What Does it Cost to Publish?

Dan Poynter, the self-publishing guru  wrote:

“Let’s compare prices for traditional ink-press printing, digital PQN (Print Quantity Needed) and POD (Print-On-Demand, one book at a time). We will compare a softcover (perfect bound) 144 page 5.25 x 8.25 book with black text and a four-color cover. These estimates depend on the current prices for paper, labor etc.

1. Press (ink on paper): $1.55 each but you have to print at least 3,000 to get a price this low. So, your print bill will be $4,650.

2. Digital printer (short run): 500 copies for $2.80 each or a print bill of $1,400, or 100 copies for $5.17 each and a print bill of $517. For more details, see The Self-Publishing Manual.

3. POD (single copies): May run $6 to $10 and are often bundled with other services. Print-On-Demand is a good option when a book has run its course, your inventory is exhausted and you still receive orders for a couple of copies a month. Rather than invest in inventory, you can have books made one-at-a-time as needed.

Hardcover:  Most books are manufactured with soft covers, called “perfect binding.” In traditional printing, hard or “case” binding runs about $1.00 extra per book. For digital production, the cost for case binding is $1.65 to $3.25 each, depending on the page count (thickness) of the book. Those prices include the hard covers and the dust jackets. Then there is typesetting which most of us do on our computers, book cover design and other pre-press expenses.

Well before and after the book is printed, it has to be promoted with book reviews, news releases and social media networking on Twitter, Google+, FB, LinkedIn, Pinterest etc. For a book like the one described here, you should budget about $3,000 to $5,000 to get started. A good portion of your budget will be spent on promoting the book after it is printed.

Why not recording your book on tape, disk and download?
You are not just an author or just a publisher or just a book promoter, you are an information provider. Some of your potential customers commute or travel a lot; they do not have time to read your book. But they do have time to listen to it.

You are an expert in your area. You must dispense your information in many ways: Books, magazine articles, audiotape, video tape, seminars, speeches, and private consulting. All of the messages are the same but the delivery method for each is different. Spoken-word recording is an efficient delivery medium. Use your book as a script and record it word for word.”

More tips for REAL self-publishers can be found in his books, his many books I must say.

Register your publishing business
To be found by other authors and potential customers, add your company to these publishing directories:

http://www.publishersglobal.com
http://www.dowse.com/e-book-publishers.html
http://207-171-168-158.amazon.com/kdpforums/index.jspa (forum)

Become a member of the Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Organization. They provide information, resources and opportunities for everyone involved in or interested in publishing, whether you are an author or small publisher.

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Hyper Smash

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