Notes from the writing desk: A peek into how pricing works when you self publish a book in print format via CreateSpace, Amazons print arm for self publishers. Its definitely not an arbitrary choice... Theres this handy calculator that takes a few things into consideration like number of pages for a particular size (this varies depending on whether or not the size youve chosen is 6x9, 5.5x8, etc., as well as word count and line spacing), interior illustrations and whether theyre color or B&W, paper color (white or ivory) and the level of distribution you choose (available on Amazon, available to libraries, independent booksellers, etc.) This calculator takes all those things into account and gives you a minimum amount you must charge to take care of manufacturing, Amazons cut for here in the U.S. and whatever other hidden stuff Amazon calculates into the minimum. After that, it gets a little trickier with pricing. I wanted to make MoC available not only here in the U.S. but also internationally, just like the ebook. To do that, I had to price at a dollar level - $13.49 - to cover everyone across the board. So when I got the pricing breakdown back, I make as much on the print copy as the ebook copy if sold in the U.S., less than .25 cents/unit if sold in the UK (this is the one that really determined the pricing) and a little more than $1.50 if sold in the European Union. I could have made it cheaper by choosing a smaller trim size like 5.25 x 8 and using single-line spacing for the text, but I really liked the 5.5 x 8 format and the 1.5 line spacing. It makes the book bigger and thicker, but I think the readability of the 1.5 line spacing is superior to the single line spacing. I really wish they offered mass market paperback size, because then I could price a little better, but so far only tradeback size is available for print-on-demand. My spouse asked me if I thought it was worth doing a print version. My answer was oh hell yeah! Im all for ebooks. Love em. My tablet with the Kindle app is crammed full of books that I can take with me anywhere. The convenience cant be beat. But having that dead tree copy on my shelf makes it a little more real. Not logical, I know, but there it is.
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 18:03:20 +0000
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