I swear. If I was the entrepreneur behind one of these independent publishers, I'd just pack it in.
I think you need to define who "these independent publishers" are. The discussion is about Mundania on this particular thread.
Do you really think these people are making a fortune here?
No, I don't, but that isn't the issue. Very few POD companies make money because they lack proper funding in the first place. Furthermore, they can't get distribution, nor can they place their titles on store shelves. They don't have the money to hire publicity folks, and their books will never be reviewed by the big trade magazines. Lastly, they make their money off the backs of their unpaid sales force: their own authors. Whether their intentions are purely benevolent or not, they simply can't get the job done properly.
they're doing it because they love the industry (god knows why), or because they love books.
I think it's a foregone conclusion that we all love books. This is a fascinating industry, and we get to meet many wonderful and talented people all the time. However, if you truly love books and authors, then you want to do the very best for them, and that's doing things right. POD companies can't do this because they lack money. A lack of money spells doom for the author by way of inferior editing, cover and interior design, marketing and promotion, reviews, shelf placement, and proper sales representation.
This site needs to get of its high horse and respect the efforts that these people put in for what I expect is at best a decent living.
High horse? I don't see where this is happening. Let's not forget the purpose of this forum; bewares. As for a decent living, you're in dream land. It takes years to make a quasi head-above-water living for a publisher, and it's downright laughable to think that any POD (outside of Publish America) is making anything but a dismal return on their investment.
Two months is nothing and if you pull your ms, it's only because you can't handle waiting (they require no exclusive),
I agree with you. This is the problem with PODs in general. They put forth the notion of entitlement - that every author deserves to be published - and that is crap. They need those quick turnarounds because they need a constant flow of new stock because this equals new authors buying their own books. Where I may publish eight books a year, a POD needs to publish 25-30 because they have no idea who will buy books and who won't.
Mundania and other PODs are generally backlogged due to the huge submission rate because they accept all genres. This is particularly alarming because they can't possibly do justice to editing all genres. But authors don't care, and they continue to submit because the desire to be published is stronger than the desire to be published right. And this is why PODs will never die.
There is such a passive aggressive herding instinct in frustrated authors to hammer away at what I view are decent people working really hard to help break past the traditional publisher stigma. Why aren't we cheering these guys? They produce good books. No one should be allowed to slander unless they've sampled the stock and found it wanting...
Good gravy, have you actually read this thread? We've outlined any number of ways that this company is hardly working for the good of the author. It's more a game of barely keeping their financial heads above water. You actually think browbeating authors to sell more books is "breaking the traditional publisher stigma"? Trade publishing is not broken, and this old and sorry line is trailed out by every POD company in order to justify their inferior business methods.
I've not read a Mundania book or any other POD's, but let's just say that you get what you pay for. If you can't afford to hire experienced editors for every genre (because, after all, they accept all genres), book designers and interior designers, then I daresay their books can't possibly hold a candle to a trade publisher. I see no reason to cheer, but rather, I feel badly for any writer whose impatience to be published overrides common sense.