POD publishers often set your book price a couple dollars higher than a regular traditional publisher, which may deter some readers from buying.
One of the main pros to POD publishing is bypassing the time-consuming process of regular publishing: searching for a publisher, pitching your book, receiving rejection letters, finding a book agent and more. With POD, you simply submit your manuscript. The printing, selling and distribution are all taken care of, to a large extent.
Print On Demand publishing has a reputation for bad print quality (can be faded), and lacking aesthetic appeal (which can reduce sales because a cover is selling potential), and unprofessional design and print. Furthermore, many buyers can get turned off once learning it is a POD-published work. They draw the unwarranted conclusion it was not good enough for traditional publishing.
Every published book requires marketing, or no one will even know it exists. Traditional publishers take care of all that, from mailing review copies to magazines to printing brochures and signs advertising your book release. They also help you arrange book signings. Unless you are well versed in marketing and advertising, this may come as a challenge for you and you may end up putting even more money into marketing services then you would have for other types of publishing.
Many writers do not want their masterpieces to be changed, and many traditional publishing companies will even change the ending, title, appearance and more. With POD, you have total creative control over your published book, where you can choose an editor (or edit yourself), the artwork and everything else. If you do want help, many POD companies provide you with templates.
After you submit your book to POD, it is available for sale usually within about three months or less (particularly if you assist with the design or provide it completely). Traditional publishing methods can take more than a year.
With POD, you can earn up to 50 percent for each book sold; a traditional publisher will only provide (on average) a 10 percent commission. You can sell the books yourself through a website or advertising, ordering them directly from the POD publisher. Traditional publishers don't allow this option. They want all orders through them because they have exclusive rights.