Some twenty years ago, the Beatles sang out… “You say you want a revolution, well you know, we all want to change the world… You say you want a real solution, well you know, we all love to see the plan.”
In one simple statement, that song sums up the whole idea that drives the POD movement. We want a REVOLUTION! We want a SOLUTION! And we are not willing to sit around on the sidelines and wait for someone else to give it to us.
Just like in the song, however, there are doubters that answer back; we all want to change the world… we all love to see the plan… SHOW ME, what makes YOU different?
That’s the issue that POD authors must face, and the question they must answer. What makes us different from those that have come before, what makes us better than what exists right now, why should anybody that is comfortable in his or her establishment setting take a risk and help us?
Those who spark any interest at all are apt to ask, what exactly are POD authors trying to accomplish? Aren’t they just a bunch of housewives collecting recipes and hacks trying to pawn off their unfit work onto an unsuspecting public, or at the very least, a bunch of hapless relatives?
Many authors using this method of publication try in vain to separate themselves from the old self-publish title, however that is fairly impossible, because that’s exactly what POD is. Just like many before the advent of the wonderful machines that allowed the miracle of Print On Demand publishing, there are both serious writers and housewives who want to publish their recipes and family trees that seek its services.
With that statement many that point and accuse POD authors of being vain, self-serving hacks jump for joy and scream, “see, see, I told you”. But there’s more to see than that simple statement.
POD authors are to the book industry what the Sundance movie community is to movies. They are independent authors. Some are good, some bad, but all striving for a place to say something that can’t, or won’t, be said in the traditional mill of the big money houses and studios.
The establishment says, ‘we protect the reading public from the garbage that is the slush pile”, but in doing so, they’re projecting their own bottom line driven agenda. We all know that what works for one person, doesn’t necessarily work for another. While 99 percent of the public adores Stephen King, there’s that 1 percent that thinks he’s a hack. So what about what that 1 percent might like? In the big house system, there’s no room for what that 1 percent wants, they don’t count, it’s majority rule.
POD seeks to allow the public to make up its own mind as to what is good, and what is not.
But, they say, the poor reader will plunk down his/or her hard earned cash and may get something they don’t like. Oh heaven forbid!
How often has a patron gone to a popular movie and walked out feeling like it let them down? Certainly not every time, but it does happen. Does that mean that person will never go to another movie? Of course not, they will probably be a little gun shy about going to a movie made by that particular producer again, however.
It’s the same with POD. Will a reader occasionally come across a book that is less than wonderful (in THEIR opinion), yes, of course they will. Will it stop the reader from reading? Of course it won’t. However, they may not ever read another book by that particular author again. That’s okay, that’s how a reader learns what he does and doesn’t like.
Big house production doesn’t eradicate those things. I’ve read plenty of books, some I’ve loved, and cheerfully look for that author’s next work. Some I’ve felt less than trilled about, and am unlikely to buy that author’s work again. Some I’ve hated, and would never buy another from that writer. ALL were from traditional houses.
What it boils down to is a matter of taste, and that is something no ‘house’ can truly determine.
POD’s main agenda is to break down the barrier of ‘in the box’ type writing that is perpetuated by the big houses. We will never destroy the system. Just like independent movies, the big movie production companies still exist and thrive, but there is plenty of room for the Indy’s too, and they thrive, and even compete at major events alongside their big brothers. It took them along time to gain recognition, and in the end, it took major name artists on their side (like Robert Redford and his Sundance channel) to break the barriers, perhaps that’s what it will take for POD as well, but it will happen.
Why? Because there is still a level of dissatisfaction with the powers that be in the publishing world, and as long as that exists, there will be independents like myself who will tear at the walls that separate and exclude us. It’s happening even as this article is read… do you hear it… it’s the publishing revolution, and it’s heading your way.
Tami Parrington is a freelance journalist and published author of the contemporary romance, The Road To Paradise. Information about her published works can be found at her website: http://www.geocities.com/tamiparrington
