Print-on-demand publishing, explained

What print on demand is

In traditional offset printing, a publisher prints a run of books in advance, stores them and ships them to stores. Print on demand (POD) reverses the order. Draft2Digital describes it plainly: your book "will be listed as in-stock" and "when your reader purchases your book, only then will it be printed and shipped" (Draft2Digital FAQ). Amazon says the same of its own service: "KDP will print your books on demand and ship them to customers around the world" (KDP).

Three things follow from that:

• No print run to pay for. The printing cost comes out of each sale instead of out of your pocket in advance.
• No unsold stock. IngramSpark's own summary: "With POD, there are no 'wasted' copies" (IngramSpark, January 22, 2018).
• A higher cost per copy. Writer Beware puts it directly: "POD is a more expensive printing process, per unit, than traditional offset printing," so "POD books often must be priced higher than their offset-printed counterparts" (Writer Beware, Self-Publishing).

POD is a printing method, not a publishing path. Self-publishers use it, smaller and no-advance presses use it, and paid service companies use it. Jane Friedman's publishing paths chart notes that self-published authors "use print-on-demand (POD) to sell and distribute print books via online retail," and that some no-advance publishers "may only produce an ebook or print-on-demand edition" (Friedman, updated July 8, 2026).

The four POD platforms

These four platforms sell POD printing and distribution directly to authors. Each sets up a title without a print run; they differ in formats and where the book can be sold.

A few details from the platforms' own pages that change real decisions:

• D2D Print routes through Ingram. D2D says its paperbacks go to Amazon and Ingram's channels, and that if you already sell a print book through KDP Expanded Distribution or IngramSpark, "we do not recommend you list with D2D Print." Pick one route into Ingram, not two.
• Hardcovers cannot use KDP's wider distribution. KDP says "Hardcover books are not eligible for Expanded Distribution" (KDP). IngramSpark offers hardcovers, with or without a jacket, through its own network.
• Your format choices lock. KDP says that after publication, ink and paper type are locked because of ISBN requirements, except for switching paper on black and white paperbacks.
• Print cost is a formula, not a quote. IngramSpark's rate card states it as cost per page times number of pages, plus a cost per unit. Page count, trim size, color and binding drive it, and color costs more than black ink.

For royalties, fees and ISBN rules on KDP, IngramSpark and Draft2Digital, see KDP vs IngramSpark vs Draft2Digital.

Platforms versus package sellers

Many companies described as print-on-demand publishers are not platforms like these. They sell publishing packages: editing, cover design, interior layout, ISBN, setup and marketing, bundled and priced in tiers, with the printing itself done by POD.

Writer Beware describes these services as offering "more of a soup-to-nuts option," with "an often-hefty fee and less flexibility and control." It says marketing add-ons are "an extremely lucrative area for publishing service providers" because "most of these items are cheap to provide and can be sold at a substantial markup," and gives the example of one company charging more than $4,000 for a "premium book video" (Writer Beware).

That does not make every paid service bad. Good editing and design cost money wherever you buy them. The questions are what you are paying for and what you are giving up:

• What does the package include that a platform does not? Setting up a title is free on KDP and IngramSpark. If the package is mostly setup, you are paying for something free.
• Whose ISBN, and whose imprint? If the company's name is the publisher of record, moving the book later usually means a new ISBN and a new edition.
• Who sets the list price? Writer Beware says POD books often must be priced higher already; a service that adds its own margin can price a book out of its market.
• Can you leave, and what happens to your files? Get the answer in writing before you pay.

For how to tell a service company from a hybrid publisher or a vanity press, see what a hybrid publisher is and the vanity press warning signs.

Quality and format limits

IngramSpark argues that "the quality of POD books is equal to any other printing process used today." For ordinary text-driven nonfiction that is a fair expectation. The limits are in tolerances, format and consistency, and the platforms are open about them:

• Trim and cover position vary. KDP's stated allowable variance for cover shifting, spine position and trim size is 0.125 inch (3.2 mm). Shifts within that are not defects (KDP printing errors).
• Some flaws are "expected variance." KDP says blank pages are an expected variance, and that new copies may arrive with wavy pages that straighten "within a month."
• Paper varies by location. KDP notes that paper weight varies by printing location (KDP print options).
• Formats are fixed lists. Trim sizes, papers and bindings come from each platform's menu. KDP offers custom paperback trims between 4 and 8.5 inches wide and 6 and 11.69 inches tall, but no custom hardcover sizes. If the book needs something that is not on the menu, ask an offset printer.

The practical rule: order a proof copy and read it in print before you publish. KDP recommends ordering a proof before publication.

Returns and bookstore stocking

POD makes a book available to order almost everywhere. It does not put it on a shelf. Draft2Digital is blunt: "Your books will not be automatically ordered and placed on shelves in physical locations." KDP says Expanded Distribution "doesn't guarantee" distributors will accept a paperback.

Bookstores buy on trade terms: deep discounts and the right to return unsold copies. Writer Beware says booksellers expect "discounts of 40% or more" and "full returnability," and that without a sales team, "libraries and physical booksellers are unlikely to know your book exists." IngramSpark says many booksellers pass over nonreturnable titles, and that if you allow returns you pay the wholesale cost of each copy sent back (IngramSpark, November 16, 2021). Even then, IngramSpark's POD article says "most stores won't take a chance on a new author" without a sales history or a clear marketing plan.

The discount and returns trade-off is covered in detail in how book distribution works. The short version: POD solves printing and availability; it leaves selling to stores to you.

When offset beats POD

Offset printing has a setup cost that POD does not, and a lower cost per copy once that setup is spread across a run. IngramSpark's own explanation is that "standard offset print runs needed to be in the thousands to justify the fixed costs," while POD's per-book price "can be slightly higher than large print runs." Friedman's chart notes that nearly every Big Five book has a print run, and that self-publishers "may hire a printer, invest in a print run" when they are confident about sales.

Offset is worth pricing when:

• You know where thousands of copies are going. Bulk orders from a company, an event series or a course, where copies are sold before they are printed.
• The book needs what POD menus do not offer. Special paper, finishes, inserts or sizes.
• A bookstore launch needs stock in place. Friedman's chart says smaller presses "typically invest in a print run," and its hybrid cost estimate assumes "a print run is involved."

POD is the better choice when demand is uncertain, when copies sell mostly online, or when you would rather not own a pallet of books. The two can be combined: POD for retail orders, and a larger run for copies you sell or give away yourself. IngramSpark's rate card shows its own publisher-direct orders getting larger quantity discounts as orders grow, from 2% at 100 copies to 35% at 10,000 or more, so get a POD bulk quote and an offset quote side by side before you decide.

Scribe Media, which makes this site and sells publishing services, works the same way: its FAQ says its books go into the Ingram database and can be ordered by any bookstore, that it does not automatically put books in bookstores, and that for large orders it sets authors up with a commercial offset printer and takes no markup (Scribe Media FAQ).

What most people get wrong

• Calling a POD service a publisher. POD is how the book is printed. Who owns the ISBN, sets the price and keeps the royalties is what makes someone your publisher.
• Paying for setup that is free. Title setup costs nothing on KDP or IngramSpark.
• Expecting stores to stock a book because it is in Ingram's catalog. Orderable and stocked are different things.
• Printing thousands before knowing where they go. A print run only beats POD if the copies leave the warehouse.