It was written in response to a writer on CNET, who was detailing his experience with self-publishing his own book. Either way you look at it, it's grim, but both articles are good reading. It may also help you decide if self-publishing is the way to go or not.

Though I think the link I provided makes valid points, I'm not sure those points will be valid in another 5-10 years. My kids' generation won't have a problem buying their Facebook friends' books. With the falling domino-like effect of the publishing houses I think more and more mid-list writers, writers who were published by conventional means, will resort to POD because the major publishing houses will no longer support their work, i.e. unless it can be made into at least a trilogy and be optioned in Hollywood it's just not worth it for the publisher. (sorry for the run on sentence--looks like i'm a prime candidate for self-publishing)

The stigma of "self-published" will fade, and it wouldn't surprise me if self-published books drop in price as more and more people go that route. I also think that the current self-publishing companies like Lulu will change their business model, becoming a hybrid of current major publishers/small publishers and self-publishing companies. They would invest much more in promising artists as opposed to just taking money up front and forgetting about them.

POD or print on demand has a place in the publishing industry. Short print runs of less than a thousand are the biggest advantage of POD, mostly cost benefits from PQN, Print Quantity Needed, and just-in-time inventory management. Out of print books can affordably be brought back in print through short run POD printings. POD is a great way to produce Advance Review Copies for distribution to reviewers and get attention from other venues, other than the big six publishers. Standalone POD books generally do better with nonfiction content than fiction. At least one bestselling novelist was discovered from her POD published novel, that was then picked up by the majors and widely marketed.

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The Caution is that so-called vanity presses will take advantage of unwary writers by padding charges, bait and switch sales tactics, and udeliverable promises, to name a few of the unscrupulous practices of vanity publishers, "literary" agencies and presses.
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On the other hand, book manufacturers like Lulu, XLibris, and Lightning Source exclusively sell manufacturing services. All are either subsidiaries of or have distributor relationships with Ingram Industries, Inc., the leading US book wholesaler and distributor.

With a little knowledge of book layout and packaging techinques, proficiency with an application software that exports to Adobe PDF format, or the Adobe Distiller native software itself, and a few ISBNs, anyone can become a publisher through engaging book manufacturing services.

At Lulu is where vanity publishing is a plausible bookmaking outcome that's not totally deprecated. Say, the desire to see one's work in print is the sole goal--nothing like seeing one's work in a professional package--no sales or marketing intended, perhaps a few copies for family and friends, maybe even more for a local sales outlet. Upload a few files, and order one copy. Though no purchase is required for uploading, no printing happens until there's an order. The one copy is intended as a proof copy in the Lulu process. About ten bucks for a hundred-page 6" by 9" trade paperback with color cover. At 25 copies there's a price break. Deeper price breaks at higher numbers.

Much more than one thousand copies and a POD publisher is not a very practical manufacturing method. I know of livingroom publishers who use Lulu for manufacturing services, and then they flog the books themselves, regional, health, self-help, and children's books their main lines in local bookstores and direct online sales.

Duplo makes a desktop POD binder that does perfect binding. I've worked with one. It produced first-quality product, up to 200 books a day. The DB-280 costs about $10,000, the least expensive one on the market. Add a book trimmer, a highspeed black ink laser printer for body page printing, a color laser printer for covers, a laminator for sealing covers, two computers for layout and printing, about $50,000 for equipment, setup, and operation, and Bob's your uncle.

Not having read The Shack, I can't say whether I'd encourage a child to read it, but I wouldn't balk out of concern the content wasn't suitable. A few years back I was involved in a child abuse prevention program through a public service project for a rape crisis center. One thing I came away with is even young children are often more savvy than adults give them credit for.

Provided it makes economic sense, POD can only become more common.

Self publishing's different. I think there will always be a place for publishers, because they help sort the wheat from the chaff for their readers.

If you pick up a book published by TaleSpinner you have to read it before you know whether it's any good. If it's published by Tor (and I hope it will be one day) you know it's probably a good read.

I don't believe publishers are only interested in books that will become movies. There will always be a place for the written word as an art form in its own right. It's being squeezed, sure, by movies and games and on-line interactions, but it'll never disappear and there will be publishers who learn to use modern technology to deliver books. (And magazines.)

I think JamieFord is spot on when he (or she, sorry, I'm not familiar enough with everyone yet) says distribution is the key. The traditional method--brick and mortar--is being squeezed, and have been squeezed for some time. It's not just the current economy, but independent bookstores have been closing for awhile, and even big ones, like Borders, are in trouble. Amazon had a kuh-razy business model when they first came on the scene and there was more than one economist who said they couldn't sustain that business model--quantity over profits--and that it would eventually fail. It hasn't.

So we're left with only a few stores that one can actually walk into, which leaves the distribution up to the 'Net. I think POD will co-opt self-publishing as the term, and method, in which major publishers will turn to for distribution.