest wholesaler Ingrams, through which virtually every US book store obtains their stock. Booksurge realistically cannot compete with that on any level.

Mick it seems though has one hell of a sense of humour, since after I added comments to his blog yesterday expressing my opinion re the Amazon statement he replied as follows:

"Yes, June, the Amazon 'Interested parties' statement released on Monday is very much a sales pitch aimed at their customers. What it fails to mention is that for quite some time Lightning Source Inc have been 'drop-shipping' the POD books ordered on Amazon. So when customers get those nice cardboard cartoned books, with the Amazon logo emblazoned on it, delivered directly to their doorstep - it has all all been done by LSI. I think the worst thing about Amazon's move is the 'sop' the say about how POD publishers can send 5 copies of each book to them to house for their inventory! Lets see LSI deal with 4400 POD accounts approximately, hmmm, let's say at the most reserved estimate per publisher 50 titles and times 5 copies, hmmm, I get a holding inventory of 1.1 million books. I think every POD should take them up on their offer. That 'ill teach 'em."

It certainly would, and the idea of this happening I must admit did put a smile on my face. I somehow don't think their system would be able to cope ...

Mick though is absolutely right, that Lightning Source have indeed been sending goods directly to the customers homes for some time, as they do for all manner of other companies that they have accounts with. It is common knowledge that they have the facilities to do this - even printing a compliment slip in the account holders name (for arguments sake Amazon) so that it looks like the goods have come direct from them, when in reality they have come direct from the printer.

There is an interesting link on Angela Hoy's website where some comments have been made by one Glenn Fleishman, a former Amazon employee, which are very illuminating to say the least. Glenn, who claims to have worked for Amazon for around six months, states that in his opinion "this whole POD scheme stinks to me of MBA-ism. Because we can do something, we will try it, and we are the big player, so we get to make the rules. We’ll see how this plays out. I suspect it’s going to result in a top-down management decision from higher in the Amazon food chain, some apologies, and some more black eyes for the firm." Let's hope he is right.

In the meantime, on that same website, a lady named Julie, who claims to have worked for Amazon in one of their US distribution centres last Christmas, and for all we know may still work there, has confirmed in her own words that "there are two or three main ones (distribution centres) that have everything including the POD equipment. All the rest are “forward deployment” centers which just have the most popular items in stock just outside major cities. In other words, Angela Hoy was right yesterday when she said that Amazon, contrary to their grand claims of saving the environment and improving customer service, do not print books at all of their centres.

None of this is really the issue, it is about them trying to monopolise the market and limit the options available to both authors and publishers wishing to sell their books direct on Amazon.com.

Lightning Source, alongside Ingrams have also made a statement of their own, which can be read as follows:

April 1, 2008

Dear Customer

Lightning Source has been following the recent press coverage and discussions about Amazon.com and BookSurge. We are aware of the concern this is causing the publishing community. The issue centers around Amazon.com tying the availability of your books and terms of sale at Amazon.com to the production of books at the Amazon.com subsidiary BookSurge, specifically requiring you to use BookSurge in order to sell on Amazon.

Like you, we are very concerned about any conduct that would serve to limit a publisher’s choice in supply chain partners and to negatively impact the cost of your products to consumers. We believe that choice and selection of best of class services are critical to the long term success of publishers and a vibrant book market.

Lightning Source continues to provide the highest quality digital on demand print and distribution services for every one of our customers. All your titles continue to be available to all of our channel partners, including Amazon.com, with immediate availability for shipment within 24 hours.

We are committed to providing you with the best of class quality product and fastest distribution service in the market, and will continually work to develop new channels and new offerings.
Lightning Source will continue to monitor this situation and let you know when we have more information. Please feel free to call your Lightning Source point of contact, if you have any additional questions.

J. Kirby
BestPresident & CEO, Lightning Source Inc.

Can't really argue with that and personally I say to him, best of British luck!

Espresso Machine gives POD authors a break

Print on demand (POD) certainly seems to be making waves and inroads at the moment throughout the industry with talk of Espresso machines and even Random House embracing the technology. A quick look at their website first thing this morning revealed that they have 'introduced' a 'new' technology called print on demand, which enables them to promote what they refer to as 'lost classics' without the need to keep physical copies in stock. Their website goes on to say that 'Digital printing technology now means that we are able to print and deliver books within a week of a customer placing an order. Until now, if you were interested in these out of print titles, you would need to hunt them down in secondhand bookshops. But now you can have a brand new paperback printed when you want it'. Titles available include the works of Barbara Thiering and Robert Gurman, so I suppose it can't all be bad.

Large companies like this nevertheless do seem to have a somewhat selective memory, as when it comes to POD authors such as myself and others that I know submitting their work for consideration we are told that this is not a valid form of publishing, yet it seems okay for them to do it. Don't do as I do, do as I say. Oh well, such is life.

Maybe the tide though is finally turning and we will begin to see a change of heart with regard to this technology. It certainly seems to be being talked about all over the publishing press at the moment. Michael Hyatt, president and chief executive officer of Thomas Nelson Publishers, the largest Christian publishing company in the world and the sixth largest trade book publishing company in the US was talking about it just recently on his blog site, which is linked to The Bookseller. I made a few comments of my own, which you will see if you click the link.

It seems that Lightning Source, the major POD printer, who are of course based in Nashville with UK operations in Milton Keynes, have been rolling out what are referred to as Espresso machines, the first of which is sited in New York's Grand Central Library, with others across the US in various Barnes and Nobles stores. This is nothing to do with coffee, as they are actually giant printing machines. Allow me to explain.

At the moment, when you go into a book store or library and the book you find is not on the shelves, you have two options - you can either order a copy or go elsewhere. Now though, with these gigantic and no doubt noisy machines, you will be able to go into the library or book store and have one printed for you in an hour or so while you sit and have a coffee (or tea if you are English of course). What a revelation then this will be, and the even better news is that it it set to come over here !

Michael Legat talks about it as well in the October edition of Writing Magazine, where he also mentions the Simon and Schuster debacle. They tried to insert a clause into their new contracts stating that they retained rights to all books published with them indefinitely, since with the advent of POD technology, books are never out of print. Of course, the Writers Guild of America kicked up a stink and quite rightly so, after all, who wants to be saddled to a publisher who does sod all to help promote your work and takes all the money. By taking the work to a bonafide POD provider, such as Authors OnLine here in the UK (they also distribute in the US!) the author can earn considerably more without that much more effort. After all, Simon and Schuster are hardly likely to put money into promoting a backlist book that sells only a couple of hundred copies a year - they concentrate most of their efforts on the new titles and high sellers, and who can blame them, it is after all a business.

Eventually Michael says, they had to admit defeat and scrap these clauses and quite rightly so. Still, I don't expect they will be the only ones to try this, and it is another indicator of how much more acceptable this technology is becoming, if the large publishers are now embracing it. I think they have finally realised, as I did, that if you can't beat 'em you have to join 'em, and whether they like or or not, POD is here to stay.

Personally I feel that it is where the future of publishing lies, fairly and squarely, and Random House and the Espresso machine just prove to confirm that. Eventually Lightning Source plan to put one in every book store in the US and I can only imagine the impact that will have. Book stores will only have to stock best sellers and it will make it much easier to authors to get into print, because it will automatically lessen the risk. I said to Gaynor Johnson some time ago, who deals with book orders for Authors OnLine Ltd, that I envisioned a time maybe 10, 15 years from now when book stores would have just a few shelves for maybe top 50 paperbacks etc, and the rest would be taken up by these huge machines, with computer terminals where customers used sites such as google books in order to carry out searches for books that they fancied. It seems that I may not have been far wrong.

In the short term though is it such a good thing ? It will take time for the industry to adapt, as everything works as a snails pace and they are notoriously resistant to change. That has been one of my biggest bug bears in fact, the fact that everything in publishing works so much more slowly than POD. That will be a thing of the past though, they will have to learn to respond a lot quicker. POD authors will then for the first time be competing on a even keel and the stigma will be well and truly removed. I just hope that in the process, the POD pioneers do not end up being driven out of business, as it is inevitable that the big boys will try and take over and claim this technology as their own. It is usually what happens. In fairness though, the POD arms of Random House and Barnes and Noble - Xlibris and i-universe, have been in business for a while - thank goodness only in the States, but eventually I am sure, over here as well.

One thing's for certain - sale or return will be a thing of the past, as this technology will not be able to accommodate it on such a high scale. Besides which, if the customer is printing books in store then what would be the point. What a shame then - the author will be paid more than the book shop - I will cry in a minute !