For pure Print on Demand (no CDs/DVDs) the big player is Lightning Source (www.lightningsource.com). They only work with publishers so you need to have a company to use their services and you will need to purchase an ISBN (www.isbn.org). They are owned by the same company as Ingram Book Group, which is the biggest book wholesaler in the US.

The big book sellers have access to the Lightning electronic catalog so your book automatically shows as available. For example, your book will automatically be available on Amazon (either in their warehouse or as POD from Lightning). Benefits to small publishers are listed here http://lightningsource.com/benefits_small.aspx. The disadvantage with Lightning is that they expect you to know what you are doing and will not hold your hand through the process. Book Surge may be a good option for the first book and then with the additional experience give Lightning a try. With Lightning you pay the actual cost to produce and ship the product and you receive what is left over, usually about 50% of the list price.

Book Surge (www.booksurge.com) is similar except that it is owned by Amazon, smaller distribution reach, they are the publisher and own the ISBN they provide to your book, and they pay you a 35% royalty based on the list price. Book Surge also offers services to prepare your book for printing including editing, cover graphics, formatting, etc.

For fulfillment of various physical products we use Fulfilled By Amazon (FBA) (http://www.amazon.com/gp/seller/fba/...by-amazon.html). Their FBA system was a little buggy at first, but it is much more stable now. It is pretty hard to beat their systems for delivering products around the globe quickly. Customers also seem more comfortable and provide higher feedback when they buy through FBA. Shelf space cost seems reasonable and the process of shipping your inventory to their warehouse is quite simple… once they walk you through it once. Their support is great, just click on help, then contact me, and a rep will call you at the phone number you have on file within a minute or two. Costs depend on the size of your product (cost of shelf space per cubic foot), cost of shipping (lighter and media products are better of course), a percent of sales, and also a single $1 charge (depending on pricing option you select). This generally works out to about 25% - 35% for us, which is worth it if it saves several hours and a trip to the post office each day.