Traditional publishers and book-sellers such as Thomas Nelson, Harlequin, Amazon and B&N, along with Apple, now are dipping their toes into the self-publishing waters.
Lulu, which printed more than 2.5 million books in 2009 using multiple POD providers, announced an IPO in March to raise $50 million. Author Solutions, which includes AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Trafford, Wordclay, Inkubook and Xlibris, signed an agreement in March for Amazon to distribute new black-and-white titles through the Kindle. Blurb's revenue grew 50 percent in 2009 over the prior year to $45 million. The company is now eyeing further penetration of the European market. Scribd.com recently added premium options for customers to have paperback books produced on-demand by Blurb.