Get $100 (of your publishing costs back)

Here is yet another POD review site--and it comes with a bonus: the blogger is giving away $100 for the best reviewed book (on his blog) with a copyright of 2006 or 2007. And, like me, he only reviews the books that are worthy (thus saving you the knowledge that, in fact, most POD books are terrible). The submission guidelines are here. There is no fee to enter.

And he accepts poetry and erotica (unlike me).

Who says you can't make a lot of money using POD?

Holy mackerel/cannoli/guacamole.

There must be a serious need for men to become alpha males. [I've deleted my own commentary here.]

This paperback book, published via Lulu, is 272 pages and selling at a whopping $49.97. That's 18 cents per page (to be compared to a mass market paperback of 400 pages at $8.00--or 2 cents per page.)

This book must really resolve the [shortcomings] of a lot of men [deleted commentary] because the book is currently ranked 4,155 on Amazon (and this is not a fluke; this book has been consistently ranked under 10,000--at one point as low as 953.) I can see why it is selling so well, as it is dubbed "The lazy man's way to easy success with 20 or more women a month." Although, I'm confused, because all women already love lazy guys--right up there with abusers and infidels. Furthermore, the book is ranked 3 on Lulu (no small feat; have you ever seen how many books they sell?) and, astonishingly, sells for $48 there as well.

Based on Lulu's own Book Cost Calculator, the cost to produce the book is $9.98--which leaves $38 in profit (if purchased from Lulu--I realize the profit drops when purchased through Amazon and the like, not to mention that Lulu takes a small piece of the pie as well--something like 20% of the royalty.)

But let's play it conservatively and say the author gets $27 per unit. If he sells only 2,000 copies (he will, if he hasn't already), he's made $54,000--far more than the average midlist author published by a major house.

So there you go. All you need to do is find [deleted commentary] to buy your paperback book for $50.

And best of luck with that.

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If you're bored and looking for a way to abuse your company's computers and Internet connectivity, check out this post on Gawker about Publishers Lunch Deals. There is great potential in the "mad lib" they have posted, but so far no entries (in the comments) have beaten most of the real deals posted every day.

Priming the Needle.

That makes no sense, but you probably got my point.

Yes, we here at POD-Dy Mouth Global Incineration and Fine Produce are looking at this year's potential Needle nominees. And it is going to be tough--even tougher than last year.

I was hoping to find 20 titles to review this year, but I am probably going to have to settle for 15 or 16. The biggest difference between 2005 and 2006 is that last year I reviewed self-published titles that were good, excellent, and outstanding. This year, I only reviewed the outstanding ones--which means it is going to be very difficult to leave some books out of the running.

Not to mention that I am not going to nominate 10 books like last year. It will likely be one category only (with more judges) and no more than five titles.

The other factor here (though playing no role in title selection) is that so many of this year's picks already have agents attached. Last year, all but one of the authors were unrepresented. This year, close to a third of the authors have acquired agents already.

In any case, I must reiterate how astounded I am that books as well-written and compelling as those I have reviewed are drifting out in the ether. What a shame. I hope above all things that you have checked out some of these books and realized that there are some talented authors buried in obscurity. And the point of the Needles is to change that for the better.

Stay tuned. Needle nominees should be announced at some point in February.

After the awards are handed out, get ready for some changes here at the Mouth. And I'm not just talking better cheese trays in the conference room.