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
A print-ready interior, checked
Upload the manuscript and download an exact-trim PDF with embedded fonts and the right gutter for its page count — or check the PDF you already have against KDP's rules first.