[Below is my response to a question one writer asked me.] There is no fee to have a book published if you go the traditional publishing route. The publisher pays the author. You may be thinking of using a subsidy publisher (sometimes called a POD publisher or self-publishing company; both are misnomers) or of self-publishing. . . .
Just about ten years ago I laid out a fund-raising recipe book for Gloria Council No. 3 of IDES. I got involved in other things and the project lapsed. Then a few months ago someone called me wanting one of those books. Of course none were to be had.
POD is a process: Print On Demand. Any printshop running a digital press — such as a DocuTech, an Indigo, an iGen, a Nuvera — can provide POD services. They print only the quantity you need. There’s no minimum of 500 or 1,000 copies. Kinko’s and AlphaGraphics are POD shops, just as Lightning Source is. . . .