Traditional Publishers, if they accept unsolicited Manuscripts, generally take six to twelve months to review a submission and send you a rejection. In addition, they require that your submission is not being reviewed by another Publisher. Now, unless you are the next Hemingway, this means it could take three or five years before you get published and when you do, they own the Copyrights. In defense of traditional publishers, I have to say that they do contribute to the general quality of books in the stores.

The Print on Demand industry is attempting to correct the 'time to market' problem. Generally, your book can be on the market in six to ten weeks and you retain the rights. Unfortunately, there are a number of problems after it is made available. Most of the sales are made from the Internet and even though there are a lot of outlets, unless the public knows your book is out there, it will be very hard to find. POD Publishers only give you some of the services a traditional one has. The most notable one missing is Marketing. A Traditional Publisher has a return policy agreement with its retail outlets. If the Book is not selling, the store can return it to the Publishing House for a refund. Because POD only operates on orders, most Book stores are reluctant to allow a POD book to take up shelf space. They say shelf space is at a premium but it really has to do with not wanting to have potentially unsaleable stock. This is understandable. Another problem is pricing. POD books are generally printed as 'trade' paperbacks in either a 5x8 or 6x9 format and priced over $15.00. For a reference book of some kind, a buyer might be willing to pay this price. For entertainment, it is a little high. On a personal note, I almost never buy a hardcover or trade edition of SciFi, being willing to wait until it comes out in the mass market edition.

To sum up. Traditional publishing - long time to market and lots of rejections. On the plus side, Marketing, fixed public outlets and advances. If you are looking for something to read, you go to the local Bookseller and browse the shelves in whichever section you are interested in. Print on Demand Publishing - your work is available fast and the only rejections are from readers not buying it. On the minus side, the Marketing is up to you. The structure of the Internet makes a book hard to advertise and your take on a $15.00 book can be from $2.00 to $4.00. The last time I searched for Science Fiction on Yahoo, there were over two million listings. You could die of old age looking for something to read, like that. The online bookstores, like Amazon, are filled with page after page of fancy graphics, ads and links to here there and everywhere. The book list takes up the middle third of the screen and while you might not die of old age, you could lose a few years looking. On a positive note, E-books are becoming popular and Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing is a quick way to get your work out there.

So, what to do. As far as Traditional Publishers go, I don't know why it takes so long to decide if a book is saleable. Maybe it's because if a reviewer gets up on the wrong side of bed all the works they are reviewing get shelved until they feel better. Maybe their process could use some refinement, like taking a look at the POD sites to select possible new Authors for their list. Of course, you could get a Literary Agent to find a Publisher and cut a deal with them. POD publishing could use some help, also. The Internet is a fantastic media, but most books get sold in stores. As part of their Marketing package, a small sample pamphlet might be sent to stores and used to advertise these books. At least there would be something for a reader to look at and if they were interested, it could be ordered. And finally, lower the pricing. I've heard, from various sources, that a paperback costs one to three dollars per copy to print. If a standard business model is used, then the Publisher and the Author should get the same. That would bring the price to $9.00.

Okay, now that I've vented, I feel better. If you have managed to get through this, I make one last request. Check out some of the Independent Authors, you might find something you like. Most of the Publishers have an e-book option at about $5.00 and sample pages to read so it won't cost you an arm and a leg to find out.