Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
I can try, but I don't do a ton of work for trade pubs, and of course--as you've noticed--they're close-mouthed about their business models, as much as they are able. If you're doing a print run of 10K, (which would be typical for a midlister), the typical print production cost for MM paperbacks or trade runs ~$2.00. A larger run will reduce those costs a bit, so the Sandfords of the world are probably costing $1-$1.50 for those grocery-stand paperbacks.
For an offset press, if memory serves, 125 pages is a skosh under a dollar. Assuming 3 times the length for Dan Brown, Sandford, etc., assume twice-ish the price. Again, it's the setup costs that push the price up more than the number of signatures needed to make the book (pages grouped in 8s or 16s). That same 125-page POD book runs around $7, again, if memory serves. (Just throwing that in for whatever purposes of comparison.)
|
Thank you again. Good information. The price difference between offset press and POD does show that you are likely to see "fair" pricing only from Indies that truly cannot afford to shell out the money for the setup of the much cheaper (excluding setup) offset press per book. Alas, print runs in multitudes of 10K units can only be done by the big boys.
Quote:
|
I'm not sure that the Indies are charging surcharges, really; most of our clients are charging just enough to pay for the book using expanded distribution.
|
I meant surcharge compared to the same book as ebook. And they are possibly willing to accept smaller royalties on the pbooks so that total price does not go through the roof.
Quote:
|
And that's part of it, isn't it, with kids' books? Like clothes, they'll be great today and forgotten or grown out of, tomorrow. If you have your own herd, fine, you can get more use out of it, but like many other things, larger passels of kids are yesterday's news. It's harder to make a $30 book "go around" than it used to be. :-)
|
Yes. Absolutely. A good thing there is second hand books to be found.