View From the Publishing Trenches

Is Lightning Source Inc. (LSI) the answer to the conundrum faced by self-publishers (or other small publishers)?

Well, that depends on exactly what the question is. And what your goals are. And the specifics of your book project.

What does LSI do for the little guys (aka indies)? Quite a bit, actually. For example:

• True print-on-demand publishing (one copy or hundreds, or even thousands) at affordable unit costs (affordable meaning you can manage to offer reasonable discounts and still make a profit)
• A side-door entry into the Ingram Book catalog (making your books readily available to retailers and libraries)
• Instant availability on Amazon.com (so far, Amazon has not tried to remove buy buttons from self- or micro-published books despite their recent attacks on the subsidy press businesses)

However, merely being in Ingram’s catalog with a reasonable discount may not be enough. You probably need to make your books returnable. And, as Shakespeare put it, “There’s the rub.”

Scenario: You gloat over multi-book orders from some bookstores and ship them right out. Your LSI account shows those sales and your profit on them. Three months later, LSI puts that money in your checking account. Great, right? Run right out and spend it supplies and such, right?

Not so fast, bubba. Three, or six or more, months after that money hits your bank account, bookstores may start returning the ones that didn’t sell. And your LSI account will start showing chargebacks. As Ron Pramschufer notes in his Bookstore Distribution—Self Publishing Dream come true or The Emperor’s New Clothes? article, “Books are returnable FOREVER.”

So, is LSI the answer? Well, it can certainly be part of the answer, but you have to carefully weigh all the variables and options (learning as much as you can about how the industry really works and how your decisions may affect your business).

Besides, LSI need not be considered instead of other printing options. It can just as easily be used in addition to them. For instance, you might use LSI for printing books destined for Amazon and libraries (and some bookstores who prefer to order through Ingram), while printing some copies with an offset printer for direct-to-consumer, back-of-the-room, and/or distributor sales. You don’t have to treat the decision as an either-or one, but rather as an either-or-both decision.

Evaluate the options carefully. Consider how much you can risk (i.e., afford to lose). Run the numbers with as many what-if scenarios as you can think of.

Then decide. Not before.