‘Podding’ means teaming up with one of the new breed of  ‘print-on-demand’ publishers like Dragoncub, who can take a manuscript, edit and format the content quickly and efficiently and have your book ready to print and ship as soon as an order comes in.

This cuts overheads by removing the need for large print runs and storage that comes with traditional

Authors can keep a larger slice of the royalties and their rights to the content as a POD publisher only takes a percentage of the retail price to cover printing, marketing and distribution costs.

Publication chances are also increased because the publisher’s risk is reduced because they are not investing huge sums in royalties and pre-sales costs.

This does not mean every book submitted is published, but the POD business model allows the publisher to take more chances with books that may not notch up sales like the Harry Potter series.

also offer a broad selling base, whether it's through their own or online giants such as Amazon. They also have access to other distribution channels that reach thousands of retailers, like high street stores, libraries and other online merchants.

For instance Dragoncub, you can publish a hard or soft cover edition of your book or short stories and set your own retail price – you keep 80% of the selling price, which is a far higher royalty than you would earn from a traditional publisher.

If you decide to sell a hard back for £12.99, as the author you will collect £10.39 from each sale without having to repay any advance on royalties.

Dragoncub in more than 40 categories for children and adults and if you are a first-time or a published author, offers a fast and inexpensive way to put your book in front of your readers.