Well, as I sit here staring at a 6 year old box of books I had done via POD back in 1998, there are some issues that keep pdf publishers from using POD.
1.) Cost issues - PODs are more expensive in all aspects. Not only is the per unit printing cost more expensive, but the shipping is drastically more expensive when shipping box by box, rather than pallets at a time. On top of that, even though the books are done up on digital printing equipment, a lot of POD print shops insist on continuing to charge exorbant setup fees, even though there's literally less than 5 minutes of set up time involved, as opposed to the hours it can take to set up a job for a traditional print run. This leads to pricing issues, like the $37+ price tag on at least one POD at RPGMall.
2.) Shortcomings of the RPGMall system - RPGMall is built to automatically support distribution, but the model is, to be honest, all messed up.
Here's the typical model:
a.) Publisher pays to print
b.) publisher pays to ship to distributor
c.) publisher gets paid by distributor, usually 40 cents on the dollar
d.) retailer orders from distributor
e.) retailer pays for product, usually at a rate of $0.60 to $0.75 on the dollar, AND shipping from distributor depending on the size of the order. Order enough at one shot and not only do you max out your discount on the sliding scale, but some distributors will even pick up the tab for shipping as well.
Here's the RPGMall model:
a.) publisher pays to print
b.) publisher pays to ship to RPGMall
c.) retailer orders
d.) publisher pays to ship to retailer.
e.) retailer pays RPGMall, likely $0.60 on the dollar, though the discount is flat rate and set by the publisher, so not all products ship with the same percentage discount.
f.) RPGMall takes its cut and pays the publisher $0.36 on the dollar
Under the RPGMall model, the publisher gets screwed twice by not only receiving a smaller end percentage of the retail value, but by also being forced to play a guessing game of factoring RPGMall-to-retailer shipping fees into the MSRP as well (and for this purpose, RPGMall doesn't even provide the vendor information on the shipping method they choose to use to ship to retailers). On top of this, the RPGMall storefront isn't built to provide a discount to the consumers ordering directly from RPGMall, meaning that the consumers both foot the bill for the factored in RPGMall-to-retailer shipping fees as well as the separate shipping fees RPGMall charges the consumer. And to top it off, RPGMall gets a bigger cut of the gaming dollar than most distributors as well ($0.24 on the dollar, compared to the $0.20 on the dollar that distributors get for the majority of their orders).
This leads to an inflated high retail price that keeps publishers, retailers, and consumers away. If RPGMall restructured to match the standard distro model, retail prices there would be more realistic and draw in more products and sales. POD books should cost no more than $5.00 more than the same product in a traditional print run (and that $5 is for BIG, 300+ page books, most books would only be $1 to $2 more).
RPGMall isn't the only problematic POD source. Every time I've had to deal with Lightning Source, they have gone out of their way to screw me over in every last effort to maximize the setup fees they can charge me ($470 in setup fees for 1 book, plus $148 for the first 25 units, or a total of $618, not including shipping. Same done via RPGMall would be about $110 for 25 units w/o shipping). Another POD shop, BookSurge... well, they charge ridiculous rates, up to 250% of other POD shops, plus a setup fee. Bad for business since they're trying to target the RPG industry. And lulu.com, well, you don't know what you're getting into until you set up your first product. They do a lousy, lousy, horrible, nasty job of detailing thier system and fees, so I can't tell if they're advantageous or not. Lulu also has a problem with unusually thin cover stock and odd colors they choose for their page stock (I've heard stories about books printed by them with pink or blue pastel colored paper stock).
2.) Quality - To date, POD still isn't as good as traditional print. They just don't feel right. This is because the pages are done via laserjet, so they just don't feel the same as a page printed via offset press. The other difference is with the covers, with laminates that just don't quite feel right. Don't get me wrong; POD books in the long run are just as durable as traditional print, assuming they come from a reputable print shop. A lot of people just aren't ready to overlook this insignificant difference in perceived quality.
3.)Print Shop Unreliability - I can remember the early days of POD, before the concept was reality, when some unscrupulous but enterprising folks would essentially POD many netbooks in their own basements. The idea survives today on the smaller con circuits, with shady POD sources out there. One can buy an old $200 PII or PIII, a $150 B/W laserjet, $500 color laserjet, and a $400 pad binder and produce POD books that will look and feel like what you can get done in a pro shop. Problem is, about a week after the con, the book falls apart (it's bound like a pad of blank paper, rather than a perfectbound book, after all), and leaves a string of unhappy consumers who want nothing more to do with POD products. Yup you can print a nice looking POD book on a system costing $1200 or a system costing $35,000. Only immediate difference people notice is how long the finished goods last. This is a big reason why LightningSource insists on slapping its logo someplace on your book, so consumers can identify product from at least one reputable POD shop.
To be honest, POD is a good idea for publishers, big and small. In the long run, factoring in all the costs and savings, POD is only slightly more expensive than traditional printing, with the added and always unfactored benefit of immunity to catastrophic incidents. If your storage burns to the ground, replacing the minimal stock you had stored is a simple task without undue financial burden, something that could take months, even years to recover from with traditional printing, and only if you have the finances to recover to begin with.
