Comment Re:Don't worry... (Score 1) 76
There's no need for anyone to try to run Xlibris out of business, or try to take them over. They just have a new twist on what Vantage and other subsidy/vanity presses have been doing for decades.
If Xlibris were making money from selling books they wouldn't need the authors to pay the tab, would they?
If there were money to be made in Print On Demand the big publishers would already be doing it, wouldn't they? But Time/Warner/AOL's iPublish program went down in dot-bomb flames.
Ask yourself this: How many books did you buy from Xlibris, iUniverse, and all the rest of the world's subsidy presses put together in the last year? How many did all your friends buy from them? Divide that number by the total number of books you and your friends bought. Multiply by 100. You now have an approximation of the percent of the market that these outfits enjoy.
So who does buy Xlibris books? With rare exceptions, the answer is:
The author.
The author's mom.
The author's mom's bridge club.
When would it make sense to go with Xlibris?
If you already know by name everyone who will buy a copy of the book, and you weren't planning on making any money on the sales anyway, go for it.
Or, if you've got specialized non-fiction that only a few people would be interested in, but those few would go any distance and pay any price to have that information, go for it.
Or, you're an experienced author with a out-of-print backlist that has a small but steady fan base, go for it. (If you're experienced, you already know where the minefields are.)
Otherwise, forget about it.
For more information on subsidy publishing, see http://www.sideroad.com/gethooked/column14.html
If Xlibris were making money from selling books they wouldn't need the authors to pay the tab, would they?
If there were money to be made in Print On Demand the big publishers would already be doing it, wouldn't they? But Time/Warner/AOL's iPublish program went down in dot-bomb flames.
Ask yourself this: How many books did you buy from Xlibris, iUniverse, and all the rest of the world's subsidy presses put together in the last year? How many did all your friends buy from them? Divide that number by the total number of books you and your friends bought. Multiply by 100. You now have an approximation of the percent of the market that these outfits enjoy.
So who does buy Xlibris books? With rare exceptions, the answer is:
The author.
The author's mom.
The author's mom's bridge club.
When would it make sense to go with Xlibris?
If you already know by name everyone who will buy a copy of the book, and you weren't planning on making any money on the sales anyway, go for it.
Or, if you've got specialized non-fiction that only a few people would be interested in, but those few would go any distance and pay any price to have that information, go for it.
Or, you're an experienced author with a out-of-print backlist that has a small but steady fan base, go for it. (If you're experienced, you already know where the minefields are.)
Otherwise, forget about it.
For more information on subsidy publishing, see http://www.sideroad.com/gethooked/column14.html
