Which POD Printer Fits Your Publishing Situation? A Procurement Manager's Decision Framework
I've managed our publishing company's POD budget—around $145,000 annually—for six years now. Negotiated with probably a dozen vendors. Tracked every invoice in our procurement system. And here's what I've learned: there's no universal "best" print-on-demand service.
The question everyone asks is "which POD printer should I use?" The question they should ask is "which POD printer fits my specific situation?"
Let me break this down into the scenarios I actually see.
First: How I'm Categorizing This
After analyzing $180,000+ in cumulative spending across 6 years (and comparing notes with other procurement folks in publishing), I've found that POD decisions break down along three main axes:
- Distribution priority: Do you need global retail reach, or are you selling direct?
- Volume pattern: Steady trickle or unpredictable spikes?
- Quality threshold: Publisher-grade or "good enough"?
Your answers determine which service makes sense. Not marketing claims. Not whoever has the lowest per-unit price. Your actual operational reality.
Scenario A: You Need Serious Retail Distribution
If you're trying to get books into Barnes & Noble, independent bookstores, or international retailers—and I mean actually get them there, not theoretically be "available"—you're looking at Ingram-connected options.
Lightning Source operates as Ingram Content Group's POD manufacturing arm. What this means in practice: when a retailer orders through Ingram's catalog system, the book prints and ships from whichever Lightning Source facility is closest. I've tracked orders that fulfilled from Tennessee, UK, and Australia depending on where the buyer was.
This worked for us, but our situation was a mid-size publisher with 200+ titles needing consistent retail availability. Your mileage may vary if you're publishing one memoir for family distribution.
The cost reality: Lightning Source's per-unit printing costs tend to run higher than direct-to-consumer POD services. In Q2 2024, when we compared quotes for a standard 6×9 paperback, 250 pages:
- Lightning Source: approximately $4.50-5.00 per unit (this was our actual quote; verify current pricing)
- Consumer-focused POD services: often $3.00-4.00 range
That 25-30% difference looks bad until you calculate what you're getting. The Ingram wholesale discount structure, the catalog listing, the retailer relationships—that's not "extra cost." That's distribution infrastructure.
I should add that Lightning Source requires publisher accounts and has setup fees per title. This isn't a "upload and print" consumer service. If you're expecting Amazon KDP-style simplicity, you'll be frustrated.
Scenario B: You're Selling Direct and Want Maximum Margin
Different situation entirely. If you're driving traffic to your own site, fulfilling orders yourself, and retail distribution isn't the priority—the calculus changes.
Here, per-unit cost matters more. You're not paying for distribution infrastructure you won't use.
We tested this with a client project in 2023. They had an established audience, sold primarily through their website, and didn't care about bookstore presence. We ran the numbers:
Using their existing Lightning Source setup: ~$5.20/unit including shipping to their warehouse
Switching to a direct-fulfillment POD: ~$4.10/unit
That $1.10 difference across 3,000 annual units? $3,300. Not trivial.
The tradeoff: they lost the option to easily expand into retail later. And when they did want to test bookstore distribution two years later... that's a whole new setup process.
Put another way: optimizing for today's model can create friction for tomorrow's pivot.
Scenario C: You Need Both, But Volumes Are Unpredictable
This is where it gets complicated. I can only speak to domestic operations mainly, but here's what we've seen.
Some publishers need retail availability for legitimacy (libraries, course adoptions, the occasional bookstore order) but 80% of actual sales come direct. Volumes spike unpredictably—a podcast mention, a conference, seasonal academic ordering.
The question isn't "Lightning Source vs. alternatives." It's "how do I structure this so I'm not overpaying during slow periods or scrambling during spikes?"
One approach we've used: maintain Lightning Source for retail/wholesale channel (accepting higher per-unit costs as the price of availability), but handle direct sales through a lower-cost POD service.
Sounds complicated. It is. But when I audited our 2023 spending for a client in this situation, the hybrid approach saved roughly 17% versus single-vendor.
Should mention: this only makes sense above certain volumes. Below maybe 500 units annually, the administrative overhead of managing multiple vendors probably isn't worth it.
Scenario D: International Is the Priority
If your readers are primarily outside the US—or you're based outside the US and shipping domestically is expensive—global POD footprint matters.
Lightning Source has facilities in the US, UK, and Australia (if I remember correctly, there's also France and others in the network now). Books print closer to buyers. Shipping costs and times drop.
I tracked one title with strong UK sales. Before switching to Lightning Source's global network: average shipping cost to UK buyers was $8-12, delivery 10-14 days. After: books printed in UK facility, shipping dropped to £3-4, delivery 3-5 days.
The assumption is that "global distribution" just means books are available internationally. The reality is it means books manufacture internationally, which is a completely different cost structure.
If you're dealing with international logistics, there are probably factors I'm not aware of—local VAT handling, customs documentation, returns processing. Our experience is mainly US-centric with some UK volume.
What About Quality? The Part Everyone Asks About
Most buyers focus on price and completely miss print quality consistency, which varies more than you'd think across POD services.
Industry standard color tolerance is Delta E < 2 for brand-critical colors. Delta E of 2-4 is noticeable to trained observers; above 4 is visible to most people. (Reference: Pantone Color Matching System guidelines)
In practice: we've seen cover color vary noticeably between print runs on some services. Lightning Source has been more consistent in our experience, though I want to say we've had maybe 2-3 batches over six years where something was off. Not perfect. But better than average.
For text-heavy books with simple covers? Quality differences between major POD services are minimal. For color-critical work, photography books, anything where the visual matters? Test print from multiple services before committing. Period.
The Cost Comparison Nobody Does Correctly
Here's where my procurement brain kicks in. People compare per-unit printing costs and stop there.
Real TCO (total cost of ownership) for POD includes:
- Per-unit print cost
- Setup/onboarding fees per title
- Annual account fees (some services have these)
- File revision fees
- Shipping to warehouse or direct-to-customer
- Returns handling costs
- Distribution fees/wholesale discounts
- Your time managing the relationship
In 2024, I compared costs across 4 vendors for a 15-title catalog. Vendor with lowest per-unit price came in 3rd on total annual cost once I factored everything in.
That "free setup" offer from one vendor actually cost us more when I calculated the revision fees we'd inevitably incur. We make file changes on maybe 30% of titles annually. $25/revision × 5 titles × average 2 revisions = $250 in "free setup" hidden fees.
How to Figure Out Which Scenario You're In
Alright. Practical guidance.
You're likely Scenario A (distribution priority) if:
- You want books in physical bookstores or library systems
- Wholesale/retail sales are more than 30% of your revenue
- You're publishing for authors who expect "real" distribution
- International retail matters
You're likely Scenario B (direct sales priority) if:
- You have an existing audience you sell to directly
- Bookstore presence isn't important to you or your authors
- Maximizing per-unit margin is critical
- You're handling fulfillment yourself anyway
You're likely Scenario C (hybrid) if:
- You need retail "availability" but most sales are direct
- Your volume justifies managing multiple vendors
- You have unpredictable demand spikes
You're likely Scenario D (international) if:
- More than 25% of sales ship outside your home country
- International shipping costs are eating your margins
- Delivery time to international buyers is a complaint you hear
My Actual Recommendation Process
When evaluating for a new title or catalog, I run this checklist:
- Where will this actually sell? (Be honest, not aspirational)
- What's the realistic annual volume?
- What's the quality threshold for this specific content?
- What's our price point, and what margin do we need?
- Do we need flexibility to change direction later?
Then I calculate TCO for at least two options. Usually takes me about an hour per title for a proper comparison. Worth it.
Even after choosing, I kept second-guessing on a few decisions. What if the quality wasn't consistent? What if volumes changed? The first few orders were always a little stressful until patterns established.
That's normal. Doesn't mean the analysis was wrong.
One More Thing
People think expensive vendors deliver better quality. Actually, vendors who deliver consistent quality can charge more. The causation runs the other way. And "consistent" matters more than "best single sample."
I've seen beautiful proof copies from services that couldn't replicate that quality at scale. Test multiple units. Not just one.
In my experience managing POD across 200+ titles over six years, the lowest quote has cost us more in probably 40% of cases. Not always. But often enough that I now budget time for proper comparison rather than defaulting to cheapest.
Your situation will be different. But the framework—scenario identification, TCO calculation, quality testing—that part's transferable.
