on Jane Friedman site:

Most book printers can be broken down into three main categories:

• POD
• Offset
• Short run

Each category can be defined by the number of books they are best suited to printing. No single form of book printing can claim to be definitively superior to the other two; it all depends on an author’s specific goals.

Before we look at the pros and cons of short-run printing, it’s necessary to understand print-on-demand printing (commonly used by self-publishing authors as well as traditional publishers) and offset printing (used primarily by traditional publishers).

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