Frequently Asked Questions

Self Publishing and Print on Demand

Advantages of POD

  • No up-front investment is required in printing a large number of copies.
  • Each copy is printed separately, so each of them can be customized.
  • The manuscript can be updated, if needed, for new copies, because all the copies need not be printed in one go.
  • The quality of printing has become very good with newer machines and it matches the offset printing quality for most practical purposes.

Disadvantages of POD

  • If you have to print a large number of copies, the per copy cost with offset printing becomes much less. So, POD is not cost effective for large print runs.
  • Offset printing quality, especially for color photos, still exceeds the Print on Demand quality