Print on demand

 Profits from print-on-demand publishing are on a per-sale basis, and royalties vary depending on the method by which the item is sold. Greatest profits are usually generated from sales direct from a print-on-demand service's website or by the author buying copies from the service at a discount, as the publisher, and then selling them personally. Lesser royalties come from traditional bookshops and online retailers, both of which buy at high discount, although some POD companies allow the publisher or author to set their own discount level. Unless the publisher or author has fixed their discount rate, the greater the volume sold, the less the royalty becomes, as the retailer is able to buy at greater discount.

Because the per-unit cost is typically greater with POD than with a print job of thousands of copies, it is common for POD books to be more expensive than similar books made by conventional print jobs, especially if a book is produced exclusively with POD instead of using POD as a supplemental technology between print jobs.

Book stores order books through a wholesaler or distributor, usually at high discount of as much as 70%. Wholesalers obtain their books in two ways: either as a special order such that the book is ordered direct from a publisher when a book store requests a copy, or as stocked, which they keep in their own warehouse as part of their inventory. Stocked books are usually also available through "sale or return", meaning that the book store can return unsold stock for full credit as much as one year after the initial sale.

POD books are rarely if ever available on such terms because for the publishing provider it is considered too much of a risk. However, wholesalers monitor what works they are selling, and if authors promote their work successfully and achieve a reasonable number of orders from book stores or online retailers (who use the same wholesalers as the stores), then there is a reasonable chance of their work becoming available on such terms.

Although returnability lessens the risk for book stores, only a certain proportion of such stock can be returned. Non-returnability can make bookstores less enthusiastic about POD books.

Many print-on-demand publications are debut works;^{[citation needed]} many bookstores are reluctant to risk an author's first, untested work without the endorsement of a commercial publisher.

Another issue is that these books are not available right away and take time to create (Friedlander). When a customer wants to purchase one of these books, they are less likely to follow through with the sale because they do not get the book that day. They are more likely to go home and order through another company like Amazon.