Advantages
1. the financial risk for you is very low
If your book doesn't sell, you won't be stuck with the print run and therefore the costs. This means that you can also produce products with low demand without incurring expenses.
2. cost factor
Of course, you can produce books cost-effectively with print on demand, as you don't have to pay in advance. However, this only applies if not many copies are sold. As a rule, a print run (even in small batches) is cheaper than print on demand. There are also no storage costs for your books.
If you are unsure, you can start with print on demand, for example, to see how much demand there is and then switch to a print run later.
3. small series
POD can also be used to print individual books that would not be profitable for print runs.
But where there are advantages, there are also disadvantages!
Disadvantages
1. long delivery times
Your books are only printed when the order is received, which is why the delivery time is around one week. However, seasonal influences must also be taken into account. Especially during the Christmas season, waiting times can be longer than a week. The spontaneous gift for grandma is therefore unfortunately not guaranteed 😉
2. simplified printing equipment
Due to the low printing costs, the features available with print on demand are very limited. Anyone who wants finishing, embossing, high-quality paper, etc. will unfortunately not find their luck here. As a rule, a print run is also of higher quality than a print on demand print.
3. accessibility of customers
This is by far the point you should think about the most, because your book will usually not be available in bookstores (unless you land directly on the bestseller list), as print on demand titles cannot be remitted* by booksellers. Of course, your book can be ordered by customers in bookstores. But there is also a serious catch here.
Namely:
(*Publishers usually grant booksellers a one-year right of return. This means that a retailer orders a title. If the copies do not sell, they can be returned to the publisher within one year and 100% of the purchase price will be refunded. In this way, the retailer has no risk if a title does not sell well).
4. many customers like to order books to look at first!
This is not possible with POD, as many bookstores have a purchase obligation for POD titles. Therefore, the ordered book must be purchased without customers being able to get an impression of it. Looking at the book, reading it and then deciding whether to buy it is not possible. This means that as interesting as your book is, the risk of the purchase is ultimately borne by the customer. And they usually do not want to bear this risk.
If it is not properly communicated in advance that the book must be purchased, this can lead to discussions and problems with customers.
5. if the bookseller orders a POD book on request that is not picked up, the retailer is left with the costs.
This is because, as mentioned above, the book cannot be returned. As a result, after a certain amount of time, the work ends up in the junk bin, is given away to employees or, in the worst case, destroyed. If a retailer has had bad experiences with "non-collectors", it may well be that POD titles are no longer ordered at all.
To summarize, although a book can be ordered in the bookstore, it will take at least a week to arrive, and customers must already be convinced that they want to buy this book. Spontaneous buyers can never be reached and the advertising costs for your product are higher than when printing a small print run.
