Print on Demand

Among traditional publishers, Print on Demand (POD) services are used to make sure that books remain available when one print run has sold out but another has not yet become available, a stop-gap measure until or unless demand drives another printing. Print on demand services that offer printing and distributing services to publishing companies instead of directly to authors are growing in popularity within the industry. Profits from print on demand publishing are on a per sale basis, and the amount of commission often varies depending on the route by which the item is sold. One of reasons for the interest in print on demand among libraries is the possibility that they may soon have access to significant digital repositories. Print on demand (POD) services use new digital printing techniques to publish small print runs of books (often a single copy) on demand. Print on demand or publish on demand (POD) is a publishing methodology in which a copy is not created until after an order is received.