[MLKatz]

So I am sitting on my proof copy of Raft People. I have had reminders from Createspace to hit the print button.

The digital version has been up since September. Publishing my first novel in any form has been a wild ride and still feels like a dream. But it feels so special to hold an actual printed copy of my book. Why am I so darned scared to hit the POD button and put print copies up for sale?

Did any of you guys feel that way? The leap from digital to print just seems so big.

 

[swcleveland]

Like Nike says:  "Just DO it!" 

I think you'll find that, for us indies, the e-book market is far stronger than print anyway.

Good luck! 

 

[gljones]

Like Nike says: "Just DO it!"

I think you'll find that, for us indies, the e-book market is far stronger than print anyway.

Good luck!

Yes indeed, for me it's about 100 ebooks per 1 print. It's getting into "is it worth it?" territory. But of course it is because it's free.

 

[vrabinec]

I think the fear of POD is the cost, no?

 

[Quiss]

Do eeeeeeet !!!  <-- peer pressure

I sold one the other day. Probably my friend Kim, but it was cool
Mothers and aunts also really like seeing it in paper.

 

[an758GnQExU249]

I think the fear of POD is the cost, no?

There is no cost with CS except the cost of the proof and the $25 if you want to use the full distribution service.

 

[Amanda Brice]

Every day that you have a digital copy but not a print copy is a day that you're potentially leaving money on the table, particularly the fact that you just went through the biggest print-buying season of the year (Christmas) and you didn't have a print version.

My ratio of print to ebooks varies. Some months I sell 10 times as many ebooks as print. Some months I sell 10 times as many print books as digital. But even if I only sold 1 copy per month, it would still be worth it just to have a copy to hold in my hands and put on my shelves. Plus, they make great giveaways.

 

[vrabinec]

There is no cost with CS except the cost of the proof and the $25 if you want to use the full distribution service.

How much is the print copy, though? That's the cost, right? Last time I looked into POD, the printers wanted something like $25 per paperback for a 100K book. Pretty tough to sell that with a markup on it.

 

[Amanda Brice]

Last time I looked into POD, the printers wanted something like $25 per paperback for a 100K book. Pretty tough to sell that with a markup on it.

How much profit do you want? No seriously, that's what it comes down to.

I did the print formatting for the 13-story anthology shown in my bio (Eternal Spring -- ebook copy is free, but the print copy is not). It came to 93,221 words per the Microsoft Word wordcount. We're selling it on Amazon for a list price of $7.49...which means we earn 0 royalties. (Which we figured was fair once we paid for our editing and cover art costs, since the ebook was a freebie for promotional purposes. We didn't want to earn royalties on the print version because it would just be way too difficult to split 13 ways.)

If we set the price to $8.99 (which I will admit it was at first), then we would earn 90 cents per copy. Bring the price up to $9.99, and we'd earn $1.50 per copy.

We would have to charge at least $11.49 in order to get into the Expanded Distribution network (which we decided to pass on so we could keep the list price low, since the ebook is free and it was written for promo purposes anyway). If we charged $11.49, then we would earn 10 cents per copy sold through Expanded Distribution (bookstores, libraries, academic institutions), and $2.40 per copy sold through Amazon.

If we charged $24.99, then we would be earning $10.50 per copy sold through Amazon and $5.50 per copy sold through Expanded Distribution.

Anyway, I think it's probably been a while since you looked into pricing for POD.

 

[HAGrant]

Raft People looks like a really cool book.  I glanced inside the Look Inside feature on Amazon. One thing, it shows up on my computer with no paragraph indents and no spaces between the paragraphs, so it's hard to read the text. Sometimes the Look Inside feature changes the text, though.

 

[MLKatz]

Do eeeeeeet !!! <-- peer pressure

I sold one the other day. Probably my friend Kim, but it was cool
Mothers and aunts also really like seeing it in paper.

You are always insightful. Yeah, I was thinking that my mom would be really happy to have an actual book to show off though she loves her Kindle. I hit the button like a scared little worm. It was such a weird feeling to sit down with my book.

I already paid (a little) to have the MS formatted, so it looks fine. It's not the cost. I paid for the expanded distribution too, though from what I've read - it is probably not worth it.

It's just that I've uploaded about 5 revisions since I went live in digital form. Like I can't go around burning every book in case somebody finds a huge blunder that my editor and eagle eyed readers have somehow missed.

 

[vrabinec]

How much profit do you want? No seriously, that's what it comes down to.

I did the print formatting for the 13-story anthology shown in my bio (Eternal Spring -- ebook copy is free, but the print copy is not). It came to 93,221 words per the Microsoft Word wordcount. We're selling it on Amazon for a list price of $7.49...which means we earn 0 royalties. (Which we figured was fair once we paid for our editing and cover art costs, since the ebook was a freebie for promotional purposes. We didn't want to earn royalties on the print version because it would just be way too difficult to split 13 ways.)

If we set the price to $8.99 (which I will admit it was at first), then we would earn 90 cents per copy. Bring the price up to $9.99, and we'd earn $1.50 per copy.

We would have to charge at least $11.49 in order to get into the Expanded Distribution network (which we decided to pass on so we could keep the list price low, since the ebook is free and it was written for promo purposes anyway). If we charged $11.49, then we would earn 10 cents per copy sold through Expanded Distribution (bookstores, libraries, academic institutions), and $2.40 per copy sold through Amazon.

If we charged $24.99, then we would be earning $10.50 per copy sold through Amazon and $5.50 per copy sold through Expanded Distribution.

Anyway, I think it's probably been a while since you looked into pricing for POD.

How many do they make you run off at a time? Is that the price if you just wnat 1?

 

[MLKatz]

Raft People looks like a really cool book. I glanced inside the Look Inside feature on Amazon. One thing, it shows up on my computer with no paragraph indents and no spaces between the paragraphs, so it's hard to read the text. Sometimes the Look Inside feature changes the text, though.

Hi, thanks and I do see paragraph indents on the look inside (once you get past the cover blah, blah blah stuff). plus they show up as I read it in my phone Kindle app. And the proof is fine.

Ahhh, see that's just the kind of thing that makes me jumpy though.

 

[A. Rosaria]

I did not give it a second thought once I had it proofed. I just pressed the button. I like pressing buttons, especially red ones with danger written under.

 

[Amanda Brice]

How many do they make you run off at a time? Is that the price if you just wnat 1?

POD stands for print-on-demand. In other words, every book is manufactured separately. There are no discounts for bulk orders, because there are no print runs. So the price I quoted you is the price, period.

(The "cost" price of the particular book I quoted you is $4.35/copy, so I can purchase it for $4.35/copy if I buy directly through Createspace using my author account, but we have to charge at least $7.49 in order to sell through Amazon...and make zero profit.)

 

[Carradee]

How many do they make you run off at a time? Is that the price if you just wnat 1?

POD = "Print on Demand". If you want 1, they print 1. If you want 1k, they print 1k.

When you start selling the book, they take the manufacturing costs + a percentage of the profits. If you want to buy a copy for yourself, you pretty much just pay manufacturing costs.

For example, to make a profit from Expanded Distribution, the paperbacks for A Fistful of Fire and A Fistful of Earth cost $14.99 each-but manufacturing costs are less than $5, and that's what I'm charged (plus shipping) if I buy copies myself through CreateSpace. (Therefore someone able to sell books in person might do well by buying copies for themselves and hand-selling at a discount off the cover price.)

So I am sitting on my proof copy of Raft People. I have had reminders from Createspace to hit the print button.

The digital version has been up since September. Publishing my first novel in any form has been a wild ride and still feels like a dream. But it feels so special to hold an actual printed copy of my book. Why am I so darned scared to hit the POD button and put print copies up for sale?

Did any of you guys feel that way? The leap from digital to print just seems so big.

I stress over "Oooh, I missed something important and there will be some embarrassing typo and I'll attract some meanspirited logical fallacy-loving reviewer because of it and&#8230;"

&#8230;then I take a deep breath and remind myself that it hasn't happened yet-and it'll trouble me far less then, when it actually happens, then it will when I'm currently stressing over it.

 

[DRMarvello]

POD stands for print-on-demand. In other words, every book is manufactured separately. There are no discounts for bulk orders, because there are no print runs. So the price I quoted you is the price, period.

To expand upon what Amanda said, there are three basic ways to get books printed:

• POD Print-on-demand is like Amanda said. The books are printed as they are demanded by the customer. POD printing presses are toner-based technology and can be used for print runs of a single book. They are often drop-shipped by the printer directly to the customer in response to an order from a retailer.
• Short-run Digital Printing uses the same kind of toner-based technology as POD, but you get quantity discounts the more books you order. For example, LSI gives you a 5% discount if you order 50-99 units and higher discounts at higher quantities. Some companies, such as 360 Digital, specialize in this kind of printing.
• Offset Printing uses ink-based technology and is optimized for larger print runs (usually 500 or more books). You can save a lot of money per book if you can justify a large print run (e.g. 2,000 or more units). The books are generally higher quality than those printed with digital (toner) technology.

 

[unkownwriter]

Well, you're just going to have to push that button. I mean it. Don't make me come through the screen and slap you upside the head.

Okay, just kidding.  

But publish already. You've had competent people go over it, you seem to be confident in the formatting. Hit that button, baby! 

 

[cheriereich]

Hit the button ... NOW! 

I used CS for my print books. They not only turned out looking great, but they are wonderful to give as gifts, hand-sale, and put up as a giveaway on Goodreads. As the author, you can purchase cheaper books too than what you sell them for.

 

[Becca Mills]

How many do they make you run off at a time? Is that the price if you just wnat 1?

Yeah, you're thinking of traditional printing, not print on demand. POD is different. No print copies of the book exist until someone buys one. Then the POD company produces one copy and puts it in the mail. There's no cost to the author beyond the initial expenses of cover design, formatting, and getting proof copies mailed to you until you're satisfied with the book. And they look great -- or can, if you put your time in on the design end.

What the book will cost readers seems to depend mostly on its length. I used small dimensions (5x8"), so it's 380 pp. and costs $14.95. I see plenty of them priced at about $10, though

ETA: Better yet, if you find a typo, you can just upload a new book file. I've done it once so far, as there was no break in the book's availability on Amazon. Pretty darn awesome system.