Real world cost:
Out of the gross revenue for each
hardcover book, the publisher pays about $3.25 to print, store and ship the book, including unsold copies returned to the publisher by booksellers.
For paperback, manufacturing and marketing costs average around $1 but may go higher or lower depending on the title. Most of these costs will decline on a per-unit basis as a book sells more copies.
Quote:
Now let’s look at an e-book. Under the agreements with Apple, the publishers will set the consumer price and the retailer will act as an agent, earning a 30 percent commission on each sale. So on a $12.99 e-book, the publisher takes in $9.09. Out of that gross revenue, the publisher pays about 50 cents to convert the text to a digital file, typeset it in digital form and copy-edit it. Marketing is about 78 cents.
The author’s royalty — a subject of fierce debate between literary agents and publishing executives — is calculated among some of the large trade publishers as 25 percent of the gross revenue, while others are calculating it off the consumer price. So on a $12.99 e-book, the royalty could be anywhere from $2.27 to $3.25.
All that leaves the publisher with something ranging from $4.56 to $5.54, before paying overhead costs or writing off unearned advances.
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So you figure that 50 cents to make an ebook alone is far off from the several dollars that some companies proclaim. Others that you see for only a few dollars just means that the author was paid and very few people will enjoy the books, so the selling company has it basically at cost.