Populist Publisher POD Survey Results

The Populist Publisher recently did a survey, of which I was a part of, concerning what POD authors thought of their publishing experience. Although only 62 authors filled out the online survey, the results were posted today and were very interesting.

Read the complete results here!

But here is a rundown…

Lulu was represented in the survey, although 39% of the authors had used iUniverse.
58% thought the cost of service was reasonable.
53% were satisfied with layout and printing.
36% were very satisfied with customer service from the POD company.
89% did NOT purchase a marketing package.
19% reported sales of over 500 copies. 1 person reported says over 12,000 (WHAT BOOK WAS THIS?).
74% had received at least 1 book review.
56.6% had their book offered in physical bookstores.
44% said they would use POD service again.
Only 22% had made a profit from their book.

Conclusions. The authors who responded to this survey paint neither a rosy nor an ugly picture of subsidy publishing. While many were dissatisfied with some aspects of their experience, overall more were satisfied than dissatisfied. The majority thought the costs were reasonable, were satisfied with the layout and printing of their book, and with the customer service they received. The majority also said that the level of promotional support they received from the publishing company met their expectations. The majority did get their book reviewed and were able to get it into a bricks-and-mortar bookstore. However, the majority have sold 200 or fewer copies of their book, and fewer than half have recovered their costs.Although a few authors’ comments indicated that they were naïve going in to the process, this survey does not support the belief that most unwittingly sign on with predatory companies and later regret their choices. Overall, they appear to have a realistic, if mixed, view of subsidy publishing. Only about a third of the authors said they definitely would not use the same subsidy publisher again, and only a fifth said they would definitely not recommend the company to another author. The authors who responded to this survey seem to see this method of publishing as a more complex and varied option than its critics describe.

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