Definition
Print on demand
Print on demand manufactures a copy only once it is ordered, removing inventory and minimum print runs. It is how most self-published paperbacks reach readers.
The trade is unit economics against risk: a print-on-demand copy costs more to make than one from an offset run of a thousand, but nothing is printed unless it sells and nothing sits in a garage. It also constrains the book — a fixed set of trim sizes, paper stocks and binding options, tighter colour tolerance, and margin and gutter requirements published as rules rather than preferences. Design to those rules first; they are not negotiable at upload.
Related tools & guides
See your manuscript as a typeset book
Ceeryo typesets your .docx manuscript into a print-ready interior PDF at your chosen trim size, plus a clean EPUB. It sets the typography; your words never change.