PODs Also Hit By Recession
Jan 21
It’s no secret that many people have been suffering through this recent and widespread period of economic decline. The unique position of publish-on-demand (or print-on-demand) authors and companies does not make us immune to the wider financial forces, but it makes tracking actual effects difficult to ascertain.
Certainly sales are down, but POD sales have often fluctuated both with and against the larger economic tide, and trends in mainstream publishing. A few well-known PODs have ceased operations, but again, that is not unusual; PODs, even the more successful ones, can ride a fine line between profitability and ruin even in economically advantageous periods.
Fellow self-publishing authors have confided that they have seen little change in their fortunes due to the downturn — that is, on the publishing side of the equation. Most POD authors also depend on other sources of income, and are just as subject to the unemployment and investment woes as anyone.
Likewise, the loss in home values is affecting homeowners regardless of profession. Nobody is immune, and I’ve heard plenty of stories involving an upside-down home mortgage or even a foreclosure. Annoyingly, it is often the ‘safety nets’ of authors and publishers that is in jeopardy, while their labor of love remains as unpredictable as ever!