Misadventures in POD Publishing

So Depending on the Light has been out a few weeks now. How many copies have sold? I'd venture none, even though one seller on Amazon claims to have 3 "used" copies (which are still selling for the now-even HIGHER price of $93. VDM Verlag, it turns out, may not have been the best choice, but it was the only one, for getting this book done. I still wonder what exactly God has in mind. My hands are tied as far as marketing goes. Here's why.

Price. The publisher has set the initial cost of the book so high that I cannot in good conscience announce the book or refer individuals to the online sites to buy it. Who would? At $93, the book is priced at 4 times the current competitive price. When and if the price comes down, I will feel better about announcing the book, but who knows when that will be?

Review Copies. The author info I received about review copies states, "If we receive requests from the press for review copies, we send free copies to the appropriate person." Turns out those review copies are electronic copies. While I understand this makes sense from a pricing standpoint, very few outlets review electronic copies at this point. And though I haven't fully investigated it yet, I believe that knocks out the "big 6" book reviewers in the States.

Customer Reviews. Though the publisher recommends having customers review the book on the online sites, again, who can afford to purchase a copy to review it?

Discount Copies. So, I thought, okay, I'll wait for a price drop (about the time Hell freezes over) and then buy some with the author discount. Nope. Right now, of course, my $93 title would cost me $55.80 each--if I ordered 25 or more copies. Let's see ... doing the math ... that comes to a whopping $1,395 + shipping from Germany. That's what the publisher calls a "generous" discount. The only discount I see here is my change of heart regarding VDM. In order for the book to really be discounted and affordable to me, the price needs to drop to around $25. That might take a long, long time.

My attempts to contact VDM and inquire about their ridiculous pricing have so far netted me nothing helpful. The first person merely copied the author info, which I'd already read. See what you think: "The binding selling price determined by the publisher depends on various factors, including the estimation of the marketable circulation, the specification and evaluation of the respective audiences, the variable production costs depending on the text volume, the project-related fixed costs, the anticipated marketing measures and the distribution channels and, more than anything, our experience and a pinch of ‘publishing feeling’. For these reasons, the price is only determined at the end of the production phase. You will receive a notification regarding the final selling price together with your free copies." Make sense? You got that? (For the sake of vitriol, I'll not take that passage apart. But I certainly could.)

My second attempt to contact a different person suggested by the original copy-paster at VDM has so far gotten me only silence. In the meantime, the book sits right where it was shipped. And I sit here fuming.

Moral of the story: I wish I had one. I do not understand POD publishing, and though I did some research, it apparently wasn't enough. I'd suggest we change the acronym's meaning from "print on demand" to "publishing or dementia."