Here’s the third post  in our series that explains the main attributes of online publishing sites like Lulu, CreateSpace, Blurb and Wordclay. As you’ll read below, when you use one of these online tools to publish your book you’ll also be taking advantage of the latest advances in printing technology.

Furthermore, online publishing gives you the unique ability to quickly change and improve any aspect of your book. The days of having three hundred “out of date” books in your garage are gone for good!

So let’s wrap up the last three topics:

6. The miracle combination–online publishing sites and POD (Print-on-Demand).

POD is an essential part of the online publishing world, and Lulu, CreateSpace, Blurb and WorldClay owe their very existence to this technological achievement. Through POD, books can be printed quickly at high quality and at relatively low costs. Without this capability these online publishing sites wouldn’t be able to satisfactorily meet the fulfillment requirements that today’s book buyer expects.

This advancement–specifically, the ability to print a single book at the time it is purchased–has revolutionized the book industry, from traditional publishing houses to vanity presses, and from small independent presses to individual authors. In the world of online publishing, all of the sites referenced above rely on POD printing methods where, upon purchase of a book, a digital file is sent to a printer by “electronic feed.” This means that the printer receives this digital file–a digital representation of a book–within 24 hours of it being purchased, and through the wonders of modernized digital printing and binding technology the printer is able to print and ship a single book (or two, five or five hundred) to the buyer within a few days. Best of all, for you the author there’s no more book warehousing, no more inventory costs, and no more minimum print volumes!

7. You finished publishing. Congratulations! (but let’s keep it quiet for now…).

You made it–Enjoy the moment! Whether you did it yourself or had help–you should be proud. Your book can now be purchased for you to review. Better yet, you can sell it to potential buyers. But let’s not do that yet. All of these online sites allow you to make your book “available only to you”–and that’s where you want to start. Buy a copy of your book, look it over with a fine-toothed comb, and find any typos, errors, etc. Better yet, have a friend or two (or three or four) look it over as well. You want to present your best (printed) face to your customers.

8. Rinse. Repeat.

Once you look over your proof I’d be extremely surprised if you didn’t want to make any changes to your final product. The wonderful aspect of online publishing is that all of these sites make it easy to change your book–you simply log into your account, go through the publishing process again (or just the applicable steps) to upload a new manuscript, change a cover file, modify your pricing, etc.

So, that’s what we call online publishing–brought to you by the miracle of the Internet and POD. It really is rocket science, and it’s allowing today’s author –you, that is–the opportunity to realize your passion. Without the free tools provided by these sites your publishing choices would be severely limited; You’d be paying money upfront, you’d be waiting longer to have your book published, and you’d make less money when your book sells.

I urge you to take advantage of this new world of publishing–there’s absolutely no reason not to–whether you’re an aspiring author, a first time author, a published author, or a small publisher. Even if you don’t want to do it yourself you’ll still come out ahead–i.e., faster and cheaper–by buying services associated with getting you through this online process successfully (which is why I’m here). It’s simply more efficient and economical.

A bright future is ahead when it comes to publishing your book. Online publishing is here to stay, and it will only get better. Competition and improving technologies will result in lower prices and easier tools. Of course, this post only talks about publishing through these sites–not marketing and selling through them as well. You’re publishing for the purpose of selling your book, right? That’s even more important, and we’ll talk more about selling through these sites in an upcoming post.

Next, we’ll tackle more of the specifics about online publishing when we answer the next question in our “First Things First” series– How does online publishing differ from traditional publishing?

Need to talk right away? You can call me at 919-247-1832 or email me at hhutton@publishandsell.com.

Thanks again, and till next time–Keep Publishing!

Henry