Publishing with a POD - Cover Copyrights

[AUTHOR 2 U BOOKS P.K. PARKER]

POD
Publishing with a Print on Demand Publishing House is a big step. I have had my first novel LOOK INTO THE EYES OF EVIL published with Authorhouse, and after I came to the realisation that Authorhouse would not do anything for me in the advertising area without paying through the nose, I decided to fire Authorhouse, and republish my novel again on my own. Authorhouse on the other hand threatened me with a law suit, if I would use my old cover trying to force me to keep them on just because I may've spend alot of money on advertising the book with their cover. Well, I made the decision to create my own cover since I hadn't spend much money on advertising the old one. Did I make the right decision?
You darn right I did. Authorhouse or any other POD for that matter does not define the copyright's for the cover in their contract. So be aware of that issue. I would make sure it is stipulated in your contract that once you leave the publisher, that the cover is your copyright!
Has anyone of you had such problems with your book with any publisher?
Petra

[Mary E. Trimble]

I've had two books published through POD. The first time around, Rosemount and McClellan's Bluff were e-published and then print-published through Atlantic Bridge. Booksurge was the POD printer and that worked very well for many years. Then, for some reason Booksurge would only take orders for books through the publisher and that became expensive. So I withdrew from Atlantic Bridge and just used Booksurge. Since they had done it originally, it was a relatively simple process--used the same cover, etc. Of course, I obtained a full release from the original publisher.

Booksurge has a lot of information for authors. You can buy into some of the programs at varying rates, but they have a lot of free stuff--on-line seminars, etc. that is very worthwhile.

My next book, Tenderfoot, will be published through a traditional publisher, Treble Heart Books. I think one of the advantages there is that the books are less expensive to order in quantity.

I think is most cases, it's up to the author to take charge of the publicity. I don't think we can expect the publishing houses to put out much for that, unless you're a big name.