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BearMountainBooks · 05-19-2011, 06:09 PM

I agree that the sell-through price is about 1 to 6 dollars. The problem with the one dollar price is that you can't sell enough to make a profit in a reasonable time-frame.

I've tried it with an anthology--and it simply takes too long to make enough of a profit to help pay for the next book. There are some fixed costs even with backlist--cover art for example. It's difficult to put together a decent cover for under 200 dollars. It's difficult to hire a proof-reader for under 100 dollars. But let's say those are the costs for an individual (author) doing the work. We'll assume the author scanned the book herself rather than pay to have it scanned/converted.

If an author sells 300 copies of the backlist book at 99 cents, she still hasn't earned out on her costs (and I'm low-balling the costs.) So that means to make a profit, she has to sell about 1000 copies. Okay, doable. But so far, that author hasn't made any money--nor can she look forward and say, "Okay I've now made enough money to pay for putting the next book out."

Just to clear a few small fixed costs, an author has to sell over 1000 copies. If that is the ONLY book on backlist, you could say, "everything else is gravy." Uh-no. What about promoting the fact that the book is available??? My blog runs me 100 dollars or so a year. Being on forums is not free either--my internet costs me 35 to 40 bucks a month. So we're still not profitable. And for each backlist book, the author can expect to spend 300 dollars OR MORE. Want better cover work to sell better? It's gonna be closer to 500 dollars. Want to work on the next book so you hire someone to do formatting, uploading and scanning if necessary? That's going to be another 100 or so--and there are multiple sites to upload to and multiple formats. If the author isn't doing the conversions herself, the price for converting uploading runs anywhere from 35 (no checking for any errors) to hourly fees, to a "per change" fee. This can end up costing several hundred dollars, especially if you hire one of the more expensive options.

Some authors can sell 1000 copies a month--but not all of us can. So that means for ONE backlist book, it can take a long time to 'earn out' even with very small fixed costs if the author lists at 99 cents.

I know a few backlist authors who have gone with barebones covers--and guess what? That means less sales because they end up looking like an ill-informed indie author rather than a well-edited professional writer with a long-term career. I'm not knocking them either. It's just not as cheap to get a book up on Amazon/Sony as it might first appear. And the more of us that are doing it, the higher the costs go.

Apple is already resetting contracts so that if a person buys a kindle book through an apple device, Apple takes 30 percent. Since Amazon needs a cut too, guess where the money *has* to come from?

Artists who start to make a name for themselves raise their prices (rightfully so; that's the nature of the marketplace.) Editors/proofreaders with a good reputation? They're going to charge more.

It's not "free." And when you upload entirely for "free"--meaning you do all the work yourself, it means you aren't writing. So even there, there is a cost.

FWIW. Just a view from the street.

05-19-2011, 06:09 PM	#71
BearMountainBooks Maria Schneider Posts: 3,746 Karma: 26439330 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Near Austin, Texas Device: 3g Kindle Keyboard	I agree that the sell-through price is about 1 to 6 dollars. The problem with the one dollar price is that you can't sell enough to make a profit in a reasonable time-frame. I've tried it with an anthology--and it simply takes too long to make enough of a profit to help pay for the next book. There are some fixed costs even with backlist--cover art for example. It's difficult to put together a decent cover for under 200 dollars. It's difficult to hire a proof-reader for under 100 dollars. But let's say those are the costs for an individual (author) doing the work. We'll assume the author scanned the book herself rather than pay to have it scanned/converted. If an author sells 300 copies of the backlist book at 99 cents, she still hasn't earned out on her costs (and I'm low-balling the costs.) So that means to make a profit, she has to sell about 1000 copies. Okay, doable. But so far, that author hasn't made any money--nor can she look forward and say, "Okay I've now made enough money to pay for putting the next book out." Just to clear a few small fixed costs, an author has to sell over 1000 copies. If that is the ONLY book on backlist, you could say, "everything else is gravy." Uh-no. What about promoting the fact that the book is available??? My blog runs me 100 dollars or so a year. Being on forums is not free either--my internet costs me 35 to 40 bucks a month. So we're still not profitable. And for each backlist book, the author can expect to spend 300 dollars OR MORE. Want better cover work to sell better? It's gonna be closer to 500 dollars. Want to work on the next book so you hire someone to do formatting, uploading and scanning if necessary? That's going to be another 100 or so--and there are multiple sites to upload to and multiple formats. If the author isn't doing the conversions herself, the price for converting uploading runs anywhere from 35 (no checking for any errors) to hourly fees, to a "per change" fee. This can end up costing several hundred dollars, especially if you hire one of the more expensive options. Some authors can sell 1000 copies a month--but not all of us can. So that means for ONE backlist book, it can take a long time to 'earn out' even with very small fixed costs if the author lists at 99 cents. I know a few backlist authors who have gone with barebones covers--and guess what? That means less sales because they end up looking like an ill-informed indie author rather than a well-edited professional writer with a long-term career. I'm not knocking them either. It's just not as cheap to get a book up on Amazon/Sony as it might first appear. And the more of us that are doing it, the higher the costs go. Apple is already resetting contracts so that if a person buys a kindle book through an apple device, Apple takes 30 percent. Since Amazon needs a cut too, guess where the money has to come from? Artists who start to make a name for themselves raise their prices (rightfully so; that's the nature of the marketplace.) Editors/proofreaders with a good reputation? They're going to charge more. It's not "free." And when you upload entirely for "free"--meaning you do all the work yourself, it means you aren't writing. So even there, there is a cost. FWIW. Just a view from the street.