A control method for a publisher that has a media drive for writing data to one side of a target disc, a label printer for printing on the other side of the target disc, media stacker for storing the target discs, and a media transportation mechanism for transporting the target disc at least any one of the media drive, the label printer, and the media stacker in response to a command from a host computer reports an error to a host computer when the target disc cannot be transported as instructed by the host computer.