Lightning Source: 10 Years
LSI is celebrating ten years in the print-on-demand business. Overall, I've had a great experience with this company. They've done a good job of keeping up with trends, and pushing forward in new areas. But, as Christmas is coming up, here's my wish list for Lightning Source, things (from a small publisher's perspective) I think would really help this business grow and compete with "mainstream" publishers.
1. Print books with horizontal (landscape) layouts, also, rather than just vertical (portrait) layouts.
2. Cheaper color printing. Even coming down to 6 cents a page would drastically improve pricing and distribution capabilities.
3. Drop the annual title "catalog" fees. With 500,000 titles, do you really need $12 a title a year? (Did I just answer my own question?)
4. Allow digital certification after 25 titles, rather than 50.
5. Bring the publisher-ordered print costs down to the same price as vendor-ordered books.
6. Develop the capability for color inserts, rather than just full-color versus black-and-white books.
7. Work with Ingram to create a marketing catalog for libraries and bookstores that doesn't discriminate against POD books
8. Convince Amazon to accept LSI ebooks again. It's not like their own ebook program has taken off.
9. Make the discount program for higher-quantity orders standard, not just the occasional promotion.
10. Decrease the cover replacement "correction fee." $50 a shot is a bit high.
1. Print books with horizontal (landscape) layouts, also, rather than just vertical (portrait) layouts.
2. Cheaper color printing. Even coming down to 6 cents a page would drastically improve pricing and distribution capabilities.
3. Drop the annual title "catalog" fees. With 500,000 titles, do you really need $12 a title a year? (Did I just answer my own question?)
4. Allow digital certification after 25 titles, rather than 50.
5. Bring the publisher-ordered print costs down to the same price as vendor-ordered books.
6. Develop the capability for color inserts, rather than just full-color versus black-and-white books.
7. Work with Ingram to create a marketing catalog for libraries and bookstores that doesn't discriminate against POD books
8. Convince Amazon to accept LSI ebooks again. It's not like their own ebook program has taken off.
9. Make the discount program for higher-quantity orders standard, not just the occasional promotion.
10. Decrease the cover replacement "correction fee." $50 a shot is a bit high.
Labels: books, lsi, publishing
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