The New York Times on POD Publishing

Sunday's New York Times Book Review carried an article about the popularity of POD publishing. The author of the blog POD-DY MOUTH said that it is the same article about POD that appears every eighteen months. I agree. Then she wrote that the article showed that agents and publishers are beginning to take note of POD publishing without offering any convincing evidence to prove her claim. Certainly, I saw nothing to that effect in the article.

Look, there's a simple reason that stories about POD publishing keep appearing. Years ago, Harlan Ellison quoted the late Stanley Elkin, who said that every reader thinks he can be a writer. Who reads the NYTBR? Habitual readers. Likely, they are wannabe writers as well. And all but a small perecentage of them will suffer rejection at the hands of reputable trade publishers. Thus, these readers/writers are eager to read about POD publishing. Otherwise, this article would have appeared in the paper's business section.