A
relatively recent
technology which involves the digital storage of a
manuscript for easy printing as
demand dictates. It has been useful for both first time self-publishers and long-time
authors who wish to reissue old
out of print books at a low price to a
niche market. The publishers provide the cover, the
ISBN number, and market it to prominent online sites and target groups. When someone orders the book, a copy is
digitally printed,
bound, and shipped within two days.
Authors or
poets who have been
relegated to "publisher is
out of stock" status, can, upon regaining the
rights to their
work, sell to
fans who have been looking for it for years. New authors can have the opportunity to print something that publishers will not
risk. Because print on demand has a low
overhead cost for both publisher and writer, it has
democratized publishing.