E-books may be the future of publishing, but print editions continue to make up a large portion of book sales, and, for many indie authors, printing remains a crucial aspect of the self-publishing process.
One of the most popular ways indie authors print physical books is through POD-or print-on-demand-services. The clearest benefit of using a POD service is that authors don't have to spend money printing large quantities of physical books that customers may or may not end up buying; with POD, authors only have to print as many books as they sell.