What is Print-on-Demand Printing

What is Print-on-Demand Printing?
Print-on-Demand is what makes self-publishing a print book possible. Readers buy your book on Amazon or other indie publishing sites. Using digital printing a single copy is printed, packed and shipped to the customer. Think high-quality photocopying. The process is fast and seamless. It seems like the book was pulled off a shelf, but they aren’t, the book is printed, bound and shipped. What this means for you as an author is no inventory. You do not have to do anything other than write, layout the book and upload the print files. This saves you tremendous amounts of money and effort. There are no garages full of books waiting to ship.

Resources:
• KDP.Amazon.com, Lulu.com, Blurb.com and IngramSpark.com, the leading print-on-demand publishing sites. See the previous question for the web address.


Print-on-Demand Paperback Books
•  KDP.Amazon.com, paperback, print-on-demand, a division of Amazon, free,
https://kdp.amazon.com

Combination of Paperback, Hard Cover and e-books
These companies offer a variety of options including e-book, print, spiral/coil binding, saddle stitch/staples and pdf with distribution options 
•  IngramSpark.com, print-on-demand, world’s largest book distributor to book and gift stores, some fees, http://www.ingramspark.com/
•  Lulu.com, similar to KDP.Amazon but with more printing options, paperback, hardcover, spiral, saddle, free, https://www.lulu.com/
•  Barnes & Noble Press, formally Nook Press, a new, revised publishing platform from Barnes & Noble, now offering print, e-book and a possible relationship with their stores if you can sell 1,000 books over a year. This is also an excellent resource if you just want to print books but not necessarily publish them on Amazon. This is done for speaking engagements, or a conference or workshop.  https://press.barnesandnoble.com/
•  BookBaby.com, a variety of different pay packages, fee, https://www.bookbaby.com/
•  Books-A-Million D.I.Y. with BAM! Publishing, write, publish, print and distribute in print or e-book, http://www.bampublish.com/
•  Blurb.com, photo and art books, free, http://www.blurb.com/

Book Printer with Access to Bookstore Distribution
•  IngramSpark.com, print-on-demand, world’s largest book distributor to book and gift stores, some fees, http://www.ingramspark.com/

E-Book Publishers
•  KDP.Amazon.com, the main e-book site, an e-book reader, free, https://kdp.amazon.com
•  Smashwords.com distributes e-books to over 80 outlets and devices, free,
https://www.smashwords.com/
•  Draft 2 Digital.com, free, https://www.draft2digital.com/

J. Bruce Jones is an international best-selling author. He has created or authored over 40 published books. The Self-Publishing Manual shares Bruce's secrets from over 30 years of graphic design and publishing.

This post is an excerpt from my new book, The Self-Publishing Manual, available at Amazon.com in print and ebook.
https://www.amazon.com/Self-Publishing-Manual-Create-Publish-Book/dp/1791870643/